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Discover the selected projects in our 7 pitching sessions.

jury members:

Clara Vuillermoz (Point du Jour-Les films du balibari)

Danielle McCarthy (Screen Tasmania)

Barbara Bouillon (ARTE GEIE)

Climate Wars

Produced by: Tremoniamedia Filmproduktion GmbH (Germany)

Directed by: Johan Gabrielsson

Logline: A soldier-turned-activist explores future security threats and the military’s increasing role within a changing climate.

Dark Side of the Metaverse

Produced by: Fathom Film Group (Canada)

Directed by: Susan Schafer

Logline: When Alex and friends dive into Roblox, Minecraft and Fortnite, they discover a dark side of the metaverse – sexual predators, guns, online casinos and Nazi uniforms. Alex teams up with a group of young people to uncover the truth behind the lack of regulations and spark a global conversation about child safety across the metaverse.

Grains of Paradise

Produced by: Väki Films (Finland), Les Films D’un Jour (France), Pilumpiku Production (Burkina Faso)

Directed by: Jenni Kivistö, Jussi Rastas

Logline: Reaching from Finland, Sibiry wants his Burkinabe home village to take their future into their own hands, at the same time freeing Sibiry from an unrealistic status he did not wish for.

Right-Wing Extremism: The New Terrorist Threat

Produced by: Roche Productions (France)

Directed by: Magali Serre

Logline: Often underestimated, sometimes ignored, the threat of ultra-right-wing terrorism continues to grow in Western societies. Emerging in tandem with populism, conspiracy theorists and far-right parties, it raises the risk of mass killings and large-scale attacks.

Shaking Up Sake

Produced by: Ritornello Films Llc (Japan)

Directed by: Mikako Ito

Logline: A 250-year-old Japanese sake brewery in a deep mountain and a large US Arkansas farm join forces to revolutionize global dining.

This is a Quiet Love

Produced by: Curious North Productions Ltd (Ireland)

Directed by: Garry Keane 

Logline: In this intimate feature documentary, four Deaf couples share the stories of how they met and fell in love. Together, these cinematic love letters weave a rich tapestry of Deaf experience over a period of 70 years.

a word from the pitch sponsor

RTBF

“Instant information provokes us, awakens our fears and reveals our anxieties. However, our reflections must be based on other sources. Questioning, analysing, decoding, multiplying perspectives and views to avoid a single thought and develop our opinions, even if they are contradictory or disturbing for a moment. For RTBF, it is essential to encourage and support initiatives that contribute to breaking down barriers and allow a better understanding of our world, in all its complexity. The necessary step back, the unique angle of view, the longer-term perspective, but also the creativity in the film-maker’s eye are all necessary additions that avoid monochromy and enrich these snapshots of life that document in a different way our ever-changing world.” – Vincent Godfroid, head of documentary acquisitions RTBF

jury members:

Kirstie McLure (Big Wave Tv)

Nicolas Deschamps (Troisième Oeil)

Gunnar Dedio (LOOKSFilm)

A Year Among Wolves

Produced by: Le Cinquième Rêve (France), Belgica Films (Belgium)

Directed by: Tanguy Dumortier, Olivier Larrey

Logline: To observe and share the life of a pack of wild wolves.
A dream for Yves the painter and Olivier the photographer…
In the no man’s land between Finland and Russia, they wait for the pack in a lookout of a few square meters. Throughout the seasons, motionless and silent in the middle of a wilderness, they immerse in the wolves life.

Divia

Produced by: UP UA Studio (Ukraine), Gogol Film (Poland)

Directed by: Hreshko Dmytro

Logline: Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the state of Ukrainian nature has been deteriorating catastrophically. Thousands of kilometers of mutilated land, poisonous rivers, mined fields and forests. Wild and abandoned domestic animals are on the verge of survival. The scale of the tragedy is immense with no hope of a quick resolution.

First Contact

Produced by: IMAGISSIME (France)

Directed by: Jérôme Delafosse, Fabrice Schnoller

Logline: In Northern Norway, a beluga whale escaped from a secret Russian military base becomes a gigantic social media phenomenon and sees his life endangered. Fascinated by him, a French scientist and his daughter, a repentant Norwegian whaler and a former aqua park trainer decide to save him at all costs. But in the end, who will really save whom?

Super Nature

Produced by: Nature Hunter Film Ltd. (United Kingdom)

Directed by: Ed Sayers

Logline: A celebration of wildlife created on Super 8 by people connecting across the globe. A cinematic film using music and voice to take us on a journey where diverse filmmakers share local stories. We are all connected through nature with each other, and a more harmonious existence benefits us all.

