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Brazilian Petra Costa’s film investigates the increasingly powerful grip that evangelical Christian leaders hold over politics in her home country. “In our story, we look at what happens in Brazil as a fable of our times,” says Costa, who was nominated for an Academy Award® in 2020 for The Edge of Democracy. The film was an Official Selection at the Venice, Telluride, New York Film, Camden International, IDFA, Chicago International, and Montclair Festivals.

The Netherlands-based Movies That Matter human rights film festival invites participants to apply for its five-day workshop and networking programme on how to organise a human rights film festival or mobile cinema project, taking place from 22–26 March 2025. For this edition, the festival will seek to unite new and experienced film festival professionals from Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. Submission deadline: January 5.

Producer/director Maria Colomer has been appointed new Head of Programming and Co-Artistic Director of DocsBarcelona. Colomer will work alongside Èric Motjer, the current Head of Industry, to co-lead the creative and strategic vision of the festival. Colomer succeeds Anna Petrus, who held the position of Programming Director and Artistic Director at DocsBarcelona since 2023, bringing “bold, diverse, and committed programming choices,” the festival writes.

The second annual Floodlight Summit will bring together top international investigative journalists who will present selected investigations to leading entertainment creators for potential screen adaptations. The invite-only event takes place on Dec. 6-8 in Cartagena, Colombia, with participants attending from more than 25 countries across five continents.

The feature competition section of this year’s Laceno d’Oro International FF (Avellino, Italy) forefonts non-fiction like never before, with all selections either straight docs or with very strong documentary elements within them. “This choice is not because we are obsessed with documentary but because we think that documentary films today are the form in which you can try to make something more original and be freer in your connection with reality," says Head Programmer Aldo Spiniello of his event running to Dec 8.

The Geneva-based human rights festival unveiled this week the 12 projects selected from around the world for its Impact Lab 2025. Each project representative will receive expert training to craft an impact strategy ahead of presentation to dozens of NGOs, international organisations and philanthropists, both in Geneva and beyond. The next edition of FIFDH Impact Days runs March 9 to 12 2025.

Eight documentaries are selected for Feature and Mid-length Competition while 10 docs will play in the festival’s Eyes on the City Short Film Competition. The feature doc 5 anni e un’estate by Mauro Santini will world premiere. An international premiere is Le Boxeur chancelant by Lo Thivolle, while New Berlin by Alexey Fedorchenko will receive its European premiere. The festival runs December 1-8 in Avelino, Italy.

The Balkan Documentary Center 20-project, 3-module programme “addresses the urgent need for independent media and diverse voices in regions where freedom of expression can be restricted, and media professionals often encounter challenges such as censorship, threats, and limited resources.” The deadline for application submissions is January 5, 2025.

Peruvian Carla Gutiérrez’s directorial debut comprises a raw and magical journey into the life of iconic artist Frida Kahlo, told through her own words culled from diaries, letters, essays and interviews. The film, which premiered at Sundance 2024, is vividly brought to life via lyrical animation inspired by Karla’s artworks. Gutierrez speaks about her film with Academy Award-nominated documentary maker Petra Costa.

No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor was awarded November 23 the IDFA NPO Doc Audience Award 2024, the grand public prize of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. The award was followed by a special screening of the film in Amsterdam’s Royal Theater Tuschinski. International sales of No Other Land are handled by Autlook. The film is twice-nominated for the upcoming European Film Awards in the Documentary and Best Film categories.