Representatives of Film Fund Luxembourg, Flanders Image, SEE NL (a collaboration between the EYE Film Institute and the Netherlands Film Fund) and Wallonie Bruxelles Images are in Lisbon to attend Nebulae, the Doclisboa Industry Space, to boost collaboration with the Portuguese and wider doc industries.
Key to proceedings is the October 21 presentation of 11 projects in development and works-in-progress from the Benelux. Scroll down to read about the projects.
Benelux producers will also participate in Jumpgate, a Nebulae initiative that gathers approximately twenty European producers to exchange experiences and reflect on industry practices, with the aim of fostering greater collaboration. The group will include participants from France and Portugal as well.
The collaboration with the Benelux region further extends to two dedicated roundtables:
- “Reframing: Preservation and Experimentation with Archival Footage” – this session will explore cinematic archives as spaces for creativity and reinterpretation, bridging the work of preservation institutions and artists. It will consider how archival images can be critically recontextualized within contemporary frameworks.
- “Challenges of Film Co-production: Asymmetries Between Countries” – focusing on co-productions between Portugal and Benelux countries, this roundtable will present case studies and other examples involving diverse production contexts. Discussions will address funding mechanisms, economic disparities, and pathways for equitable collaboration.
“With the Benelux Focus at Nebulae, we want put the spotlight on our producers with documentary projects from advanced development to projects nearing completion. The aim is to create a platform where they can connect with international industry decision-makers and build long-term relationships with the festival, the industry platform, and the local doc community,” comments Jasper Nijsmans, Head of Promotion at Flanders Image. “While there’s no co-production treaty between Flanders and Portugal, we see Doclisboa as a gateway to creative collaboration and distribution across Southern Europe and Latin America.”
Adds Guy Daleiden, CEO of Film Fund Luxembourg: “The Benelux focus in Lisbon was of particular interest to us for two reasons: we operate a co-development incentive in cooperation with the Portuguese film fund ICA designed to strengthen the bonds between our industries, and to promote storytelling and projects steeped in both territories – in line with the historical ties and histories of migration that connect our two countries. Secondly, cooperating with markets as a Benelux group as we do at Doclisboa allows us to pool resources and highlight Luxembourg projects in markets that would otherwise be difficult to access for filmmakers from smaller countries.”
“We strongly believe that renowned co-production fora like Nebulae and cross-border delegations foster long-lasting human and professional relationships and incite professionals to network and collaborate at all levels and stages of production throughout their careers,” Daleiden adds.
Simone van den Broek, Documentary Consultant at the Netherlands Film Fund comments: “We are happy to be able to present three Dutch Documentary Projects at Doclisboa to industry professionals. As a Dutch industry we do not have a longstanding relationship with the Portuguese documentary industry yet, so we are happy to be here now. The projects we present are artistically or culturally related to the festival and the Iberian Peninsula.
We believe encounters at co-production markets like these are valuable in making new connections, receiving feedback on your projects and eventually in finding financial partners.”
Wallonie Bruxelles Images director Hervé Le Phuez underlines: “Over the past few years, we have been collaborating with our Benelux partners through annual joint initiatives at major documentary festivals. These events have helped us build and strengthen ties within the Benelux region and, of course, to connect with professionals from the host country — this year, Portugal.”
“There have already been several co-productions between Wallonie-Bruxelles and Portugal, but it’s essential to continue encouraging exchanges, especially between producers, as these encounters often lead to new creative and professional collaborations,” he adds.
Talking to BDE earlier in the festival, Doclisboa Industry Director Marina Thomé commented: “The goal is to create a space for exchange and collaboration through a diverse range of activities. Having three invited countries gathered under the Benelux constellation provides a unique opportunity to connect with a wide network of professionals from these regions.”
The Benelux projects selected for the Doclisboa program are:
- Baseball Island by Lyangelo Vasquez. Producers: Sander Verdonk, Thomas den Drijver (New Amsterdam Film Company, The Netherlands). Estimated length: 90’. In production. Completion date: August 2027. Logline: In the small island of Curaçao, a Little League team tries to continue its nation’s unlikely baseball legacy. Will the community of kids, coaches, and supporters manage to meet expectations and put Liga Pabou back in the spotlight this season? Looking for: Distribution partners, festivals, sales, post production funds.
- The Clearing by Sabine Groenewegen. Producer: Manon Bovenkerk (near/by film, The Netherlands). Estimated length: 90’. In post-production. Completion date: January 2026: Logline: During Sumatra’s colonial ‘rubber boom’, the sexual exploitation of female workers was an open secret that has been suppressed until today. This essay of recognition and resistance synthesises found and new footage with sonic, narrative, and visual fabulation. Looking for: Distribution partners, sales agents, broadcasters, co-producers for post-production.
