Ahead of Sunny Side of the Doc’s June 21 kick-off, Director of Strategy and Development Mathieu Béjot (pictured, left) emphasises his event’s core remit (“its DNA”) to forge co-production and co-financing opportunities and to underline how, more than ever, ‘storytelling matters.’
“Being online for the last two years has really forced us to look at what we do,” stresses Mathieu Béjot, Director of Strategy and Development at Sunny Side of the Doc. “And the conclusion we drew…was to stick to our DNA, to really stick to what makes Sunny Side special.”
This is, Béjot argues, the ability to be “first of all, one hundred per cent market-oriented…We are a market, and we put producers, sales agents, commissioners, buyers in touch, and we have to stick to that.”
That said, the four-day Sunny Side of the Doc event again offers up the opportunity to analyse (at times in minute detail) the current state of, and trends within, documentary, both in terms of an end product that reflects the dilemmas and complexities of the world we currently inhabit and, as importantly, the emerging and diverse talent who is delivering that end product.
This year, 42 projects were selected from 270 submissions, of which 72% are created or produced by women. The projects will be presented during six themed sessions and one-to-one meetings with support from event partners: RTBF for the Global Issues Pitch, PBS International for the History Pitch, Science & Vie TV (Mediawan) for the Science Pitch, West Lake International Documentary Festival for the Arts & Culture Pitch, The Redford Center and Love Nature for the Wildlife & Conservation Pitch, and Ubisoft for the Immersive Experiences Pitch.
“The world is very complex, it’s been turned upside down,” explains Béjot of this year’s project selections. “We need to understand what’s going on. We also need to understand how the future is developing and how we can also shape it, and that’s really what we had in mind with ‘storytelling matters’…We know that the world, as we’ve known it, is not sustainable in terms of health, in terms of economic development, in terms of social development, in terms of geopolitics, and we need to change. So we really wanted to bring out projects that will shed light on this future.”
“To us ‘storytelling matters’ [represents] also this kind of special responsibility of documentary filmmakers [on] how to deal with these global issues, how to make them easy to understand, but how to make an impact as well,” Béjot adds. “For us, the notion of impact is very important, and that probably goes through different types of storytelling to really engage your audience, not depress them, but show them that there are solutions, that some people are also thinking more positively.”
Béjot further underlines the principles upon which this year’s Sunny Side event is built, namely co-operation, diversity, emerging talents and engagement.
#Co-operation entails a ‘Meet The Executives’ session, during which buyers and heads of programming from the likes of Netflix, National Geographic, PBS International, Smithsonian Networks and NOVA explain their working methods as well as their programming strategies and future editorial directions.
‘Global Doc’ is an editorial, creative and financial alliance between various international public broadcasters whose shared goal is to initiate and co-create ambitious documentary projects.
In ‘Meet The Delegations’, seven international industries will present doccers and their projects to industry professionals with a view to facilitating co-operation. These are: Finland (Audiovisual Producers Finland – APFI), Spain (ICEX Spain Trade and Investment), Catalonia (Catalan Films), The Basque Country (BASQUE AUDIOVISUAL), Central and Eastern Europe (Institute of Documentary Film), Germany (AG DOK et German Films) and Chile (ChileDoc).
Additionally, the 20-minute ‘Ask the Experts’ consultations will afford professionals the opportunity to pick the brains of luminaries within the doc world on matters such as storytelling, hybrid formats, co-productions, financing, distribution etc.
Sunny Side’s commitment to #Diversity sees a ‘Women in Doc’ Talent Hub that presents six new projects at various stages of production, directed and produced by women. Meanwhile a round table will ask why we’re still talking about women, how does the female gaze relate to documentary film making, and come to that, what does the female gaze even mean and why does it matter?
As Sunny Side seeks out #EmergingTalents, another Talent Hub programme, presented together with the Prague-based Institute of Documentary Film, will shine the spotlight on new voices from Central and Eastern Europe. Five new projects in development and production will be showcased, as will five projects from Central & Eastern Europe which will be soon ready to hit international festivals, broadcast channels and platforms. All will be looking for international sales, pre-sales and buyers.
The programme will also include a case study on Alexander Nanau’s Oscar-Nominated Collective (Romania), and Sunny Side will further play host to the Ex Oriente Film training programme for documentary professionals which supports the development and funding of projects from Central and Eastern Europe.
Sunny Side’s commitment to #Engagement sees it bringing together international foundations and non-profit organisations which help promote and produce documentaries on an international scale: Sundance Institute, Ford Foundation, The Redford Center. How can these bodies serve as an alternative to co-production? What are their roadmaps? How can they help bring a project to life? How do they construct a successful (and profitable) impact campaign?
Sunny Side will also showcase 8 BILLION, an initiative from WWF, Off the Fence, WaterBear & The Resilient Foundation, and described as “a multi-media initiative and online community for shared visions, hopes and beliefs joining forces to defend Planet Earth.” Over the next 10 years, the project will bring together faith, arts and science communities to paint an intimate portrait with a series of stories about how humans all over the world celebrate and protect nature. The most powerful films – the majority of which will be self-produced – will be available to view via 8 BILLION.
Running parallel to events will be the 5th edition of PiXii Festival which will “continue its strategy in helping foster international co-production opportunities and networking between producers, broadcasters, platforms and cultural actors in the world of XR.”
Working in co-operation with top cultural sites, PiXii Festival will take over La Rochelle, expanding its programme for the general public and locals, as well as for creative and cultural industry professionals.
“We want to find something very specific, and to us it’s really bridging the gap between the immersive community and the traditional linear documentary community,” explains Béjot of PiXii’s professional component. “Bringing these two worlds together, making sure that traditional producers have an idea of what’s going on in immersive experiences and vice versa.”
“One of the key themes that we want to tackle is how do you monetize those [interactive experiences] once they’re produced?” Béjot continues. “How can you distribute them worldwide? So we [will] share some of the best practices of the moment and see with either commissioners or [people who] can host these kind of experiences, what kind of business models can be defined. But the issue of distribution and monetization is very much in Sunnyside’s DNA as a market, and I think it’s very much needed for the immersive experiences.”
Europe will also be very high on the agenda during Sunny Side of the Doc 2021, and not just because it coincides with the European Football Championships.
“The UK of course, is taking a different route, unfortunately, but for continental Europe the new Media sub program has just been released,” comments Béjot. “As you certainly know the documentary community is very concerned with the level of support and, and the new mechanism. We will have a presentation by the European Commission (June 21).”
“Besides football, I think what’s happening in terms of support in documentary is very important. And we need to address the issue during Sunny Side,” Béjot concludes.
