28/06/2019 - With a 15% hike in attendance levels, the 30th edition of the international market for documentaries and narrative experiences certainly kept all of its promises

The team behind Claude Monet, l’obsession des nymphéas with their PiXii Grand Prize (© Jean-François Augé/Studio Ouest)

The 30^th Sunny Side of the Doc, the international market for documentaries and narrative experiences, was a particularly successful edition, as it saw a 15% hike in attendance levels. Indeed, the event, which unspooled in La Rochelle from 24-27 June, welcomed 2,300 accredited industry professionals hailing from 70 countries. This increasingly international event was marked by a very strong German presence (150 producers, broadcasters and representatives of regional support funds), as it was the country in the spotlight this year, but also by a 25% increase in the number of British professionals. And that’s not to mention a session at which Diego Buñuel presented Netflix’s documentary strategy, which unleashed quite a frenzy at the gathering – a sign of a great deal of undeniable “hype” but also indicative of the current tensions on the production funding scene in France (which have been heightened by the one-stop shop created by France Télévisions, resulting in a huge bottleneck for projects), as the US platform actually only invests in four or five docs per year in each of the big European countries.

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Particularly noteworthy on the list of winners in the five themed pitching sessions, which enabled 300 international decision-makers, programme heads, buyers and distributors to weigh up 36 projects from 18 countries that were in search of financing, was Kubrick by Kubrick [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Grégory Monro, produced by French outfit Temps Noir in co-production with Arte, which claimed victory in the Arts & Culture category. This 52-minute project, which is being pre-sold by Mediawan, can boast the involvement of critic Michel Ciment, considered to be the specialist on the famous filmmaker, which allowed the team to get exceptional permission from the Kubrick family to gain access to the family archives that they own the rights to. Michel Ciment enjoyed privileged access to Stanley Kubrick, with whom he recorded interviews over a period of almost 30 years. These exclusive interviews are the starting point for the documentary, which will be made up solely of archive images and interspersed with the voice of Kubrick himself, giving key pointers to enable a better understanding of his body of work.

Here is the complete list of award winners:

PiXii (Paths of Interaction, Experiences in Immersion and Innovation) Grand Prize
Claude Monet, l’obsession des nymphéas
Produced by Lucid Realities (France)
Director: Nicolas Thépot

Best Arts & Culture Pitch
Kubrick by Kubrick [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Temps Noir, in co-production with Arte, France)
Writer-director: Grégory Monro

Best Science Pitch
Scat Man (Terra Mater Factual Studios, Austria)
Writer-director: Ruth Berry

Best Natural History and Wildlife Pitch
Turtle Walkers (Emaho Films, India)
Writer-director: Taira Malaney

Best Social and Human Interest Pitch
Nenets vs Gas (Little Big Story, France)
Writer-director: Sergio Ghizzardi

Best History Pitch
Antoine the Fortunate (Anemon, Greece/Les Films du Balibari, France)
Writer-director: Nefin Dinc

East Doc Market Award
Nenets vs Gas (Little Big Story, France)
Writer-director: Sergio Ghizzardi

(Translated from French)