Mathieu Béjot, the Cultural Attaché for film, audiovisual and digital content at the French Institute in India, was wearing two hats at DocedgeKolkata 2025. Former Director of Strategy and Development at La Rochelle-based Sunny Side of the Doc, Béjot was there to invite one project from the 24 pitches in Kolkata to the Sunny Side forum in June 2025, as well as foster relationships between the audiovisual industries of France and India.
The winner of the Sunny Side of the Doc Prize was Practice, directed and produced by Vaibhav Jadhav, who now receives two free accreditations for La Rochelle in June 2025. The film tells the story of two young men at an Indian wrestling academy who grapple with the weight of expectations, identity, and friendship, under the influence of their mentor’s rigid ideals of masculinity, the meaning of which hangs in the balance.
Fostering the local production economy
Speaking about his recent appointment as the cultural attaché at the French Institute in India, Béjot spelled out his two-fold duties. “Our basic mission is really to foster relationships between France and India. From a cultural perspective, we strive to promote student exchanges and help Indian festivals get more French films on a non-commercial basis. The business-oriented side of the job includes fostering co-production between France and India, often where the content promotes France as a territory.”
He sees DocedgeKolkata as a “key networking event” and recognises the platform’s reach and ability to deliver a wide selection of projects for international producers, distributors and broadcasters. “I cannot be aware of every single documentary project from India, as the region and the volume of projects is so huge. But there is a strong curation of projects [at Docedge] which makes it a little easier to take these projects internationally.”
Sharing his perspective on the current state of Indian documentaries, he acknowledges the existence of “a wealth of stories,” shaped by the country’s rich cultural diversity. “I think the number of stories that can come from India is just limitless, a huge pool of talent, great storytellers, great filmmakers, DOPs, sound engineering — you’ve got everything.”
“What’s lacking, unfortunately, is the ecosystem to make documentaries more sustainable as there’s no soft money. That’s really the tricky issue, and it’s too bad, because otherwise India would be flourishing.”
Béjot further commented on the complexity and shortcomings of the Indian documentary ecosystem, highlighting the need for more independent producers who are dedicated to creative production. Addressing this, he revealed plans to bring a new EURODOC-style to New Delhi in September, with the support of the French Institute in India and the Goethe Institute. The project is currently being developed with Anirban Dutta, the director of Nocturnes (2024) and an alumnus of the EURODOC Training Program for Creative Producing in 2021.
“We hope to work with producers who are really dedicated to creative production,” Béjot articulated his plans for the event. It may even include some people from Docedge, for instance…The idea of being at Docedge is not to just come here once and forget it for a year, but to see what kind of follow up we can initiate and how we can really accompany and support these producers and filmmakers.”
Béjot clarified details of the Sunny Prize he handed out during Docedge. “The selected project will be automatically entitled to submit their project to the pitching sessions at SSD, getting free accreditation to the market.” The selection does not guarantee a pitching opportunity at the platform. That said, the recognition significantly expedites the potential for strong visibility at the French industry event.
He underlined how, for events such as Sunny Side, projects at a “fairly early stage of development or pre-production” are the most ideal. “This is because the major goal of pitching sessions is international co-production, and you want to make sure that international partners may have a say in the project rather than just bringing in the financing.”
The selection of a project also depends considerably on the long-term ambitions of the documentary filmmakers, Béjot elaborated. “Presence at events like SSD, Sheffield, or Hoc Docs is not a one-off. To me, it’s part of a process — it means that you want to be part of the international community of documentary makers. So when I [select] a project, I like to keep in mind if the filmmakers are interested in continuing to network on an international scale.”
