Projects
Projects
Closing Night
Category: Queer Screen Goes to Cannes
Directed by: Timothy Despina Marshall
Produced by: Bec Dakin & Timothy Despina Marshall | B&T Films, Orange Entertainment Co.
Country of Production: Australia
Original Title: Closing Night
Language: English
Runtime: 82'
Completed in: 2023
When his life falls apart, a young queer theatre actor, poised to play the lead in The Glass Menagerie, must reckon with his demons and fight for survival while trapped in a hotel room with a sinister presence.
Archive. Box #64
Directed by: Eva Dzhyshyashvili
Produced by: Natalia Libet | 2Brave Productions
Country of Production: Ukraine, Germany, Sweden, Poland
Original Title: Archive. Box #64
Language: Ukrainian, German, Swedish, Polish
Runtime: 85'
Budget: 185 000 Eur
Completed in: 2024
The artistic image of the archive and personal stories of characters, who collect and store archival information, are intertwined, showing the experience of accumulating knowledge, building a bridge between the past and the present. However, does knowledge have enough power to prevent new tragedies?
Let’s Play Soldiers
Original Title: يلا نلعب عسكرة
Directed by: Mariam Al-Dhubhani
Produced by: Mohammed Al-Jaberi (Meem Square Films LLC, Yemen)
Country of Production: Yemen
Runtime: 90'
Expected Release: September, 2024
Production Stage: In production
1st Feature: Yes
Looking for: Gap financing, strategic guidance, editing and narrative-build consultants, co-producers
Synopsis:
A 16-year-old former child soldier, Nasser, returns home to a small village South of Yemen to care for his family and prevent his two younger siblings from dropping out of school and following the same path. The ongoing 8-year war had broken his older brother and father before him and forced Nasser to become the guardian of his younger siblings’ fate.
Director’s profile:
Mariam Al-Dhubhani is a Yemeni-Russian award-winning journalist, filmmaker, curator, and educator based in the MENA region. She first pursued her passion for media during the 2011 Arab uprisings and co-founded her first media production. She is a two-time TEDx speaker and one of the first directors to utilize virtual reality to highlight stories from Yemen. Mariam attempts to shed light on the dangers of stereotyping the region in the mainstream media and provides a counterviewpoint to showcase equality in humanity.
Producer’s profile:
Mohammed Al-Jaberi is a Yemeni producer and cinematographer who worked on award-winning short documentary films focusing on Yemen. His feature-length debut is a film showing the impact of the war in Yemen on children, produced in collaboration with DFI and AlJazeera. He received specialized training from international film experts including the French Cambodian director, Rithy Phan, and the Sundance consultant Bruni Burres. He participated in a number of international film industry events including in Beirut DC, HotDocs, Doha Film Institute, AJB DOC, Close up Initiative, MEDIMED, Jacob Burns Film Center, IDFA, and Cairo International Film Festival. He holds two degrees in international relations and development.
Parrandas
Category: Canada Showcase
Directed by: Constance Chaput-Raby
Produced by: Isabelle Grignon-Francke | Club Vidéo (Canada)
Country of Production: Canada, Cuba
Original Title: Parrandas
Runtime: 75'
Expected Release: September 2026
Production Stage: Post-Production
1st Feature: Yes
Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents / Distributors, Buyers
Synopsis:
In a Cuban village where Christmas transforms into a dazzling yet perilous pyrotechnic battle, young Lazarito eagerly prepares to join the fiery tradition that scarred him as a child, navigating the tension between communal euphoria and the haunting risks of the festival’s dangerous splendor.
Director’s Profile:
Constance Chaput-Raby is captivated by the documentary genre, which she sees as a celebration of slowness and risk-taking. She is drawn to the new forms of storytelling in moving images and believes that, whether fiction or documentary, everything is cinema. She is currently developing two feature films: Live Free and Die, about the murder of her mother in Mount Washington, New Hampshire, and Parrandas, which explores a Cuban village with a rich tradition of pyrotechnics. Her previous medium-length film, En Éclaireuses, was featured in the 2020 Visions du Réel Media Library.
