#SSD25 > June 23-26, 2025
Sunny Innovation Lab
move your innovation forward
Are you exploring new forms of documentary storytelling? Need to accelerate your project’s development, increase visibility, and connect with international partners, co-producers, and distributors? Join our unique training program for non-linear narratives.
Call for applications is now closed.
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What is Sunny Innovation Lab?
Sunny Innovation Lab (formerly Innovation WIP) is a unique training program for non-linear documentary projects such as podcasts, VR, AR, immersive installations, AI, video games, and more.
Six selected projects will benefit from tailored mentoring, industry insights, and personalized guidance to help creators develop their projects and prepare for international exposure.
Designed as a flexible program, Sunny Innovation Lab includes:
- Online sessions prior to the market,
- On-site workshops and networking opportunities during the event,
- A live presentation in front of top industry professionals at Sunny Side of the Doc.
Why participate?
This program offers creators a one-of-a-kind opportunity to:
- Showcase their projects to a targeted, qualified audience.
- Gain insights and personalized advice from industry experts.
- Connect with leading distributors, broadcasters, and cultural institutions.
- Learn how to navigate the international co-production ecosystem.
- Sharpen their skills to pitch and sell their projects to key decision-makers.
Sunny Innovation Lab Official selection
Discover the projects selected for the Sunny Innovation Lab training program.
A Sanctuary of Stuff
Directed by: Eszter VÁRHIDI and Francesca TREMULO
Produced by: /
Technology: VR experience
Logline: Characters, vehicles, furniture. Hats, food, street trash cans. Rusty electrical boxes. Guns. A lot of guns. Something finally catches your eye. A digestive system. You don't know it yet, but it'll become the centerpiece of your next "I'll for real finish this one" project.
Becoming Lucien
Directed by: Lucien Pin
Produced by: MORITURI (France)
Technology: VR experience
Logline: A 7-year-old child finds themselves trapped in a void, struggling with an identity that feels wrong. Their future self, twenty years ahead, reaches out through the darkness, guiding them toward understanding and promising a future of transformation—a new name, body, and voice. This is the story of how I became Lucien.
Burn them all!
Directed by:Frederic MONTEIL
Produced by: COURT-JUS PRODUCTION (France)
Technology: Immersive Experience
Logline: Through the eyes of Marie, an ordinary woman accused of witchcraft during the Renaissance, experience the injustice, fear and violence of a rigged trial leading to the stake! A drama that crosses time to reveal a chilling truth: even today, women are persecuted and killed in the name of alleged witchcraft.
Channelers
Directed by: Jakub WROBLEWSKI
Produced by: MONSTER MIND STUDIO (Poland)
Technology: VR experience
Logline: Channelers is a VR journey into mysterious phenomena that emerged in Poland between 1970’s and 1980’s. The user navigates through a maze-like brutalist architecture where concrete corridors of Soviet-era apartment blocks become portals to dreamlike encounters and supernatural events.
Sefar
Directed by: Sara NACER
Produced by: L'EQUIPAGE (Canada)
Technology: VR experience
Logline: In the heart of the Sahara, travelers embark on a VR odyssey through Séfar, the world’s largest troglodyte city, where ancient frescoes awaken at their touch. Guided by a Tuareg nomad, they unravel the mysteries of a lost civilization, as colossal figures emerge from stone and the desert whispers its forgotten secrets.
Rebels Girls - Tales of Extraordinary Women
Directed by: Bashira CABBARA and Benedict MIROW
Produced by: SYNAESTHETICA UG (Germany)
Technology: VR experience
Logline: A VR experience based on 3 stories from the bestseller book Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls. Tales of Extraordinary Women. Playful, interactive VR for kids, youths and adults, in combination with 180°-documentaries on the impact of the heroines.
Who can apply?
We welcome all creators exploring non-linear formats, such as podcasts, VR, AR, MR, immersive installations, AI, video games, sound immersion, web series, dome experiences, and more.
Applicants may include filmmakers, producers, and writers—whether emerging or experienced. Projects must be in advanced development (early-stage concepts or finished works are not eligible). Applications from all countries are welcome.
Note: Sunny Side of the Doc does not cover travel and accommodation costs. Participants are encouraged to seek financial support from local or regional institutions.
how to apply?
The call for applications is now closed.
option 1
accreditation + application
Log on to MySunnySpace to request your accreditation. Once accredited, select the "Apply to Sunny Innovation Lab" option (€90) and start the application process.
option 2
application only
Visit the submission platform and submit your application to the "Sunny Innovation Lab" (€90 excl. VAT) without purchasing your Market Pass. You’ll have the option to buy your accreditation at a later stage.
where to apply?
From our dedicated page, choose your product and access the platform that meets your needs.
*Opening date for submissions & accreditations: 17 December 2024.
Closing date for submissions: 25 March 2025, 12pm CET.
what we are
looking for
Eligible projects
- All non-linear narrative forms: podcast, VR, AR, MR, immersive installation, artificial intelligence, video games, sound immersion, web series, dome, etc.
- All talents, established or not, can submit their project: directors, producers, authors;
- Projects must be at an advanced stage of development. We do not encourage projects whose creation has been finalised or which are in post-production;
- Entries from all countries are welcome.
- Applications must be submitted in English.
Project assessment
Projects will be assessed and selected by a jury of industry professionals based on the following criteria:
- Power and originality of the story and the storytelling;
- International relevance and potential for international co-production;
- Financial feasibility;
- Without being a prerequisite, other elements will be taken into consideration, such as plans for an impact strategy or a green / sustainability certification.
why pitch at sunny side?
With 300+ top-level international decision-makers in attendance, representing leading broadcasters, streamers, foundations, sales agents and other funders looking for impactful stories, pitching at sunny side is a unique opportunity to reach your future partners.
what benefits?
Key benefits also include: accessing a qualified and diverse professional audience, mentoring from industry experts, sealing potential financial deals, finding new partners, meeting with peers for potential co-production discussions, and much more.
Our pitching sessions will be held during the marketplace (La Rochelle, 19-22 June) and we will accomodate those who may not be able to travel to France to pitch online. Wherever you are, you’ll have the same chance to pitch.
What we are looking for
The Innovation WIP is aimed at documentary or documentary-inspired stories, regardless of category, format or technology used:
- XR (virtual reality, mixed reality, augmented reality),
- podcasts,
- video games,
- dome creation,
- video mapping.
In order to benefit from the support programme and the market in the best possible conditions, your project must be sufficiently advanced and mature, but not yet in post-production.