POLISH DOCS PRO AT THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE DOC MARKET

On the 24th of June, the International Documentary Film Market Sunny Side of the Doc starts in La Rochelle, France. It is one of the largest industry events dedicated to documentary film, which is annually visited by the representatives of the most important television stations, distributors and film producers from the entire world. For the thirteenth time, a stall dedicated to the Polish film will be present at the market.

As every year, Poland is among the exhibitors in La Rochelle. This year, the Polish national stall is created within the frames of the initiative POLISH DOCS PRO. It is an initiative created together with the Krakow Film Foundation, in co-operation with Telewizja Polska and the programme Doc Lab Poland, the aim of which is to continue and to develop the activities initiated by the Krakow Film Foundation within the frames of the project Polish Docs in 2006.

During the Sunny Side of the Doc market, for the first time, the Krakow Film Foundation together with Telewizja Polska will prepare the Polish market stall where they will host the producers and decision-makers from abroad at the industry networking breakfast.

The Sunny Side of the Doc is one of the most important events supporting the documentary film industry in Europe. The market offers the opportunity of comprehensive promotion of film productions (beginning with presenting the projects at the production stage to the promotion of finished films). It is the meeting place of producers, festival organisers, distributors and representatives of television channels who are responsible for the sale and purchase of the rights to documentary films. Accredited producers and film professionals also have a unique opportunity to participate in numerous seminars, meetings, training sessions and discussion panels dealing with the most up-to-date topics related to the international documentary film production.

The guests from abroad, visiting the stall, will have a chance to receive all the necessary information related to the film production in Poland, and to get the catalogue of documentary projects in production and the latest documentary films, produced in 2018 and in 2019, which can be found in the latest magazine FOCUS ON POLAND, published by the KFF, which presents, among others, the Polish documentary cinema in the form of interviews with film-makers, reviews, essays, as well as the issue of the Polish Docs Online, enabling you to watch the best Polish documentary films online.

At the stall, film producers and distributors present in La Rochelle will have a chance to present their projects and films. These include the representatives of the Silver Frame, Kijora Film, Fundacja Widok, the Square Film Studio, the East Beast, Mediolia, the One Production, the Munk Studio, the Bees Film House, Ragusa Film, Telemark, the Clearwing Foundation for Biodiversity, Donten&Lacroix Films and the KFF Sales&Promotion. The representatives of the Krakow Film Foundation and Telewizja Polska are also present at the stall.

Within the frames of the Sunny Side of the Doc, there are also pitchings, for which 36 projects from 18 countries qualified. Among them, there is the Polish project "Escape to the Silver Globe," directed by Jakub Mikurda, produced by Stanisław Zaborowski and Daria Maślona  (Silver Frame). The project will participate in the pitching Arts & Culture.

 

The project Polish Docs PRO focuses primarily on a wide promotion of Polish documentary film industry at international events addressed to film professionals. It supports film-makers and producers in developing their projects by facilitating access to the markets abroad, co-coordinating the trips of delegations to the pitching forums and co-production markets, organising the presentations of projects, production models and co-production opportunities with Poland, organising networking meetings, participation in lectures, panel discussions, workshops and training sessions. The aim of the Polish Docs PRO is to establish the brand of Polish documentary film in the international film environment and to develop international co-operation.

The project was inaugurated during this year's edition of the market East Doc Platform in Prague (9-15 March). Later, it was also present at the festival Visions du Reel in Nyon, Switzerland (9-12 April), at the Krakow Film Festival (26 May-2 June) and at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in Great Britain (6-11 June). There are also plans of co-operation with the industry events during the festivals DOK Leipzig (the turn of October and November) and the IDFA (November).

The project is substantively coordinated by the Krakow Film Foundation and Telewizja Polska SA and is implemented with the financial support of the Polish Film Institute, Telewizja Polska SA and the Krakow Festival Office.

The market Sunny Side of the Doc lasts until the 27th of June – more information on the website: www.sunnysideofthedoc.com