Producer’s Profile:
Isabelle Grignon-Francke – film producer, director and co-founder of Club Video – is currently working on her first theatrical feature films. She has produced over 10 short films (Mothers and Monsters, Ain’t No Time for Women) and continues to develop new ones. She also produced two television documentaries: Les Collectionneurs (Sarra El Abed), shot in Egypt, exploring the archiving of Arabic music, and Virage Vert (Amélie Hardy), about regulatory barriers to green innovation. As a director, she released The Sparkle in November 2023 (New York Times, RIDM, Hot Docs, Full Frame), a short documentary on Quebec’s itinerant fairground workers. Isabelle is passionate about intimate stories, international projects, and narrative ethics.
The Boy Girl and the Gothik Whale
Category: Chile-Colombia Showcase
Directed by: Sidka Saavedra Vera
Produced by: Constanza Schmidt (Argentina), Sidka Saavedra Vera (Chile), Claudia León | Fårö Cine (Chile)
Country of Production: Argentina, Chile
Original Title: El Niño Niña y la Orka Gótika
Runtime: 82'
Expected Release: November 2027
Production Stage: Post-Production
1st Feature: Yes
Looking for: Post Production and Distribution Gap Financing, Buyers, Festivals, Distribution Partners
Synopsis:
A young filmmaker, Sidka—the director of the film—dives into Buenos Aires’ underground drag scene through his lens. As he follows the unconventional drag artist Gothik Whale during his ascent from the underground scene to international fame, in return, he embarks on a personal journey of self-discovery, ultimately coming to understand his own identity as a transgender man.
Director’s Profile:
Sidka Saavedra Vera (Santiago de Chile, 1998) is a filmmaker of Palestinian descent. He studied Film Direction at Universidad del Cine in Buenos Aires, where he also worked as a teaching assistant for a year and a half, and gave guest classes in Windhausen’s course at NYU Buenos Aires. Sidka is currently directing his first feature film with support from Mecenazgo Cultural fund and FUC. The project has participated in FIDBA LAB Link (2023), IDFAcademy (selected as one of three projects to pitch, 2025), and Doculab at FICG (2026). He is also developing his second feature, taking part in Residencia Audiovisual Queer Cuórum (Mexico) and the Sentimientos Encontrados residency by Manuel Abramovic (2026). His first short film, Underground Morphology, screened at BAFICI, SANFIC (Special Mention), Vancouver Queer Film Festival, INTERFILM Berlin, and Beijing Queer Film Festival (2025).
Producers Profiles:
Constanza Schmidt holds a diploma in International Producing from Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and a Film Production degree from Universidad del Cine (Buenos Aires). She works in documentaries and shorts across Germany, Latin America, and France, with support from SWR/ARTE. Her films screened at BAFICI, SANFIC, Cairo, Hof, and Interfilm. She has coordinated locations for Netflix and Hulu, interned at Beta Film, and was a juror at the Berlinale Coproduction Market.
Claudia León is a Chilean producer trained at the University of Toulouse and Lussas. With 15+ years of experience, she founded Faro Cine in 2018 to produce creative documentary and has participated in Eurodoc international production workshop training in 2022. Filmography highlights: “Volcan” premiered in Millenium FF, “Synchrony”, filmed in Patagonia and the Atacama desert, world premiered in Hotdocs 2024 and Trento ff 2026.
Green is the Fire’s Tint
Category: Docs by the Sea Showcase
Directed by: Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi, Arya Rothe
Produced by: Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi, Arya Rothe | NoCut Film Collective (India, Romania), Kaleo La Belle | La Belle Film (Switzerland)
Country of Production: India, Romania, Switzerland
Runtime: 89' & 52'
Expected Release: May 2027
Production Stage: Editing
1st Feature: No
Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents / Distributors, Buyers
Synopsis:
Somi (37), an Indigenous Indian woman, faces eviction from her land due to the opening of an iron mine. A few years ago, Somi was an armed Naxalite-Maoist rebel; now, she’s determined to lead her community in resisting the encroachment and fighting against displacement—this time without her rifle. The film is a sequel to A Rifle and a Bag (IFFR 2020, Special Mention of Bright Future Competition).
