Java Films will present a new award at Sunny Side of the Doc 2024. Named the Roch Bozino Engagement Prize, the award bears the name of the Java Films founder, who passed away in 2023 and “who always loved coming to La Rochelle.”
The €3,000 prize will be awarded to one of the 12 projects in the Global Issues or New Voices pitches that “best engages with the humanitarian issues of today or inspires us to make a difference.”
“’We’ve been thinking a lot this past year on the best ways to continue Roch’s legacy,” comments Java Films director Anne Simounet, who was also Roch’s wife. “Creating an annual prize in his name at his favourite market seemed the best way of doing this, and Sunny Side was immediately enthusiastic. It’s our way of giving back to the documentary community that he was so passionate about supporting and helping these important stories get told.”
Simounet, Kathryn Bonnici, Donatien Pierda & Marine Prevot will be attending Sunny Side and are looking to meet producers developing current affairs, history or science documentaries “or anyone interested in licensing our films.”
Current Java slate highlights include Netanyahu and the Ministers of Chaos from Yuzu Productions, directed by Jérôme Sesquin and Nitzan Perelman. The film comprises an examination into Netanyahu, his two leading ministers, and the most right-wing government in Israel’s history. (60/52 mins, in development, slated for 2024)
War on Women: The New Battle for Abortion in America (52 mins), directed by Sophie Przychodny & Cyril Denvers and produced by LSD Films, profiles the commitment of civil society, doctors, lawyers, volunteers and individuals determined to preserve the right and access of their fellow citizens to abortion. The project is completed and will air on 23rd of June on France 5.
True Believer: And God Created Trump, directed by Laurence Haïm and produced by Luc and Virginie Besson, follows one of the few journalists permanently accredited on Donald Trump’s press plane during the 2016 election, offering a unique look at the 2024 Presidential election. (52 mins, in development, slated for 2024).
