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On June 25 Sunny Side of the Doc hosted a "Meet the Executives" session during which National Geographic (NatGeo) reps took centre stage to share insights into the factual needs of the Channel, commissioning opportunities and to explain who commissions what. The session also sought to “deep dive” into some of the series that work best for the channel as well as provide sneak peaks at new content in production.

The 9th Verzió DocLab (Nov 5-9) is a 5-day intensive editing workshop for directors and editors, organised during the 21st Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Budapest running November 6-13, 2024. Deadline: September 9. The 3rd Verzió Documentary Film Critics Workshop (also Nov 5-9) has an earlier submission deadline of August 1.

The call for projects for the Rome-based Doc Co-Production Market will close July 8, 2024 (5 PM CET). The market accepts submissions across all genres and formats, at different stages of development (not yet in post-production). The projects must be suitable for international co-production, and aimed at representing “independent and diverse voices and perspectives.” The next edition of MIA runs October 14 to 18.

On 26 June, Sunny Side of the Doc hosted a panel focusing on documentary and factual programming funding titled "Show us the Money! " The talk, moderated by The Bridge Managing Director Amanda Groom, sought to explore some of the more successful examples of innovative new financial structures and commercial models that are already working for documentary and factual producers.

Al Jazeera Balkans Documentary Film Festival (AJB DOC) will examine the theme of ‘Justice?’ during its 7th edition, to be held 13-17 September 2024 in Sarajevo. “Art is tasked with dealing with issues of wider significance, sometimes painful, forbidden, ignored or marginalized, but too important to be quiet about. Our task is to give voice to those who have been denied it, and the festival theme of ‘Justice?’ speaks about and examines precisely that,” write AJB DOC organisers.

Over four days, the La Rochelle market hosted 2100 participants from 68 countries, over 1000 companies, 90 exhibitors, and 250 international decision-makers including major broadcasters, streamers, foundations, distributors, financiers, and museums from across the world. Award Winners from seven pitch sessions were announced plus numerous other cash and in-kind prizes.

After snagging the Best Pitch award in the Global Issues section of this year’s Sunny Side of the Doc (24-27 June), Business Doc Europe spoke to Renaud Lavergne, Factstory producer of Inside Gaza, helmed by Hélène Lam Trong and the Agence France Press (AFP) Gaza team. Lavergne and his crew embarked on the project after the events of October 7.

BDE takes a closer look at one of the buzziest projects pitched in the Science section of Sunny Side of the Doc 2024 as seasoned producer Massimo Arvat unpacks the core themes and features of his new project Unconventional Gardeners, helmed by Alessandro Bernard and Paolo Ceretto. The feature is being produced by Italy’s Zenit Arti Audiovisive and Germany’s Dirk Manthey Film with backing from Italy’s Ministry of Culture, the Piemonte Doc Film Fund and the Trentino Film Commission.

At Sunny Side of the Doc 2024, Business Doc Europe caught up with Frankie Fenton, director of the feature-length project How to Stop a War. Fenton’s latest effort will be pitched in the History strand of the French industry event on June 27. During our chat, Fenton touched on the project’s inception, its visual look and style and the timely themes it tackles.

The Czech doc fest reminds the international doc sector of its June 30 deadline, and unveils this year’s visual concept, that of islands, as authored again by the award-winning book graphic designer and illustrator Juraj Horváth. Ji.hlava will also present a major retrospective of directors Vit Klusák and Filip Remunda and their leading Czech production company Hypermarket Film. More news…