Directors Profiles:
NoCut Film Collective was founded in 2016 by Cristina Hanes (Romania), Isabella Rinaldi (Italy) and Arya Rothe (India) after graduating from DocNomads. The collective fosters creative documentaries, envisioning filmmaking as a transcultural endeavour. Their directorial debut A Rifle and a Bag won the Special Mention of the Jury at 2020 Rotterdam International Film Festival. The film has screened at over 50 festivals and was streamed by Mubi worldwide. They are currently working on Green is the Fire’s Tint, a sequel to it. Their films were supported by Chicken & Egg Films, Doha Film Institute, IDFA Bertha Fund, Romanian Film Center, Federal Office of Culture Switzerland, Redford Film Centre, IDA and others.
Cristina Hanes’ previous film António e Catarina won Pardino D’oro for Best International Short at 2017 Locarno Festival. She is an alumna of Points North Fellowship, Emerging Producers, DocNomads, Berlinale Talents. She is currently directing frosty blue forget-me-nots.
Isabella Rinaldi is involved in international co-productions with Nepal, India and Belgium. Liberland (Belgium, 52 min) had its world premiere in Visions du Réel in 2022 and was broadcast on the Flemish national television VRT. Isabella is currently developing her first fiction film Fuoristagione selected in Biennale College, the script program of Venice Film Festival
Arya Rothe is a recipient of IDA Logan Elevate Grant. Her fiction film Where Shadows Wait is supported by Hubert Bals Fund. She has worked as a director, writer, and editor on films for platforms like Arté, RTBF, Netflix, and Amazon Prime.
Production’s Profile:
NoCut Film Collective’s first production A Rifle and a Bag was awarded the Special Mention of the Bright Future Competition of 2020 International Film Festival Rotterdam, was screened at over 50 festivals and streamed on Mubi. It was financed by Doha Film Institute, IDFA Bertha Fund, Asian Cinema Fund, AlterCine Foundation.
NoCut co-produced Marching in the dark by Kinshuk Surjan (CPH:DOX 2024, Special Mention of the Jury) and No Winter Holidays by Rajan Kathet and Sunir Paney (2023 Sheffield DocFest, First Feature Competition).
Their upcoming film Green is the Fire’s Tint co-produced with La Belle Film (Switzerland) is supported by Romanian Film Center, FOC, ZFF, SRF/SRG, IDA Logan Elevate, Chicken & Egg Films, Redford Film Centre, InMaat Foundation and was pitched at FIFDH Geneva Impact Days, MeetMarket Sheffield DocFest, Points North Fellowship, Ji.hlava New Visions Forum.
Baba
Category: Palestinian Showcase
Directed by: Giacomo Fausti, Laila Sit Aboha
Produced by: Marta Melina | SMK productions (Italy)
Country of Production: Italy
Original Title: نانا
Runtime: 80'
Expected Release: September 2027
Production Stage: Production, Shooting
1st Feature: Yes
Looking for: International co-producer, sales agents, distributors for theatrical and non-theatrical release and TV pre-sales partners to strengthen the financing structure and outreach
Synopsis:
When she realizes her story is not an isolated one, Laila, a young Italian-Palestinian woman, confronts the family lunch her father never misses. Alongside a new generation shaped by exile, she navigates silences and absences until the day of a wedding: mothers sit in the front row, sons and daughters too, the fathers do not.
Director’s Profile:
Giacomo Fausti is a filmmaker from Campania. He studied Graphic Design and Art Direction at NABA in Milan, where he began exploring the relationship between cultural identity and resistance through Somos Mapuche. He later trained at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, collaborating with Laura Poitras and Field of Vision on Notes From CARA (Manifesta12, 2018). In 2022 he directed The Seed Generation, and in 2025 he won the award for Best Video Podcast in Italy with MY ZONE. He is currently working on the documentary Baba – بابا while developing a new project based on his family’s Southern Italian wedding archive.
