The 10th edition of the East Doc Platform, the co-production, funding and distribution market for documentary filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe, organized by the Institute of Documentary Film (IDF), will take place online from March 6 to 17, 2021. The projects selected for the East Doc Platform have been revealed.
In March 2020, the East Doc Platform took place in Prague. Some parts of the programme were moved online, while others had to be cancelled as the COVID-19 crisis deepened. The situation all over Europe (and in the world) is unfortunately still not as good as we had hoped it would be by now. IDF’s Programme Director Zdeněk Blaha explains the decision to move East Doc Platform fully online for the first time: “We were considering all the options, consulting with experts and trying to predict the situation in March, and all seems not to be in favour of a physical event. Therefore, we have decided to go online and prepare the programme in the best possible way for both project participants and decision makers.” The 10th edition of the East Doc Platform will run in an extended format online from March 6 to 17, 2021.
Individual meetings with projects in production and post-production will take place on March 10 and 11 during East Doc Market. The highlight of the East Doc Platform, the pitching East Doc Forum with projects in development, will be newly divided into three pitching sessions, running from March 15 to 17, followed by individual meetings each day. Apart from two sessions focused on feature-length documentaries, one pitching session will be newly dedicated to the documentary series and VR.
Zdeněk Blaha adds: “We were able to test various options and online solutions at the Ex Oriente Film workshop and other programmes during the year. Our team and technical equipment are ready, so I believe we can deliver a high quality programme online. It is also an opportunity to reach more people and let them know about the great projects we have selected this year from the record number of submissions.”
Selected projects:
EAST DOC FORUM 2021
Better to Go Mad in the Wild (dir. Miro Remo, prod. Tomáš Hrubý, CZ, SK)
Expedition 49 (dir. Alisa Kovalenko, prod. Stephane Siohan, UA, FR, PL)
Frankenstein 2.0 (dir. Davis Simanis, prod. Guntis Trekteris, LV)
I Am a Bird Now (Underling In Bird Kingdom) (dir. Marko Raat, prod. Ivo Felt, EE)
I'm Not Everything I Want to Be (dir. Klára Tasovská, prod. Lukáš Kokeš, CZ, SK)
I Used to Be the Mayor (dir. Alexander Sussmann, prod. Viv Li, DE, HU)
Swinging Fields (dir. Sareen Hairabedian, prod. Azza Hourani, JO, US, IE)
MamaPan (dir. & prod. Serban Georgescu, RO)
The Trans Syrian Express (dir. Alina Rudnitskaya, prod. Pertti Veijalainen, FI, PL, RU)
Waitersgate (dir. Konrad Szolajski, prod. Malgorzata Prociak, PL, NO)
12 Ex Oriente Film projects and 5 East Doc Series projects will be part of the East Doc Forum as well.
EAST DOC MARKET 2021
72 hours (dir. Anna Savchenko, prod. Isabel de la Serna, Jean-Marie Gigon, BE, BY, FR)
Borderline (dir. Annabel Verbeke, Anna Savchenko, Isabella Rinaldi, Vytautas Puidokas, Tiha Klara Gudac, Georg Götmark, prod. Frederik Nicolai, BE, HR, LT, NO)
Diary of a Bride of Christ (dir. Marta Smerechynska, prod. Natalia Libet, UA)
Dida (dir. Nikola Ilić, Corina Schwingruber Ilić, prod. Franziska Sonder, Karin Koch, CH)
Fight (dir. Lilit Movsisyan, prod. Clara Kawczak, AM, FR)
Fragile Memory (dir. Ihor Ivanko, prod. Mariia Ponomarova, UA, SK)
Pure Unknown (dir. Valentina Cicogna, Mattia Colombo, prod. Sebastiano Luca Insinga, IT, SK)
The Ultimate Joker (dir. Krzysztof Dzięciołowski, prod. Agata Jujeczka, PL)
We Have to Survive (dir. and prod. Tomáš Krupa, SK)
Workcenter (dir. Aniela Astrid Gabryel, prod. Agnieszka Dziedzic, PL)
EAST DOC INTERACTIVE 2021
Darkening (dir. Ondřej Moravec, prod. Hana Blaha Šilarová, CZ)
DreamNA (dir. Ioana Mischie, prod. Theodora Mischie, RO)
Scaena / Episode One (dir. Lizaveta Belaya, prod. Mitya Sorkin, BY)
SELF Concept (dir. Tadeusz Chudy, prod. Rafal Sakowski, PL)
Swarm (dir. Ula Przybylska, prod. Viktoria Szabo, PL, HU)
