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For the 23rd consecutive year, France’s Sunny Side of the Doc will transform the city of La Rochelle into a nonfiction film market rendezvous. The networking event, which takes place June 26-29, remains a top co-production forum and conference venue.
As of June 13, there were 1,400 registered participants, more than 600 companies, 290 buyers and commissioning editors from 60 countries. Execs from U.K. commercial channel ITV, Franco-German web Arte, Al Jazeera Documentary Channel, Finland’s pubcaster YLE, Belgium’s pubcaster RTBF, Discovery Networks Asia-Pacific, National Geographic Channels Intl. and Spain’s Multicanal and TV3 are all confirmed to attend. Despite the financially pummeled European market, Sunny Side’s founder Yves Jeanneau, a former documentary producer and exec at pubcaster France Televisions, says that the participant numbers are up 10% compared with last year while international commissioning editors and buyers are expected to rise by around the same percentage. “It’s gotten more difficult for filmmakers everywhere to start a project in this market,” Jeanneau says. “But at Sunny Side we offer possibilities for all types of documentaries, the big ones as well as the small ones, because we have distributors and broadcasters of all sizes coming from all over the world.” British and American attendance levels dropped year to year mainly due to last year’s Sheffield Doc/Fest Market’s date change from November to June. However, Middle Eastern, Latin American and Asian participation is on the rise due to the launch of regional outposts Latin Side of the Doc and Asian Side of the Doc co-production forums three years ago. “Four or five months ago I was anxious,” Jeanneau says. “I started thinking that this edition might be smaller or more difficult than ever before, but a look at the numbers and it’s clear that that’s not the case.” The event will feature various panels on topics ranging from China’s doc revolution to transforming doc content into an interactive experience. A workshop about what it takes for producers to make international shows for multiple territories will be headed by Elizabeth McIntyre, head of production and development at DNI Factual. In its fourth year, Sunny Side’s popular pitching session, Best Intl. Projects Showcase, will feature 26 docs at the early development stage. BIPS is divided into five categories: history, science and environment, investigation and society, feature docs and little gems. Chosen for their international potential by a jury, the best projects in each of the categories receives €2,000 ($2,500). New to this year’s program is Docs in Progress created specifically for docs near completion. Again chosen for their international potential, 20 projects will compete for funding in the form of pre-buys, technical participation in post-production and/or distribution. A jury will award one film in this category $2,500.
