During one of the conferences on the opening day of Sunny Side of the Doc 2026 in La Rochelle, the National Centre for Cinema and the Animated Image (CNC) announced that France’s primary international documentary market will permanently relocate to Strasbourg starting in June 2027. The decision, revealed to attendees on Monday, marks the end of the event’s 27-year tenure on the Atlantic coast and shifts the factual programming industry’s main European business hub to the Grand Est region.
CNC President Gaëtan Bruel outlined the transition during the session, directly addressing the necessity of adapting the market to current industry demands. ‘The creation of this new international documentary market in Strasbourg marks a major step for the structuring and outreach of the sector’, Bruel stated. ‘In a context of sector reconfiguration, it is essential to ambitiously position an internationally recognized market that also promotes the associated institutional challenges. I want to believe that the impact of this new event will be decisive in fostering meetings and cooperation, but also in diversifying and accelerating access to the financing that will sustain the diversity of documentary perspectives’.
Organizers selected Strasbourg specifically for its established institutional ecosystem, as the city houses the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, the European Audiovisual Observatory, Eurimages, and the broadcaster Arte. By positioning the market in this political center, the CNC intends to facilitate immediate access to regulatory bodies and decision-makers. The revised format for 2027 will feature a dedicated European segment, providing a practical venue to negotiate co-production financing, cross-border distribution, and operational frameworks directly with institutional players.
The announcement on Monday also served as the official conclusion of the current market structure. Before concluding his presentation, Bruel used the opening day platform to acknowledge the four-decade legacy of the original event, recognizing the foundational work of the late Yves Jeanneau, the outgoing DocServices organizing team, and the local governments of Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Charente-Maritime for their historical support.
