Business Doc Europe

1 week ago | businessdoceurope.com | Geoffrey Macnab

“Actually, and this is absolutely true, me and Sun met the first time at a road side rest stop between Pyongyang and DMZ (The Korean Demilitarised  Zone),” Norwegian director Morten Traavik describes his highly unlikely first encounter with Sun Kim, his co-director on North South Man Woman (a world premiere in international competition at Sheffield DocFest). This chance meeting in a lay-by in North Korea happened in 2012. Traavik had been organising a festival of Norwegian culture in North Korea.

1 week ago | businessdoceurope.com | Nick Cunningham

“At its core, Dungeon Masterhood is a documentary about adolescence, centred around an ongoing game of Dungeons & Dragons spanning multiple years,” UK producer Steven Lake (Phantom Parrot, 2023) tells Business Doc Europe on the eve of the 32nd Sheffield DocFest. “The appeal of the story lies in its youth-centred nature.

1 week ago | businessdoceurope.com | Nick Cunningham

Cuba and Alaska are not their real names of course, rather codenames applied in the field of combat, to be used alongside soubriquets ascribed to other Ukrainian military personnel, such as Artist, Javelin or, for obvious reasons, Baldhead. Yulia is called Cuba because of her tanned skin and dark hair, while Olexandra is named Alaska because she is “distant and cold,” she laughs in response to the question.

1 week ago | businessdoceurope.com | Nick Cunningham

The deadline for applications for the 2025 Ji.hlava New Visions Forum: Europe programme is fast approaching. The pitch event, to run during Ji.hlava Industry Days (Czech Republic, October 28–31), is dedicated to the “new generation of European producers, new formats, innovative trends, and visions for the future.” This year will see a special pitching section focused on Croatia, which is the Ji.hlava Industry guest country 2025. The deadline for applications is June 30.

1 week ago | businessdoceurope.com | Geoffrey Macnab

When they made their 2022 film When Spring Came to Bucha, Mila Teshaieva and Marcus Lenz were not expecting that the war the raging in Ukraine would still be going on more than three years later. They had arrived in Bucha not long after the Russian occupying force had left and they had witnessed at first hand the death and destruction in the city. “Probably it was quite naive but then, among those first months of the war, among all the pain and suffering, we felt an incredible solidarity.