On Wednesday, June 23rd the Institute of Documentary Film (IDF) and DAE – Documentary Association of Europe presented the outcome of the survey Movements of Central and Eastern European Projects via European Documentary Markets. The survey, conducted between January and March 2021, was presented as part of the Meet the Central & Eastern European Delegation at this year’s international documentary marketplace Sunny Side of the Doc, running online until June 24th.
The aim of the survey was to map the circulation of Central and Eastern European projects through European film markets and the access of CEE projects to international partners. How are they represented outside of their countries of origins? Do they have access to the film markets in Western Europe, or is their access limited only to the CEE region? What is the percentage of CEE projects at the international markets and which are the key places for these projects?
Zdeněk Blaha, Programme Director of the IDF, comments: “The study brought several interesting facts about the European documentary landscape. As we see from the numbers, the representation of the CEE projects on film markets and forums in Western Europe is very limited, thus supporting markets in the CEE region is crucial for leveling the playing field and bringing decision makers to the region. Especially now, when Creative Europe puts a bigger emphasis on co-production with low production capacity countries.
Another interesting fact is to see which countries were represented more than the others. Poland, Serbia, but also Lithuania were on top of the list with the most projects presented on international markets. This could be partly due to the support system in these countries, since the infrastructure of film funds and film organizations plays a key role in film promotion. All these countries were represented in the form of national delegations on several occasions in this specific time period we explored in the survey.”
The full outcome of the survey can be found here.
At this year’s Sunny Side of the Doc, the IDF has been bringing together film professionals from Central and Eastern Europe, putting a spotlight on the emerging talents of the region through the Talent Hub CEE, the presentation of the survey and the first session of the Ex Oriente Film workshop.
Find out more about the projects, delegation members and activities of the organizations in the region, presented at Sunny Side of the Doc 2021.
