Founded in 2001 as the East European Forum, the East Doc Forum has become the region's largest and most prestigious pitching forum. Over the past 20 years, the East Doc Forum has hosted more than 800 filmmakers and producers from Central and Eastern Europe and over 300 commissioning editors, independent producers, distributors, film fund representatives and festival programmers from Europe and North America.
Over 300 documentary films have been completed with the direct support of the East Doc Forum, including such internationally successful titles as Something Better to Come, A New Shift, Over the Limit, When the War Comes, Sofia’s Last Ambulance, Village Without Women, Ukrainian Sheriffs, The Visitors, Brothers and Motherland.
The East Doc Forum is preceded by a preparatory workshop that focuses on helping directors and producers finalize their visual material, create a strategy for its sale and distribution, work on their communication and presentation skills, as well as offer participants a series of inspiring lectures, case studies, masterclasses and panels devoted to different aspects of documentary filmmaking in an international setting.
East Doc Forum consists of a pitch presentation of feature-length projects in development/early production (including 12 projects participating in the year-round Ex Oriente Film workshop) and documentary series projects in the development/ production stage, which are presented to an audience of invited international decision-makers and followed by one-on-one meetings with decision makers within the East Doc Market.
Projects selected for the East Doc Forum become part of a year-long follow-up support programme that offers filmmakers the opportunity to continue promoting their upcoming films and search for new partners through various delegations to key European documentary film festivals and markets.
Over 300 documentary films have been completed with the direct support of the East Doc Forum, including such internationally successful titles as Something Better to Come, A New Shift, Over the Limit, When the War Comes, Sofia’s Last Ambulance, Village Without Women, Ukrainian Sheriffs, The Visitors, Brothers and Motherland.
The East Doc Forum is preceded by a preparatory workshop that focuses on helping directors and producers finalize their visual material, create a strategy for its sale and distribution, work on their communication and presentation skills, as well as offer participants a series of inspiring lectures, case studies, masterclasses and panels devoted to different aspects of documentary filmmaking in an international setting.
East Doc Forum consists of a pitch presentation of feature-length projects in development/early production (including 12 projects participating in the year-round Ex Oriente Film workshop) and documentary series projects in the development/ production stage, which are presented to an audience of invited international decision-makers and followed by one-on-one meetings with decision makers within the East Doc Market.
Projects selected for the East Doc Forum become part of a year-long follow-up support programme that offers filmmakers the opportunity to continue promoting their upcoming films and search for new partners through various delegations to key European documentary film festivals and markets.