Several documentaries in production are leaving Sunny Side of the Doc – the world’s biggest nonfiction film marketplace – with renewed momentum and exposure.
Sunny Side wrapped Thursday with an awards ceremony announcing winners of the Pitch Sessions in multiple categories. Winning Best History Pitch was Our Sister Angela: Black Power in the GDR, a film from directors Jascha Hannover and Katharina Warda, produced by Florianfilm GmbH (Germany), Dare Pictures (U.K.), and La Lutta (United States). It tells a story little known outside the former East Germany – how Angela Davis, the American Black Power activist and Marxist thinker, became a sensation in the GDR (German Democratic Republic), a client state of the USSR.
‘Our Sister Angela: Black Power in the GDR’
Florianfilm GmbH/Dare Pictures/La Lutta
“In East Germany, [Davis] was the biggest superstar ever,” Warda told Deadline after winning the pitch award. “There were statues built in her honor. There were paintings made of her. She was in every beauty magazine.”
The project leverages material shot in the GDR in the 1970s.
“Most of that archive was filmed by the East German state, which is also an interesting layer to the story,” Hannover said. Warda added, “Angela Davis’s visits [to the GDR] were documented so heavily at that time because it was state propaganda, but now we can profit from it because we have so much material to look at and to work with.”
The pitch award comes with a €3,000 prize.
A Special Jury Mention in the Best History Pitch category was awarded to The Curse of Sugar, directed by Mathilde Damoisel and produced by Hauteville Productions (France).
Factstory/AFP
Inside Gaza, directed by Hélène Lam Trong and produced by Factstory, AFP – Agence France Presse (France), won Best Global Issues Pitch. The documentary sheds light on the catastrophic impact of Israel’s invasion of Gaza in response to Hamas’s devastating sneak attack on Israel on October 7.
“This film is a powerful document that reveals the inside story of a war the vast majority of international media have not been allowed to cover,” reads the logline for the documentary. “Inside Gaza tells the story of journalists reporting under rocket fire and propaganda from all sides, witnessing human distress while trying to ensure their own survival as well as that of their relatives and friends.”
Producers of Inside Gaza tell Business Doc Europe they hope to release the film next summer.
Storyland PTY
Best Science Pitch went to The Brain Garden, directed by Randall Wood and produced by Storyland PTY LTD. (Australia). It’s centered around Wood, a veteran documentary filmmaker from Australia who suffered a traumatic brain injury in an accident 18 months ago, and the healing modalities he discovered through ecotherapy.
“It is a personal story, but it’s actually a totally universal story,” Wood told Deadline. “What people don’t know is that there are around 69 million traumatic brain injuries globally each year. So, I’m one of millions of people who go through this.”
Randall Wood (at podium) pitches ‘The Brain Garden’ at Sunny Side of the Doc
Matthew Carey
Judges from the PBS science series NOVA and the CBC were among those who evaluated the six science pitches, including The Brain Garden. Winner of the pitch in that category, which also comes with a €3,000 award, was announced on Tuesday. Woods teared up when he heard his project would take home the prize.
“I think my tears — because I was a little emotional standing up there — were not just myself, but actually for the whole cause, the idea that we bring this issue to the front,” he said, “because traumatic brain injury is described internationally as the invisible injury because people don’t see it.”
Producer Ina Fichman (L) and director Ashley Duong (center) accept the Student Choice Award for ‘Ba’s Book’
Matthew Carey
The Student Choice Award went to Ba’s Book, directed by Ashley Duong and produced by Ina Fichman, from production company Intuitive Pictures. The film’s logline reads, “As a father writes a memoir to his daughter about his harrowing experiences of both the Vietnam War and the Iranian Revolution, the daughter responds by making a film. Through their creative dialogue, this hybrid documentary offers a disarming look at the legacy of war.”
Among Special Awards, the Best Impact Movie Award went to Unwelcomed, directed by Sebastian González Méndez and Amilcar Infante and produced by Amilcar Films. It’s a story of mass human migration – but not one on the radar of many people. Millions of Venezuelans have fled their country as it has descended into political and economic turmoil under President Nicolás Maduro. About a million and a half alone headed south, eventually making it to Chile.
‘Unwelcomed’
Amilcar Films
Unwelcomed is structured around “an anti-migrant parade that happened in the north of Chile because of this Venezuelan exodus,” Infante told Deadline. “Over 5,000 people marched against migrants and they were burning their tents, their belongings… It’s people [Venezuelan migrants] that’s been traumatized already in their country. You have to be traveling for a year to pass through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia. And in every place you go, you receive a kick in the butt. Who wants a poor migrant? Nobody.”
