Sunny Side '21

Producer-director Jacqueline Farmer will be overseeing the Sunny Side panel, Why We’re Still Talking About Women? (Tues June 22, 4.00 PM, CEST). As she explains to Business Doc Europe, it’s a question to which she herself has many answers.

Isa Willinger’s new doc project stems from the assertion made by the late Ukrainian director Kira Muratova that “women are slaves, so they make vengeful films. They tell it like it is.” Willinger will set out to test this claim through discussion with some of contemporary cinema’s most fervent and articulate female voices. Producer Alex Tondowski talks to BDE.

After 10 years, pioneering film executive and equal rights campaigner Anna Serner will be stepping down from her position as CEO of the Swedish Film Institute later this autumn. On the eve of Sunny Side Of The Docs, which will include her contribution to the June 21 Diversity panel, Serner looks back at a decade in which there has been huge change within the global film industry.

Ahead of Sunny Side of the Doc’s June 21 kick-off, Director of Strategy and Development Mathieu Béjot emphasises his event’s core remit (“its DNA”) to forge co-production and co-financing opportunities and to underline how, more than ever, ‘storytelling matters.’

Leading pitch forum revealed May 18 the official selection for its 32nd edition, plus the XR experiences shortlisted for the 5th PiXii Festival. “It’s sending out a strong message by shining the spotlight on diversity, independent voices and creativity at the international marketplace for documentary and narrative experiences!” say organisers.