Sunny Side of the Doc, the international documentary market that takes place every year in La Rochelle, France, returns this year for its 34th edition until June 22. The event has been held since 1990, bringing together more than 1,200 participants, including around 300 buyers from more than 60 countries, who attend to seek opportunities in the highly demanded audiovisual genre.
Created by Yves Jeanneau, the event has the support of the CNC, and for thirty years it has sought to be a space for exchange between the players of the documentary genre, made up of creators, producers, broadcasters, distributors, etc.
The event has already become a must on the agenda of industry executives, due to its numerous opportunities, particularly in terms of international co-creations and co-productions, as it includes pitch sessions, round tables, workshops and networking activities. . Professionals go there to look for financing, distribution and sales channels, as well as to find out about trends in the sector, technological changes or even the economy of the media.
Sunny Side of the Doc selects around forty projects each year to compete in pitching sessions on global issues, nature and conversation, science, history, art and culture, new voices and impact campaigns. This last category was created this year to highlight works of political, social or environmental significance.
In total, 42 documentary projects were selected (out of 350 applications) for this 34th edition of Sunny Side of the Doc. They will be presented in front of more than 300 international decision makers. In each of the seven categories, the projects judged to be the most innovative will be awarded the prize for the best pitch accompanied by an economic endowment.
‘It’s a very special year for this new edition, because in 2023, France is putting the documentary genre in the spotlight, with the aim of raising its profile among the general public’, commented Mathieu Béjot, Director of Strategy and Development. Among the 42 documentary projects in competition, 12 are French productions or co-productions. On the programme, among others, the German documentary by Mark Craig, Apollo 1: Eternal Flame (story session) that reviews the world’s first space tragedy; that of the Spanish filmmaker Alexis Borràs, Alexina B. (art and culture session), on the creative process of the opera composer Raquel García-Tomás or the French documentary First Contact (nature and conversation session), the story of a beluga Escape from a secret Russian military base that a group of enthusiasts from the seabed will try to save. A film directed by Jérôme Delafosse and Fabrice Schnoller.