‘Unwelcomed’ directors Sebastian González Méndez and Amilcar Infante with their award at Sunny Side of the Doc.
Matthew Carey
Infante said he wasn’t expecting his film to win the Best Impact Movie Award. “The other projects were very interesting, and honestly, we haven’t finished the film yet, so we haven’t had time actually to put together more strong ideas or ways to have an impact campaign, which was the selection where we were part of. I was very surprised. But in the end, I’m very, very happy.”
This is the full list of Best Pitch winners at the 35th Sunny Side of the Doc in La Rochelle, France:
BEST SCIENCE PITCH Sponsored by PBS Distribution
THE BRAIN GARDEN
Produced by: Storyland PTY LTD. (Australia) Directed by: Randall Wood
BEST NEW VOICES PITCH Sponsored by Al Jazeera & AJB DOC Film Festival
DREAM OF THE WILD OAKS
Produced by: Seven Spring Pictures (Iran) Directed by: Marjan Khosravi
BEST GLOBAL ISSUES PITCH Sponsored by RTBF
INSIDE GAZA
Produced by: Factstory, AFP – Agence France Presse (France) Directed by: Hélène Lam Trong
Special Jury Mention:
SILENCE OF THE LAMS
Produced by: EZ Films (Ireland) Directed by: Ciaran Deeney
BEST ARTS & CULTURE PITCH Sponsored by Al Jazeera Documentary Channel & AJB DOC Film Festival
THE SHAPE OF BLUE
Produced by: Intuitive Pictures inc. (Canada) Directed by: Sybilla Patrizia
BEST IMPACT CAMPAIGNS PITCH
THE MYTH OF MONSTERS
Produced by: Gather Together (Malaysia) Directed by: Beatrice Leong
BEST NATURE & CONSERVATION PITCH
Sponsored by Blue Ant Media & Love Nature
EMPALIKINO
Produced by: Ripple Productions Ltd (Kenya) Directed by: Eric Mwangi
BEST HISTORY PITCH
OUR SISTER ANGELA: BLACK POWER IN THE GDR
Produced by: Florianfilm GmbH (Germany), Dare Pictures (U.K.), La Lutta (United States)
Directed by: Jascha Hannover & Katharina Warda
Special Jury Mention:
THE CURSE OF SUGAR
Produced by: Hauteville Productions (France) Directed by: Mathilde Damoisel
SPECIAL AWARDS WINNERS:
AIDC AWARD
DREAM OF THE WILD OAKS
Produced by: Seven Spring Pictures (Iran) Directed by: Marjan Khosravi
PITCH THE DOC AWARD
A SATELLITE FOR BURU LAÏ
Produced by: Gédéon Programmes (France) Directed by: Antoine Lechat & Suium Sulaimanova
STUDENT CHOICE AWARD
BA’S BOOK
Produced by: Ina Fichman (Canada) Directed by: Ashley Duong
IMZ AWARD
NIEMEYER 4EVER
Produced by: Special Touch Studios (France) Directed by: Aurélia Makdessi
The Roch Bozino de l’engagement AWARD
TALES AND SENTENCES
Produced by: Little Big Story (France) Directed by: Alexandre Donot-Saby
IMPACT SOCIAL CLUB AWARD
EVERY OTHER GIRL
Produced by: Cinatrix Media (Gambia) Directed by: Abdoulie B. Jarju
BEST IMPACT MOVIE AWARD
UNWELCOMED
Produced by: Amilcar Films (Chili)
Directed by: Sebastian González Méndez & Amilcar Infante
INSTITUTE OF DOCUMENTARY FILM AWARD
A SATELLITE FOR BURU LAÏ
Produced by: Gédéon Programmes (France) Directed by: Antoine Lechat & Suium Sulaimanova
DOCEDGE AWARD
YURLU | COUNTRY
Produced by: Illuminates Films (Australia) Directed by: Yaara Bou Melhem
MOVIES THAT MATTER AWARD
YURLU | COUNTRY
Produced by: Illuminates Films (Australia) Directed by: Yaara Bou Melhem
AL JAZEERA DOCUMENTARY INDUSTRY DAYS AWARD
INSIDE GAZA
Produced by: Factstory, AFP – Agence France Presse (France) Directed by: Hélène Lam Trong