EDITORIAL

AFTER THE SUCCESS OF SUNNYSIDE OF THE DOC’s 20th EDITION…
Throughout the summer many of you came forward to express your satisfaction with our most recent Sunny Side –and not just the party! Thank you to everyone.
We look forward, with all your contributions, to make of the next and 21st Sunny Side, another success story.
In this effort, we are immediately announcing the subjects we will be treating and the plans we are already putting in motion.

 

> REBELS
Documentaries must rebel against the established norms and ideas.
We will collect all the initiatives across the planet that allow audiences to experience documentaries with a cause.
In countries like the US and India these projects already travel outside the television box.
Currently in the UK, two films are making headlines: The End Of The Line, now in cinemas, and Chosen, winner of a BAFTA. Both of these films share the distinction of having been produced without the financial backing of television channels! This “outside-TV" trend is certainly the result of new media distribution options, but also of “rebel” artistic and editorial decisions.

In this context, we will present a selection of films by and about rebel women. An Occitan poet once said: "A re-belle, is a woman twice as beautiful!” (une Rebelle, c’est une femme doublement belle!). The play on words translates poorly in English, but the meaning is clear, and it is this motto that will direct our selection of films.

 

> TRANSMEDIA
The popularity of our second Agora on new media, Webdocs and 3D compels us to strengthen our work in this area. The number of participants from these sectors will grow. The best examples will be presented at the BIPS, our Best International Projects Showcase. The issues of new narrative styles, rights and funding will be on the agenda. We will also start a discussion with producers of Serious Games.

>REAL FICTION
The trend to mix fiction with non-fiction continues, and we will resume our work on this area that was launched in 2008.

 

> AUTHENTICITY
Content –the heart of our work- returns as a cardinal virtue. Crises: financial, political and environmental, position the concept of authenticity at centre stage. Together with the writers, directors, producers and distributors, we will continue to meditate on the slogan we adopted last year: RESPECT THE TRUTH.

 

Finally, we will continue expanding the geographic reach of the market, organising three Focuses in India, Colombia and Africa.

These subjects comprise an editorial line, and we will devote an e-newsletter to each one of them. Your written contributions can be added to our communications.

 

TOOLS AND NEW EVENTS

 

This year the Sunny Side team will organise

two new Co-production Rendezvous:

 

> The LSD/DBA - Latin Side of the Doc/Doc Buenos Aires (Argentina, November 25 – 27),

 

> and the ASD - Asian Side of the Doc (Hong Kong, March 2010) organised with the support of the EU’s International Media Programme.

Modelled on the Eastern European Co-Production Rendezvous held last March in Sofia, we will open up new doors of opportunity in these two continents that are on the move.

 

We also plan to launch France’s first Crossover doc Labs.

With the help of our British friends Frank Boyd, Mark Atkin and Heather Croal, who have been organising Crossover Labs for the last six years, we want to import this novel approach to training professionals and developing cross-media projects.

 

This initiative will be the first of the Resource and Training Centre we opened in La Rochelle, tentatively named “C2ID”. Its mandate is to serve the international community, providing the documentary information, contacts and ideas needed to develop your projects.

 

As you can see, this 21st year of Sunny Side will be creative and ambitious one!

There is a lot at stake: International co-productions,

access to new media and new markets, the creation

of new narratives –they are, for all of us, necessities.
I invite you to share your experiences, successes and challenges with us, by writing to us at contact@sunnysideofthedoc.com, and to be a part

of our initiatives.

Welcome back everyone!

Yves Jeanneau.