Sunny Side '23

At Sunny Side of the Doc 2023, BDE caught up with Catherine Le Clef, CEO and Head of Acquisitions and Sales of Paris-based sales agent CAT&Docs. The Paris-based sales doyenne emphasised how “rigour, respect, curiosity, diversity and innovation” underline the company’s editorial policy and commitment “to meet the demands of national and international markets.”

The German project Fatma Said – Reviving a Forgotten Treasure (Ralf Pleger) picked up the Best Pitch Award Arts & Culture category June 21 at Sunny Side of the Doc. “This is a project we want to see on screens because it tells a story that bridges the gap between the past and present, classical and contemporary cultures, and the Arabic and Western worlds,” said the jury.

Archive is in the frame at Sunny Side 2023 with two Industry sessions Wednesday June 21. The first session introduces three new sector organisations that have launched in France, Germany and Spain over the past 12 months, while the second session is set to address archives and innovation. Both are moderated by archive producer & copyright clearance specialist Elizabeth Klinck. “There's a real need for archive producers, people who understand the process artistically, financially and logistically,” she tells BDE.

Polish Docs PRO returns to Sunny Side in 2023 with a delegation of 5 producers representing nine projects. These include profiles of two giants of Polish cinema, the controversial Roman Polański and the maverick Andrzej Wajda, and four projects from production company Kijora. “Polish producers are very professional and well prepared for the international co-productions, which makes them very good partners," underlines KFF Sales & Promotion MD Barbara Orlicz-Szczypuła.

Produced by Good to Know (Paris), Science’s Forgotten People is a 20 x 5-minute animated doc series that tells the amazing stories of scientists who, despite their brilliance, their brains and their groundbreaking discoveries, were not recognized by their peers. Many of these scientists were, inevitably, women. The Sunny Side pitch was made with the assistance of Jocelyn Bell Burnell, the discoverer of the pulsar.

Sunny Side of the Doc’s seven pitching sessions will run 19 to 22 June 2023 in La Rochelle, France. Forty-two pre-selected projects will be presented to a panel of industry insiders from around the globe, including leading commissioning editors, buyers, funds, sales agents, distributors and co-production partners.

The French project Science's Forgotten People (Laurence Thiriat) and the Irish project This is a Quiet Love (Garry Keane) win in the Science and Global Issues categories respectively. Magali Serre’s Right-wing Extremism: The New Terrorist Threat was handed the Impact Social Club Award.

Over four days, the market attracted 2,000+ participants from 64 different countries, 1,000 companies, 90 exhibitors and 300 international decision-makers including major global broadcasters, streamers, foundations, sales agents, funders and museums. "Sunny Side of the Doc is asserting its unique status as the international market place for all forms of storytelling and documentary,” said Director of Strategy Mathieu Béjot.

“The 2023 edition of the Global Pitch for Global Change is devoted to Climate Change: its consequences on our societies and the concrete solutions implemented around the world,” write organisers of the project pitch event running online 7-8 February and for which 12 projects have been selected (out of 100 submissions from 37 countries) to compete for a cash prize of €3,000.

The Australian producer/director team of Rob Innes and Josef Gatti presented their visually absorbing feature project Phenomena during Sunny Side. It is a work that finds beauty in the fusion of art and science “This project began at a time in my life where I was feeling disconnected and unsure of where I fit in the world,” director Gatti told the Industry audience. “And so I turned to the natural world in search of meaning, and I was completely moved.”