The Kimberley

Produced by: Wild Pacific Media (Australia)

Directed by: Nick Robinson

Logline: The Kimberley is Australia’s wild frontier. This vast, inaccessible landscape is a biological ark, a refuge for countless species and the front line of biodiversity conservation. Experience a year in the lives of the unique animals that call The Kimberley home, and follow the experts working to save the incredible biodiversity of the region.

Unspoken Souls - The Elephant's Alarm for Our Future

Produced by: KM Tomyam Co., LTD. (Thailand)

Directed by: Koh Okuno, Mieko Saho

Logline: After 20 years of pushing Thailand’s tourism industry to end its abuse of domesticated elephants, Lek must set her eyes on the future. While fostering a new generation to inherit her will, she strives to protect the remaining forests that elephants and people depend on. Her challenge symbolizes the world’s struggle to build a sustainable future.

a word from the pitch sponsor

Blue Ant International & Love Nature

“Love Nature takes viewers on a journey into the natural world. Our productions combine stunning visuals with compelling storytelling to create a unique and insightful look at the world around us. Along with Blue ant International, Love Nature is proud to sponsor the Nature & Conservation Pitch.”

Alison Barrat, SVP, Production & Development, Love Nature

jury members:

Valérie Abita (Sombrero & Co )

Clare Birks (Oxford Scientific Films)

Sam Joyce (TVF International)

Bolts from the blue – the secrets of lightning

Produced by: CAPA (France)

Directed by: François Tribolet

Logline: What if life was sparked by lightning? After millennia of fascination and mystery, a community of scientists and experts are about to unravel the true nature of lightning, unveil its power and perhaps even… Its role in the emergence of life on Earth.

HOPE! The greatest opportunity ever

Produced by: El Gatoverde Producciones (Spain)

Directed by: Álvaro Ron

Logline: Stunning images, a pioneering simulator, and some of the best experts worldwide will join our trip toward a more fair and sustainable society. A docuseries about the solutions that may allow us to reverse the climate crisis on time. Or not. HOPE! focuses on successful solutions tested worldwide but also looks at some of the trouble ahead of us.

The Opposite Direction

Produced by: Hormiga Argentina (Argentina)

Directed by: Julia Castro

Logline: On Huemul Island, Patagonia Argentina, undergrowth cover the laboratories of Ronald Richter, the man who wanted to create a new sun there. The undergrowth also covers the history, but the legend is only the shadow of the truth.

The mystery of the desert kites

Produced by: Ma drogue à moi (MDAM) (France)

Directed by: Nathalie Laville

Logline: In northern Saudi Arabia and southern Jordan, there are thousands of mysterious geometric structures, the shape of which, when seen from the sky, are reminiscent of huge kites. The most ancient of these gigantic stone alignments were created in around 7000 BC.
This makes them some of the oldest structures in human history. Who built them? And why?

Science's forgotten people

Produced by: Good to Know S.A.S. (France)

Directed by: Laurence Thiriat

Logline: What if history of science was not what you think?
Great discoveries have not always been made by those we think of. This series of short animated documentaries deals with the amazing stories of eminent scientists who, despite their research and great discoveries, were not recognized by their peers for various reasons (discriminations, etc).

Phenomena

Produced by: Mashup Pictures (Australia)

Directed by: Josef Gatti

Logline: Phenomena is an experimental documentary feature film where science and art collide to uncover naturally occurring patterns and the forces and elements that create them. An ambitious, visually stunning, and psychedelic journey through the fabric of the universe that explores the connections that bind us and the natural world together, leading to a new perspective on our place in the universe.

a word from the pitch sponsor

CCTV9

“It was in the Science pitching session of the Sunny Side of the Doc 2019 that CCTV-9 Documentary’s proposal of China’s lunar exploration project and international cooperation made its debut on international media. Four years later, after the global pandemic, BEYOND THE FAR SIDE: the Dawn of the Space Revolution, an international coop documentary has been completed. CCTV-9 Documentary took this opportunity to participate in the Sunny Side of the Doc once again, with more in-depth cooperation with the Science pitching session. As China’s largest professional documentary channel operated by CMG Film,Drama and Documentary Programming Center (CMG FDDPC), science has always been an important theme of our consistent interest. We look forward to more international cooperation projects in the future.”

jury members:

Nha-Uyen Chau (Looking Glass International)

Josette D. Normandeau (Ideacom)

Fernando Dias (Grifa Filmes)

Apollo 1 : Eternal Flame

Produced by: Seventyone Films (Germany)

Directed by: Mark Craig

Logline: Apollo 1 : Eternal Flame is the story of the world’s first space tragedy – which took the lives of three exceptional astronauts. It tells of the devastating impact on their families, and the lasting influence the accident has had on all space flights since, as Artemis prepares to return humans to the Moon.