Co-Director’s Profile:
Laila Sit Aboha is a PhD candidate at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa. Her research examines the Palestinian diaspora and generational conflict through a postcolonial lens. She is the daughter of a survivor of the 1967 exile and the granddaughter of a survivor of the 1948 Nakba. An activist with Giovani Palestinesi d’Italia, she lives between Milan and Florence, with her heart in Naples.
Producer’s Profile:
Marta Melina is an Italian-based film producer working with SMK Factory (Bologna), a company specialised in social documentaries. Alongside production, she has extensive experience in fundraising, impact campaigns, crowdfunding campaigns. Among her recent works are: the impact campaign for Sarura (Nicola Zambelli – 2021) selected at FIFDH Impact days 2020, acquired by Al Jazeera Arabic; Kissing Gorbaciov (Andrea Mariani, Luigi D’Alife, 2023), premiered at Festival dei Popoli, nominated for the 2024 Nastri d’Argento, toured successfully in Italian cinemas. She is currently following the development of three documentaries: Waves Album by Armando Duccio Ventriglia, Hans Clemer – An Unauthorized Biography by Fredo Valla, and Missing by Cecilia Fasciani.
Flotsam
Category: Scotland Showcase
Directed by: Isa Rao
Produced by: Nadira Murray | Sylph Productions (UK), John Archer | Hopscotch Films (UK)
Country of Production: UK
Original Title: Flotsam
Runtime: 80'
Expected Release: November 2027
Production Stage: Production
1st Feature: Yes
Looking for: Co-Production Partners, Financing Opportunities, Sales Agents / Distributors, Festivals, Broadcasters
Synopsis:
Set in Astana, Kazakhstan, Flotsam is a cinematic, director-led documentary following the parallel lives of an ageing fisherman and a fish beneath the frozen surface of a polluted river. Separated by ice yet bound by the same forces of threat, instinct and endurance, their journeys unfold as a poetic and unexpected reflection on how closely human life mirrors the fragile cycles below the water.
Director’s Profile:
Isa Rao is a Glasgow-based documentary filmmaker and cognitive neuroscientist. Born in Germany, she completed a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience in Scotland, where her research sparked a lasting interest in human and animal consciousness. A self-shooting director working across observational documentary television and creative cinema, her work focuses on ethical storytelling and interspecies relationships. Her credits include Hear Me Out (2023), The Animal Healer (BBC Three, 2019) and Crannog (2018). Crannog was funded through Bridging the Gap at Scottish Documentary Institute and screened at BAFTA- and Oscar-qualifying festivals. Recognised as an Emerging Director by BBC Scotland and Screen Scotland, she is now developing Flotsam, her debut feature-length creative documentary.
Producer’s Profile:
Nadira Murray is an award-winning independent producer based in Scotland and founder of Sylph Productions. She was named Rising Star Scotland (2024) and a BIFA Breakthrough Producer (2023). A current participant in EAVE Producers Workshop, her work includes Winners (dir. Hassan Nazer), the UK’s Official Entry for Best International Feature at the 2023 Academy Awards; and a winner of BAFTA Scotland Best Feature. Recent and current productions include The Education of Jane Cumming (dir. Sophie Heldman), a Germany/Swiss/UK co-production under the European Convention; River Dreams (dir. Kristina Mikhailova), a Kazakhstan/Swiss/UK co-production; and Flotsam (dir. Isa Rao), a debut creative documentary being developed with Hopscotch Films, supported by Screen Scotland and BFI Doc Society.
