{"id":21483,"date":"2024-05-29T08:50:48","date_gmt":"2024-05-29T12:50:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/worldscreen.com\/"},"modified":"2024-05-31T09:42:12","modified_gmt":"2024-05-31T13:42:12","slug":"event-preview-sunny-side-of-the-doc-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/event-preview-sunny-side-of-the-doc-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Event Preview: Sunny Side of the Doc"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sunny Side of the Doc is returning to La Rochelle for its 35th edition from June 24 to 27, providing an in-person space for international documentary makers and buyers to link up and discuss what\u2019s going on in the industry. Mathieu B\u00e9jot, director of strategy and development at Sunny Side of the Doc, tells TV Real <\/em>about what is planned for the upcoming four-day market.<\/p>\n

Despite it being the event\u2019s 35th anniversary, the central theme of this year\u2019s market is all about looking ahead and \u201cmapping the future,\u201d B\u00e9jot says. \u201cEverybody loves anniversaries, but we didn\u2019t want to have a retrospective. It\u2019s boring. And if we don\u2019t look backward, then we have to look forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody has a crystal ball, of course, but we want to take the time to pause, think and try to see where the industry is going,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you do look back 35 years ago, the world was kind of simple, with free TV and pay TV. Producers were producing, distributors were distributing, broadcasters were broadcasting. Now, all the boundaries are blurred. AI is coming to topple everything up again. It\u2019s a good time to see what\u2019s going on in the industry, but do it in an inspiring way. Let\u2019s face it, we are going through choppy waters, to say the least.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to help attendees reflect on and navigate the current climate, for the first time, there will be daily keynotes to address how the documentary sector can come together to transform change into opportunity. There will also be multiple Industry Talks regarding AI and innovation, including AI in Docs\u2014A New Era of (Space) Storytelling: The Planetary Defense App; Archives, AI & Ethics; and Harnessing AI for Docs: Practical Uses and Insights.<\/p>\n

Also, for the second year in a row, Australia will be honored as a country of focus. \u201cFor us, we don\u2019t really like the idea of focusing on one country and then forgetting about them for the next five or ten years until it\u2019s their turn again,\u201d B\u00e9jot notes. But \u201cwe\u2019ve had a long-standing relationship with Australia. With Covid, when Sunny Side returned in person in 2022, the Australian presence was underwhelming because they still had travel restrictions. So, we decided to focus on Australia and have an in-depth approach to Australia, reach out to producers, reach out to the state funders as well. The idea was not necessarily to have one big event, but to make sure we have a long-term impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, \u201cwe laid the foundations of the Australian focus by having a pretty general session on how to work with Australia, with some of the institutions like Screen Australia and the state funding agencies,\u201d he says. \u201cThis year, the key focus is on talent and producers.<\/p>\n

This includes two Industry Talks sessions, titled Stuff Australians Make, a riff on\u00a0Stuff the British Stole<\/em>. Part one, Seeing Behind the Kangaroos!, will feature some of Australia\u2019s internationally recognized filmmakers bringing the audience up-to-date on the diversity of Australian productions. Part two, Follow the Money Honey, will see representatives from Australian funding bodies speaking with filmmakers about the opportunities to co-produce with the country.<\/p>\n

Though Australia is a focus, there are plenty of international buyers and producers signed up to attend, and the agenda includes various Industry Talks, Networking Times and Showcases highlighting other countries. This includes Meet NHK, Matchmaking Canada, China Hour, Co-Production Opportunities in Brazil and so many more. Many international programs are represented in the pitching sessions as well.<\/p>\n

Regarding the seven pitching sessions, Sunny Side received over 320 submissions from 60 countries, with 42 selected from 21 countries to compete at the market. Across the five specialist factual sessions (History, Science, Arts and Culture, Nature and Conservation, and Global Issues) and the two non-thematic sessions (New Voices and Impact Campaigns), \u201cit\u2019s amazing to see how documentary-makers can revisit things you thought you knew but bring a new, fresh angle,\u201d B\u00e9jot remarks. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing as well to see stories that are totally unheard, especially in the history category.\u201d<\/p>\n

This includes Germany\u2019s\u00a0Our Sister Angela\u2014Black Power in the GDR<\/em>, about how Angela Davis and the Black movement influenced eastern Germany, as well as Brazil\u2019s\u00a0Letters from Iraq<\/em>, telling the stories of Brazilians who worked on infrastructure projects in Iraq in the \u201970s, \u201980s and \u201990s. \u201cIt\u2019s always very interesting to see how there are still so many untold stories,\u201d B\u00e9jot says.<\/p>\n

Among the selected projects across all of the categories, \u201cone of the trends is more and more complex and multilayered stories,\u201d he adds. \u201cIt\u2019s not new, but if you look at the arts and culture sessions, for instance, instead of just one biopic on one particular artist, usually different layers are mingled with some social background. It\u2019s much broader than just being an arts and culture program. You\u2019ll see the same in nature and conservation. It\u2019s no longer just\u2014I\u2019m sorry for putting it this way\u2014hyenas eating giraffes. You have conservation, you have social aspects, you have climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Through these pitching sessions and the event\u2019s various keynotes, networking opportunities and showcases, the main goal is \u201cto make sure that we bring some keys and answers on how to survive till 2025, without sounding too depressing,\u201d B\u00e9jot says. \u201cWe are going through a tough time, so we want to make sure that we are not just inspiring in terms of, \u2018oh, it\u2019d be great to do this,\u2019 but bringing solutions to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to bring as much inspiration as possible, as many contacts as possible,\u201d he continues. \u201cWe would love participants to go home with more ideas, more partners, more projects and more financing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mathieu B\u00e9jot, director of strategy and development, shares what is planned for the upcoming four-day market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1412,"featured_media":21484,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[79,69],"tags":[4566,1076],"class_list":["post-21483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-features","category-top-stories","tag-mathieu-bejot","tag-sunny-side-of-the-doc","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\nEvent Preview: Sunny Side of the Doc - TVREAL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/event-preview-sunny-side-of-the-doc-2024\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Event Preview: Sunny Side of the Doc - TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mathieu B\u00e9jot, director of strategy and development, shares what is planned for the upcoming four-day market.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/event-preview-sunny-side-of-the-doc-2024\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVREAL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-29T12:50:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-31T13:42:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/05\/SunnySideoftheDoc-0524.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"394\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jamie Stalcup\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/event-preview-sunny-side-of-the-doc-2024\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/event-preview-sunny-side-of-the-doc-2024\/\",\"name\":\"Event Preview: Sunny Side of the Doc - TVREAL\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-29T12:50:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-31T13:42:12+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/event-preview-sunny-side-of-the-doc-2024\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/event-preview-sunny-side-of-the-doc-2024\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/event-preview-sunny-side-of-the-doc-2024\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Event Preview: Sunny Side of the Doc\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/\",\"name\":\"TVREAL\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvreal\/#\/schema\/person\/0da12602224807cc7b179b8405018deb\",\"name\":\"Jamie Stalcup\",\"description\":\"Jamie Stalcup is the executive editor of World Screen. 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