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DOK Leipzig will undergo a process of self-reflection in 2024 as it examines its own methods of selection during the GDR years. Titled “Third Ways in a Divided World. Utopia and Subversion” the retrospective will “feature a compilation of films that reflect various aspirations of autonomy or view communist and socialist doctrine through a different lens. In this vein, the retrospective also brings up DOK Leipzig’s own history as a festival,” organisers write.

The prizes were handed out September 16 at AJD Industry after three days of frenetic pitch activity and during which 29 projects were presented across four categories (Main Pitch, Rough Cut, Balkan Stars, and Special Selection). The projects competed for co-production and cash awards worth more than 120,000 EUR provided by Al Jazeera Documentary, Al Jazeera Balkans, and other partners.

The Barcelona International Documentary Film Festival (DocsBarcelona) has opened the call for submissions to its 28th edition, to be held from May 8 to 18, 2025. The call will remain open until Friday, November 15, and consists of two deadlines: Early Bird: from September 16 to November 1. Regular Entry: November 2 to November 15.

The Whickers 2024 'Cost of Docs survey of documentary makers' launched at AJD Industry Sept 16 in partnership with Al Jazeera Documentary channel. “This is such an important benchmark tool for our industry and the results will help many lobby for more funding for documentary,” said The Whickers’ Jane Mote. “We are so pleased that Al Jazeera Doc Channel and AJB DOC have agreed to create an Arabic version, and we hope this will help to ensure the diversity of documentary makers responding to the survey.”

In the absence of filmmaker Morteza Atabaki, DOP Zeynep Secil delivered a hilarious pitch for the Turkish documentary 32 Meters, about the indomitable Halime who organises a women-only shooting competition in a remote village in the south of her country. Moderator Rudy Buttignol summed it up: “First of all, it shows never to mess with a woman with a gun, but it also illustrates my mantra that no documentary ever suffered because it was too funny.”

Croatian director Filip Filković Philatz and German producer Tamara Babun (Wolfgang & Dolly) pitched their doc project K67, about the iconic work kiosks that populated much of the former Yugoslavia before the Balkans War. In the film Filković and the kiosk designer Saša Mächtig will go on a whistle stop tour to visit the locations where the objects still stand. “I think that we're going to be a lovely couple in the film, like the professor and his student,” the director told the Industry audience in Sarajevo.

The seventh AJB DOC opened September 13 with a screening of Where the Olive Trees Weep by Zaya and Maurizio Benazzo, about life under Israeli occupation. Over the coming days, the audience will have a chance to watch 23 docs presented across five programme sections: Competition, AJB Screening, Last Minute Cinema, SmartDoc, and Special Screening.

The Finnish Weird (F-Weird) programme of FFA, which runs 25-27 September, is described as “a playground for your wildest ideas and a party for your extravagant thoughts.” The two doc projects (out of an overall selection of twenty) are the Indian/Czech ‘Death. Karma. Moksha.’ by Roy Dipankar, and the Finnish ‘Postpartum – Are You Ready for the Challenge’ by Milla Puolakanaho.

At FIPADOC 2025, 24 International Pitch project teams will present to 60+ international funders from Europe and beyond. The submission deadline for projects is October 24, 2024. Filmmakers from the 2025 countries in focus (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia) as well as filmmakers from Ukraine can submit projects for free. FIPADOC Industry Days will run January 27-30, 2025.

The seventh Al Jazeera Balkans Documentary Film Festival (AJB DOC), running September 13 to 17 in Sarajevo, will examine the question of ‘JUSTICE?’ and “bear witness to the violence against Palestinians and address the world's economic and political turbulences,” says Festival director Edhem Fočo. “We wanted to focus on the issue of Gaza and Palestine. It pains us that other film festivals have somewhat overlooked this topic, as if it were not the most important issue today."