Women in Doc
Raising women's profile in the documentary industry

Diversity and gender-parity are crucial to the filmmaking process if documentary is to reflect experiences and perspectives of various groups in society. As the industry has grown more aware of the need to better include and represent a diversity of storytellers, Sunny Side of the Doc 2021 will put the spotlight on projects directed by women non fiction filmmakers as well as innovative policies/initiatives addressing gender-based disparities in the sector.
Through a dedicated Talent Hub session sponsored by ARTE, featuring a shortlist of 6 outstanding projects and open panel discussions, Sunny Side of the Doc aims to we amplify the voices of women directors and producers in a media landscape where more support and opportunities are needed to thrive and build fulfilling careers in the documentary film industry.Best Talent Hub Women In Doc

TO EMBODY
Produced by: Les Films du Tambour de Soie (France)
Directed by: Noëlie Giraud
Logline: How to reappropriate one's body after an amputation? This questioning guides Ineha Costerousse throughout her process to create a new profession that she named Body Designer. Is she an Inventor? An Alchemist? The film crosses the medical, psychological and artistic dimensions of disability to understand which cognitive mechanisms are put in place during irreversible bodily shocks...
Women in Doc Talent Hub Selection 2021

'TIL IT'S BACKWARDS
Produced by: Vice Studios (United States)
Directed by: Michele Mansoor
Logline: 'TIL IT'S BACKWARDS is a documentary feature that follows Gage Brown, 19, who is currently serving a 4-year juvenile life sentence, spending his most formative years behind bars. His experience is just another chapter in the age old story of cyclical incarceration. From his father, to his mother, to his younger brothers - he was born into a long lineage, of which the system spared no one.

NADIA
Produced by: Federation Entertainment (France), Echo Studio (France)
Directed by: Anissa Bonnefont
Logline: This feature-length documentary tells the incredible story of Nadia Nadim, once an Afghani refugee whose father was shot by the Taliban in 2000, now a PSG star player and an advocate for human rights.

QUEERYING NATURE
Produced by: Les Films de la Passerelle (Belgium)
Directed by: Aline Magrez
Logline: Thinking with scientists, philosophers and artists, Queerying Nature explores an animal world where sexualities and genders go hand in hand with diversity. Nature is so queer ! But could it be that the scientific narrative of nature reveals more about humans than it does about animals?

THE VOICE OF THE SILENT WALLS
Produced by: DOX BOX in collaboration with Inside Productions
Directed by: Lina Alabed, Salimata Bâ, Rim Harrabi, Yosra El-Gazzar, Rua Osman
Logline: The Voice of the Silent Walls weaves together the neglected but essential post colonial history of Tunisia through five architectural structures. The abandoned places mirror and interrogate the malaise of an entire generation today

TO EMBODY
Produced by: Les Films du Tambour de Soie (France)
Directed by: Noëlie Giraud
Logline: How to reappropriate one's body after an amputation? This questioning guides Ineha Costerousse throughout her process to create a new profession that she named Body Designer. Is she an Inventor? An Alchemist? The film crosses the medical, psychological and artistic dimensions of disability to understand which cognitive mechanisms are put in place during irreversible bodily shocks...

LIFE IS NOT A COMPETITION BUT I'M WINNING
Produced by: Schuldenberg Films (Germany)
Directed by: Julia Fuhr Mann
Logline: In a poetic-radical utopia, LIFE IS NOT A COMPETITION, BUT I’M WINNING whirls up the stereotypical gender rules in competitive sport. The film sets out in search of the queer-feminist potential in the Olympic disciplines of running and creates a world beyond rigid gender images.
TALENT HUB WOMEN IN DOC SPONSOR
An award sponsored by ARTE
Prize: 2,000 euros in cash
Quote
"ARTE is committed to welcoming, encouraging and supporting talent in all its diversity. It is in this spirit that the channel has launched Et pourtant, elles tournent, a short documentary film competition for women directors, supported by Scam. Starting in December 2020 and ending in May 2021, the presidency of this contest has been entrusted to the cartoonist Pénélope Bagieu and the awards ceremony will take place in the fall. Nearly 800 films have been collected! An exceptional result that reveals the need for visibility and expression of women in documentary." - Elodie Font, commissioning editor, Culture & Society Unit, ARTE
JURY
Esther Van Messel - First Hand Films
Alice Burgin - Sweetshop & Green
Lucila Moctezuma - Chicken & Egg Pictures