Diary of an Infiltrator

Produced by: Bioesferica Filmes (Chile), Doclab Srl (Italy), Vertice 360 (Spain)

Directed by: Samuel Leòn, Saùl Valverde

Logline: A real spy story that, through unseen papers, photographs and 16mm films, reveals for the first time how a Spanish journalist managed to infiltrate Pinochet’s regime with the active support of Italian Director Roberto Rossellini, providing evidences of the concentration camps thus saving many prisoners.

Free to Surf: a Polynesian Revolution

Produced by: YAMI 2 (France)

Directed by: Benjamin Morel

Logline: The 2024 Olympic surf contest will take place in French Polynesia (Tahiti). Based on a Polynesian point of view, the film, like a pop investigation, tells the cultural and political story of surfing. How an ancestral tradition, at first opposed by Westerners, became a worldwide activity.

Samantha Smith, The Little girl who believed in peace

Produced by: Bonne Pioche Télévision (France)

Directed by: Yannick Adam de Villiers

Logline: 1982, the Cold War is at its peak. Samantha, a 10-year-old American girl writes a letter to the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), Yuri Andropov, asking him to stop hostilities with her country. In response, he invited her to visit the USSR.

The Srebrenica Tape

Produced by: Docdays Productions GmbH (Germany)

Directed by: : Chiara Sambuchi

Logline: In possession of a rare VHS tape shot by her father during the enclave years of Srebrenica, Alisa goes on a journey to uncover the history of her war-torn family, in search of understanding and healing. An intimate search for traces and a journey back to the enclave years of Srebrenica and the massacre of July 1995.

Vietnam – Our Voice Unheard

Produced by: LOOKS Film & TV Produktionen GmbH (Germany)

Directed by: Lucio Mollica 

Logline: Between 1945 and 1975, the Vietnamese fought against the French, the Americans and among themselves, in fratricide wars that changed the world. With unprecedented access to Vietnamese archives and witnesses from all sides, the series looks at the history of this country from the perspective of the Vietnamese women and men who lived through it.

a word from the pitch sponsor

PBS International

“PBS International is proud to return as a sponsor of the History Pitch at Sunny Side of the Doc. Looking at today’s global events, it is fair to say that history not only repeats itself, but informs the present and foretells the future. This makes responsible and engaging history programming more essential than ever.”

Tom Koch, Vice President, PBS International

jury members:

Philippe U. del Drago (Le FIFA)

Marion Camus-Oberdorfer (ORF)

Silvia De Felice (Rai)

Alexina B.

Produced by: Digital Films (Spain)

Directed by: Alexis Borràs

Logline: A documentary about the creative process of the new opera by the composer Raquel García-Tomás (1984), Spanish National Music Prize 2020, from the moment she decides to rescue Alexina Barbin’s story, one of the first intersex people to be recognized as it in nineteenth-century France, until its première at the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

The Sleeper

Produced by: Morena films (Spain)

Directed by: Longoria Alvaro

Logline: A thrilling journey into the unknown and shadowy world of sleeper artwork hunters.

Cerrone – Disco Paradise

Produced by: Bonne Pioche Télévision (France)

Directed by: Olivier Lemaire

Logline: “Right time, right place” is his motto. Just like his long and crazy life. Almost fifty years of career, more than thirty million albums sold, many collaborations with iconic artists. He earned respect from the young rap and electro generation, that already started sampling him.
Cerrone is still running.

Shakespeare's Folio

Produced by: Kublai Film (Italy)

Directed by: Raffaella Rivi

Logline: The only all-female Shakespearian group in Italy confronts “Othello”. Preparing the play raises many questions on how to deal with racism, jealousy, gender, power and fake news issues. How will they deal with the hot topics arising?

Fatma Said – Reviving a Forgotten Treasure

Produced by: 3B-Produktion GmbH (Germany)

Directed by: Ralf Pleger

Logline: “Fatma Said – Reviving a Forgotten Treasure” is a colorful, touching, and entertaining documentary and film musical that bridges the cultures of the Middle East and Europe. The film follows acclaimed soprano Fatma Said on her mission to save a treasure of Arab culture that is in danger of disappearing: the astonishing work of Mohamed Abdelwahab.

