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Irish outfit Silver Mountain Distribution is embracing documentary in earnest. The company, which is the sales and marketing arm of Carey Fitzgerald’s Silver Mountain Productions, is at the European Film Market in Berlin with three new feature docs on its slate. “We only work on creative documentaries. One of our aims is also to work on stories of the under-represented,” Fitzgerald explains why Silver Mountain is muscling into the doc sales arena.

The long-time director of DOK.fest München, Daniel Sponsel, will take over the presidency of the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF) on 1 October 2025. “After almost 16 intensive and successful years with the festival team, I have now come full circle. I am delighted to be returning to my roots in the film industry in this new role and to be actively involved in shaping the future of the university,” says Sponsel.

Docu Rough Cut Boutique describes itself as “the leading regional programme for documentaries in post-production coming from Southeast Europe and the Caucuses, famous for its boutique format of only five selected projects.” Created by the Sarajevo Film Festival and Balkan Documentary Center, the programme is organized in three working modules: Sofia (March 2025), Cluj (June 2025) and Sarajevo (August 2025).

Vibeke Løkkeberg’s feature doc, about the inaugural International Women’s Film Seminar in Berlin (1973), is set to become a multi-part TV series, announced Norwegian producer Anders Tangen of Viafilm February 14. The film opens this year’s Berlinale Forum (also Feb 14) where it is presents as a world premiere. “We still sit on a gold mine of material that we can use for a multi-part series of 30-minute episodes with different accents, allowing us to dig deeper and shine light on other topics,” says Tangen.

From 7th to 16th March, the 23rd edition of the FIFDH calls for a re-examination of “our political systems and to forge community in the face of the rise of far-right movements as well as the threat they pose to fundamental rights.” Guests of the festival include Nobel Peace Prize laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk, activist Paul Watson, author Douglas Kennedy, journalist Salomé Saqué, surgeon Ghassan Abu Sittah and actress Ángela Molina (Cosmos, by Germinal Roaux).

Christoph Terhechte, artistic director of the DOK Leipzig festival for documentary and animated film and managing director of the Leipziger DOK-Filmwochen GmbH, has decided to terminate his contract for personal reasons two years before its expiry on 31 January 2028. He will remain in his position until 31 January 2026 before taking early retirement. The 68th edition of DOK Leipzig will take place from 27 October to 2 November 2025, and will be the last under Terhechte’s direction.

The selection includes 71 films in competition, featuring 56 world premieres, 12 international premieres, and 3 European premieres. “It is very exciting to share a competition line up that truly represents documentary as an art form made for the cinema. CPH:DOX is about celebrating documentaries and the people who make them, and programming this year’s festival has been a journey rich with discoveries,” says Mads K. Mikkelsen, Head of Program of CPH:DOX.

The role is a joint leadership position and she will work in collaboration with Creative Director Raul Niño Zambrano. Poskitt will be responsible for the charity’s business affairs, including growing audiences, overseeing production and operations, and extending the festival’s partnerships and fundraising avenues. “In a world where truth, perspective, and empathy are more crucial than ever, documentaries offer us a deeper understanding of our shared human experience,” said Poskitt on taking up the role.

Ema Ryan Yamazaki talks to S. Leo Chiang about her Oscar-nominated short doc in which Japanese first graders, aged no more than 6 or 7, audition for a performance of Ode to Joy for the following year’s new intake of pupils. “For me it's basically an attempt to intimately take a look at the Japanese elementary education system which I went through,” says Yamazaki, “but doing it through a singular story that captures, in my opinion, the essence of why Japan is the way it is.”

With running times ranging from 10 to 119 minutes,  the 37 films in Competition will “once again showcase contemporary documentary in all its diversity, as world, international or French premieres.” The Paris-based festival runs March 22-29.