Gaëtan Bruel, president of France’s National Center for Cinema and the Moving Image (CNC), announced June 22 the establishment of a new documentary market in Strasbourg in June 2027.
“The creation of this new international documentary market in Strasbourg marks a major milestone for the structuring and influence of the sector. In a context of reconfiguration of the industry, it is essential to position, with ambition, a reference market with an international dimension but also a place to promote the institutional issues that it entails,” he commented (translated from French).
“I want to believe that the impact of this new event will be decisive in fostering meetings and cooperation but also in diversifying and accelerating access to funding that will sustain the diversity of documentary perspectives that we need more than ever. By establishing itself in Strasbourg, at the heart of Europe, this market will ambitiously carry the core values of documentary: rigor, diversity, and openness to the world,” he added.
In the CNC statement, Bruel honoured the memory of Yves Jeanneau, founder of Sunny Side of the Doc, who, 40 years ago in France, “created a documentary-focused event that radiates internationally, first in Marseille and then in La Rochelle.” He further saluted the commitment of Roman Jeanneau, Aurélie Reman, and the DocServices teams, “who kept this essential event alive for 27 years in La Rochelle.”
Strasbourg also hosts major institutions within the audiovisual and documentary ecosystem, such as Arte, the Council of Europe, Eurimages, the European Audiovisual Observatory, and the European Parliament. “The future market will include a dedicated time for major European themes that will bring together the main international institutional players around shared values resonating with documentary: democracy, fundamental rights, and cultural diversity,” the CNC press release underlines.
Catherine Trautmann, mayor of Strasbourg and president of the Eurometropolis of Strasbourg comments: “With immense enthusiasm, we are preparing to welcome, from June 2027 in Strasbourg, the international documentary market, a must-attend meeting for professionals in the audiovisual sector at the international level. Documentary aims to inform, question the world and its changes, show and help understand the complexity of what surrounds us. It is a powerful vector to strengthen citizenship, a dimension that resonates with Strasbourg, capital and seat of European institutions and a city committed to defending freedom and human rights.”
“The hosting of this reference event strengthens the city and Eurometropolis’s historic commitment to this genre essential to the democratic vitality of our societies. This new cultural and economic life milestone also demonstrates Strasbourg and its partners’ capacity to attract major events that can showcase our territory and amplify the dynamics already underway, especially in the field of creation and more broadly culture, carried by an exceptional network of actors,” she adds.