- Ekspertiza by Lennart Stuyck, Ralph Collier. Producer: Bram Conjaerts – Diplodokus, (Belgium), Tomtit Film (The Netherlands), Rayuela Productions (Belgium). Estimated length: 90’ + 52’. In development. Completion date: 2027 Logline: Ekspertiza is a documentary thriller that exposes the hidden world of art forgery, geopolitics and blurred truths. The film questions authenticity, power and cultural memory, showing how art and truth remain vulnerable to manipulation. Looking for: Distribution partners, co-producers.
- Janyl by Charlotte de Gottal. Producer: Laurence Buelens (Rayuela Productions, Belgium). Estimated length: 80’. In development. Completion date: October 2027. Logline: Janyl raises four daughters in the remote Kyrgyz mountains, under a fate she never chose. Now facing another pregnancy, she is torn between tradition and harsh rural life, and her hope to give her children a chance at a different future. Looking for: Distribution partners, co-producers.
- Lost and Found by Fabrizio Maltese. Producer: Fabrizio Maltese, Lukas Berg (Joli Rideau Media, Luxembourg). Estimated length: 100’ (hybrid documentary) + 65’, (dance film) + 20-40’ (XR experience). In development. Completion date: April 2027. Logline: As attacks on LGBTQ+ rights resurface, a bold choreographic collaboration bridges generations to revive early artistic responses to AIDS, reclaiming the body as a site of memory, resistance and radical imagination to guide today’s struggles. Looking for: Co-producers, distribution.
- A Man’s Word by Marie Mc Court. Producer: Annabella Nezri (Kwassa Films, Belgium). Estimated length: 90’. Editing stage. Completion date: December 2025. Logline: “Driven by a need to understand sexuality, I met with men of my generation. I listened to their reflections on pleasure, their bodies and boundaries to grasp the link between sex and violence and how it can take root without us even realising it.” Marie Mc Court. Looking for: Distribution, partners, TV.
- Mar Menor by Petr Lom. Producer: Corinne van Egeraat (ZIN Documentaire, Netherlands, Norway). Estimated length: 90’. In development. Completion date: 2028. Logline: Mar Menor, Europe’s first ecosystem with legal personhood, faces a tough battle: stopping polluters and changing behaviour. This film follows the legal fight to protect the lagoon, exploring the concept of Rights of Nature in practice. Looking for: Co-production, distribution and impact partners
- The Serpent’s Egg by Andrés Lübbert. Producer: Maarten D’Hollander, Tim Martens (Krater Films), Flor Rubina – BLUME Producciones (Belgium, Germany, Chile). Estimated length: 80’. In development. Completion date: December 2026. Logline: The Serpent’s Egg is a personal and historical documentary that reveals the hidden connections between Nazism, the Chilean dictatorship and the director’s family identity through archival footage, interviews and cinematic recreations. Looking for: Co-producers, distributors, broadcasters, sales agent.
- The Sound of the Future by Bart Van Peel. Producer: Bram Crols, Nina Payrhuber (Associate Directors, Belgium). Estimated length: 75’. In development. Completion date: 2027. Logline: The quest for the soul of electronic dance music and its ‘lost’ creator sheds light on the future of music, the collective as opposed to the individual experience, and changing notions of authorship in the context of breakthrough AI technology. Looking for: Co-producers, distribution.
- White Veins by Maxime Coton. Producer: Maxime Coton (RUBIS productions, Belgium). Estimated length: 80’. In development. Completion date: 2027. Logline: Growing up in a Belgian mining region shaped my view of industrial scars. As Europe turns to green energy, three lithium mining projects emerge. Through three lives, the film questions the true cost of our rush towards a so-called sustainable future. Looking for: Distribution partners.
- Who Cares by Ina Ivanceanu. Producer: Alexander Dumreicher-Ivanceanu (Amour Fou, Austria), Bady Minck (Amour Fou, Luxembourg), Elena Repka, Martin Repka (Sen Film, Slovakia). Estimated length: 90’. In production. Completion date: February 2026. Logline: Guided by the filmmaker’s personal voice and Silvia Federici’s thoughts, Who Cares ventures out to meet care workers off all kinds who are trying to look at and provide care work in new and promising ways. Looking for: International sales agents, broadcasters, distributors, platforms, and festival programmers for financing and global release planning.
