Gunnar Dedio, award-winning filmmaker and MD of archive/theatrical distribution company Progress, will present the first Progress History Summit between October 26-28 in Halle, Germany. International consultant/producer Louise Rosen is the event’s Program Director.
“This is the first international gathering dedicated exclusively to history media-making in over ten years. Now, as regimes are altering or wiping out history to suit their ends, it is time to convene,” comments Dedio, who also runs the production company LOOKSfilm. “We have specialized in history non-fiction and fiction for decades. Our network of partners recognizes the urgent need to reassess the place and approach of history media-making in the bigger media landscape,” continues. “They asked us to launch this initiative.”
Speakers at the event include Dawn Porter, whose new series on the US Supreme Court has just premiered on Showtime; acclaimed director and archive devotee Sergei Loznitsa; Dr. Fatou Bensouda, former Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court; Fabrice Puchault, Head of Documentary Commissioning ARTE France; Alex Hryniewicz, Director of Content at Little Dot Studios; archaeologist and TikTok sensation Stephanie Black, and archive guru Elizabeth Klinck.
Panels include ‘Destructive Silence: censorship within and without’, ‘Women Making History’, and ‘History Disrupted: Is social media hijacking the past or enhancing the future?’ Further panel sessions will “assess the influence of AI and social media on the public understanding of history, the critical need to confront whose history is preserved and shared, decolonizing archives, and the role of war correspondents in determining the history of record,” programme director Rosen points out.
Other core elements include be the October 27 History Summit Pitch, presenting six selected projects to a jury of decision makers, and History Hits, a ‘best-of’ selection of clips across all platforms. The event also promises a wide range of toppers and industry experts from networks, platforms and funds in attendance.
Founding sponsors include MDR, Arte, NDR, ORF, and Histoire TV with additional support from Al Jazeera Documentary, Sunny Side of the Doc, Creative Europe, MDM, and Sachsen-Anhalt/EFRE.
The event’s POWERHOUSE venue is simultaneously hosting the PROGRESS History Summit, the Documentary Campus Masterschool Pitch and the SILBERSALZ Institute Pitch and is also offering one ticket for all events.
Click here for details on how to register.