Artifacts of War
Category: Spain Showcase
Directed by: Jorge Caballero Ramos
Produced by: Anna Giralt Gris | Artefacto Films (Spain), Diego Pino Anguita | CangrejoFilms (Chile)
Country of Production: Spain, Chile, Colombia
Original Title: Artefactos de guerra
Runtime: 90'
Expected Release: January 2028
Production Stage: Production
1st Feature: No
Looking for: Gap Financing
Synopsis:
Marketed as safe tools of public order, less-lethal weapons circulate globally. Artifacts of War moves between Europe’s arms fairs, archival material, and a forensic algorithm to explore how force is shaped, regulated, and audited.
Director’s Profile:
Jorge Caballero Ramos has directed several films that have premiered and won awards at prestigious film festivals, including TIFF, NYFF, IDFA, SXSW, among many. He won the National Cinematography award in Colombia twice. He regularly serves on the selection committees of the IDFA Bertha Fund and was selected by the Sundance Institute for its Stories of Change program. He holds a PhD in cinema and AI.
Producer’s Profile:
Anna Giralt Gris has produced several films that have been selected and awarded at film festivals around the world, including TIFF, NYFF, IFFR, SXSW, CPH:DOX, Málaga, or DocsBarcelona, among many. She participated in the IDFA DocLab Academy in 2018, the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2019, and Eurodoc in 2024. Her productions have been supported by Arte-La Lucarne, Ibermedia, TVC, Yle, RTS, Channel 8.
Co-Producer’s Profile:
Diego Pino Anguita has produced several films that have been selected for prominent markets and festivals such as Berlinale, Visions du Réel, IDFA, Karlovy Vary, CPH:DOX, BAFICI, DOK Leipzig, Málaga, and Yamagata, among others. He is the Executive Director of Chiledoc, an organization dedicated to the promotion and internationalization of Chilean documentary cinema worldwide. He is an alumnus of Eurodoc 2024.
The Greatest Illusion
Category: The Five Nordics Showcase
Directed by: Benjamin Ree
Produced by: Ingvil Giske | Medieoperatørene (Norway)
Country of Production: Norway, Denmark, Estonia
Original Title: Den største illusjonen
Runtime: 100'
Expected Release: May 2027
Production Stage: Production
1st Feature: No
Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agent / Distributors, Buyers
Synopsis:
The popular magician Alexx repressed what happened when he was young, when his father killed his mother and was later convicted for it. Alexx’s three siblings were minors, and he took on great responsibility for them in the aftermath. His solution to the pain was to turn to the stage, to the freedom he finds there. With magic as a metaphor, the audience is presented a story of memory, loss and forgiveness.
Director’s Profile:
Benjamin Ree is a Norwegian documentary film director. His newest release is The Remarkable Life of Ibelin (2024). It won the Audience Award and the Directing Award at Sundance Film Festival in 2024 as well as numerous other awards and was shortlisted for an Oscar. After it’s Sundance premiere it was bought by Netflix and released worldwide. In 2020 he directed The Painter and the Thief which sold to 80 countries and won more than 30 awards. The film was named one of 2020’s best films, by BBC, Boston Globe, Washington Post and the New York Times, and it has been named an important film in film history by several media outlets. The film was also shortlisted for an Oscars. Benjamin’s debut feature was Magnus (2016) It sold to 64 countries and won awards at film festivals around the world. It’s a coming of age sports documentary about the world’s best chess player Magnus Carlsen.
Producer’s Profile:
Ingvil Giske has worked in documentaries for more than 25 years. Among her latest releases are the Sundance-winner The Remarkable Life of Ibelin that received a place on the Oscar shortlist in 2024 and the DOX:AWARD-winner 2022 The Eclipse, that later was part of the documentary selection at the European Film Academy and nominated for the EUFA-award. The Painter and the Thief from 2020 received a special jury award for creative storytelling at Sundance, was on the shortlist for an Oscar and won more than 30 film awards, including a Grierson award.
She has produced several docs for younger audiences, Todd & Super-Stella (ECFA-winner 2024), Kid’s Cup (2022), Tongue Cutters (2017) and the short doc The School by the Sea. Ingvil is a Peabody award winner, and the films she has produced have received in total 7 awards and 18 nominations at the national Amanda awards.
