Uncategorised

At the close of Cannes Docs 2025, section chief Pierre-Alexis Chevit hosted the Docs-in-Progress Awards Ceremony during which this year’s winners were announced. Over the past days, eightshowcases of docs-in-progress from around the world were presented, forming a total of 32 new creative documentary projects. The IEFTA Award went to Asphalt by Hamza Hamideh [Palestine Showcase] while the Al Jazeera Documentary Award went to Everybody to Kenmure Street by Felipe Bustos Sierra [Scotland Showcase]. All awards…

Peter Mettler’s epic two-part documentary comprises a diary shot over three years, commencing just before the pandemic, during which he had to deal both with the death of his parents and a very serious illness of his own. Throughout the 7-hour work, he seeks answers to the question: is the grass always greener on the other side? “It evolved into something quite profound, and led to an appreciation of the cycles of living and dying, and the understanding that I'm completely part of that. We're all part of that. There's no getting around it,” Mettler tells BDE.

Filmmaker Antonio Palumbo and co-writer Mariangela Barbanente talk to BDE about their urgent new project which demands justice for a horrific murder committed over 40 years ago. “We do not want to merely recount a crime story,” the creative team tells BDE. “We want to honour Palmina’s life, showcasing her dreams and aspirations as a young girl against the backdrop of poverty in Puglia during the 1970s and 1980s.”

The outgoing Artistic Director of the world’s oldest docfest is in feisty mood, specifically on the defence of culture, as evidenced by his choice of Claire Simon’s Writing Life: Annie Ernaux Through the Eyes of High School Students as opening film. “[It] shows in exemplary fashion how important culture is in our lives, and how it shapes us as human beings…In these times, when culture institutions are being asked to spend less, and effectively reach fewer people, it is important to insist the work that we are doing is fundamental,” he tells BDE. The 68th edition of DOK Leipzig runs 27 Oct to 2 Nov. 

MIA International Audiovisual Market (Rome, October 9-13) has put out the call for applications for this year’s Doc Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum. The Market is committed to providing exposure to documentary projects in development. The event’s international selection committee selects up to 15 projects “with high artistic standing and distribution potential.” The deadline for applications is 5pm CET, July 7.

As the opera house is for opera, and a church is for service, the cinema is a temple to its art form. Victor Kossakovsky’s Trillion, which is best experienced without any prior knowledge of its content, is one of those rare documentaries that has to be seen on the big screen. As a kind of audiovisual ‘music’, Trillion has a theme, but no plot, dialogue or traditional storytelling. But the black-and-white imagery is gorgeous and the sound design superb, making Trillion an immensely immersive experience.

Paris-based The Party Film Sales is specialised in repping both fiction and documentary films worldwide. “We’re proud to present almost all our main documentaries of the year, among which some are still in the race for Academy Awards,” the firm’s co-head of International Sales Estelle De Araujo told Business Doc Europe at IDFA 2023.

After nearly fifty years under wraps, the film, which was conceived and shot by the legendary William Greaves and directed by his son David Greaves, spotlights footage from a 1972 gathering of luminaries of the Harlem renaissance. Last month, NEON received 18 Oscar nominations for the 98th Academy Awards, the second highest amount for any motion picture studio.

At CPH:DOX 2024, BAFTA- and Emmy-nominated director Ursula Macfarlane (The Lost Sons, Untouchable, Charlie Hebdo: 3 Days That Shook Paris) and award-winning producer Mandy Chang pitched their new feature, whose working title is The Second Woman. One of the buzziest projects presented at this year’s edition, it promises to be a radical, provocative documentary built around a legendary 24-hour play starring actor Ruth Wilson.