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The prolific US director discusses his new documentary with Oscar-winning James Marsh (2008, Man On Fire). American Symphony explores a year in the life of musician Jon Batiste, chronicling his career in music (including his 11 nominations at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards) and the struggles that his wife, best-selling author Suleika Jaouad, faces with cancer. “To see these two amazing individuals navigate these highs and lows of life was incredible,” says Heineman.

Norway came up trumps at Sundance 2024 where A New Kind of Wilderness won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary, while Ibelin received The Directing Award and The Audience Award in the same section. The U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Doc went to Porcelain War, while Daughters won the Festival Favourite Award and US Doc Audience Award. The Belgian doc Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat won the World Cinema Doc Special Jury Award for Cinematic Innovation.

The Thessaloniki Int’l Doc Fest this year adds the Talking Heads masterclass platform to its Agora Talks programme, designed to “reshape the original form of masterclasses to foster inclusive and safe collective conversations, directly addressing the industry's needs [where] engaging discussions and diverse voices converge, creating an environment for collaborative exploration and innovation.”

A total of 29 new projects have been selected to participate 14-17 April across Visions du Réel Industry’s four pitch events this year. 15 projects in development are selected for VdR–Pitching, and six projects in finishing stages will be presented at the VdR–Work In Progress pitch. Four projects have been selected within both the VdR–Rough Cut Lab and the VdR–Development Lab respectively.

“I made the decision to start working on this film half an hour after I learnt that my father had died,” Polish filmmaker Aneta Ptak tells Business Doc Europe of the genesis of her debut documentary feature Birdie, developed at Ex Oriente. “No other experience can compare to the experience of losing a very important person in your life. It’s like there’s something really terrifying and at the same time sacred about it.”

The True Film by Christina Zimmermann wins the DOK.digital – Award for New Narrative Formats, while the DOK.archive award goes to Our Sister Angela – Black Power in the GDR by Katharina Warda and Jascha Hannover. The DOK.talent Award is given to the project Politik ist persönlich by Indira Geisel (HFF München). All awards…

Eight filmmakers and executives will form the first board of trustees of the Documentary Film Council (DFC), the new national membership organisation designed to represent the interests of the sector in the UK. The trustees were elected on a 58.2% turnout, and will formally take over from the interim board at Sheffield DocFest at the DFC’s annual Open Assembly and AGM on Saturday June 15.

At IDFA, HotDocs programming director Shane Smith confirmed to Business Doc Europe that the festival’s collaboration with European Film Promotion on the Changing Faces of Europe programme will continue in 2020.

Facebook post casts serious doubt over the Syrian director's (The Cave) ability to attend the Oscar ceremony, and to promote the film in the US pre-event.

Five world prems plus 4 international premieres in International Competition. All are world prems in French competition.