Wifredo Lam : The Eternal Exile

Produced by: Mar Vivo Films (Hong-Kong – China)

Directed by: Jean-Luc Bonefacino

Logline: The life and art of the eternally exiled Afro-Cuban Chinese painter Wifredo Lam.

jury members:

Benjamin Muasya (Producer)

Ana Castañosa (FIFDH)

Teri Calder (ABC Australia)

Pülö; Bloodstream of the Kirike

Produced by: Imbuu Media Limited (Nigeria)

Directed by: Christina Ifubaraboye

Logline: Pülö means blood and oil. Oil is the blood of Kirike, it keeps the people going. Blood is the stream of life, what happens when this stream is poisoned? The lives of the Kirike people, who rely on the island’s water, are under threat.

#SHOUT

Produced by: One Life Studios Pvt. Ltd. (India)

Directed by: Vinta Nanda 

Logline: The 95-minute film SHOUT captures a momentous fragment of feminist Indian history in context to the discourse on Gender inequality in its continuum, and provides a window for the audiences to view the significance of the women’s movements in India over the years.

Marion and the River

Produced by: Bachibouzouk et Les Poissons Volants (France)

Directed by: Laetitita Moreau, Marion Sellenet

Logline: Marion suffers from a rare known genetic myopathy, which no cure. But Marion refuses a binary vision of the world divided between the sick and non-sick people. This movie is a deconstructive work of those clichés, of that boundary that does not make any sense to her. Being alive among the living, that’s all.

The Daughter of the Volcano

Produced by: Auna Producciones S.L. (Spain)

Directed by: Jenifer de la Rosa

Logline: Jenifer was one week old when the tragedy of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia occurred, prompting her adoption in Spain.
Thirty years later, she returns to her home country determined to find her biological mother.

The Pickers

Produced by: Berlin Producers Media GmbH (Germany)

Directed by: Elke Sasse

Logline: We want cheap fruit and veg, all year. No problem. The Pickers deliver, but they are paying the price for us: Exploited migrants harvest our tomatoes, strawberries, carrots and other fruit and vegetables in Greece, Spain, Italy, Germany, or Portugal.
Our impact campaign raises awareness among consumers about their personal “slaves” on the fields.

a word from the pitch sponsor

WaterBear Network

“WaterBear is delighted to be working with Sunny Side of the Doc for another year. We are committed to driving impact through storytelling and share a common mission of encouraging international co-production and supporting emerging talent from less-represented areas of the world to tell their stories.”

jury members:

Judy Rymer (Rymer Childs)

Ann Shin (Fathom Film)

Mohamed ElMongy (Al Jazeera)

Framing Her

Produced by: We Have a Plan (Sweden)

Directed by: Coco Wouters

Logline: Leaving a difficult past behind, a young filmmaker embarks on a three year long journey looking for mentors and guiding stars. With her camera she captures life-changing encounters with female filmmakers spanning five countries. But, will Coco’s roots hold her back, or will she manage to set herself free?

Life in the Shadows

Produced by: Kamay Film (Afghanistan)

Directed by: K.D.

Logline: Years after his classmates were massacred at his school in Pakistan, K.D. records the lives of Machid, who attends the same school, and Khatima, who works in the cemetery where the dead students are buried.

The Rabbis’ Intifada

Produced by: Gefilte Fish Films (United States)

Directed by: Heather Tenzer

Logline: An American Jewish progressive follows 4 rabbis from New York & Jerusalem as they speak out in cities around the world in support of Palestinian liberation. She attempts to share their story with her former religious community. But will anyone listen? A Jewish uprising against Israeli apartheid, it’s filmed in 9 countries.

Don’t worry Sari!

Produced by: Campfilm (Hungary)

Directed by: Sari Haragonics

Logline: To what extent are we responsible for the ones we love?

Copan

Produced by: MVM Movimentos & Culturais (Brazil)

Directed by: Carine Wallauer

Logline: Copan is a microcosm of everything Brazil stands for: the good, the bad and the ugly. This portrait of the largest residential building in Latin America and its inhabitants shines a light on a country being torn apart by corruption, populism, polarized politics and a collapsing democracy.

Forest Hana

Produced by: Water in a Glass (South Korea)

Directed by: Junsung Kim

Logline: As wildfires ravage the forest surrounding a centuries-old Buddhist temple, the master of temple food seeks to impart her philosophy of meditative, vegan cooking to young nuns and children. Having overcome her own illness through the practice of temple food, she faces the new challenge of passing down the legacy of temple food amid climate crises.

a word from the pitch sponsor

Al Jazeera Documentary Channel & AJB DOC Film Festival

“AJB DOC Film Festival & Al Jazeera Documentary Channel are devoted to finding and presenting new documentary voices to the world. Long-term partnership with Sunny side of the Doc is helping us be on the right path. Many great projects can be found there, and we are proud to be sponsors of the New voices pitch.”

Adel Ksiksi, manager of programming · Aljazeera Documentary Channel

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