{"id":492144,"date":"2026-06-10T08:49:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T08:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/492144\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T08:49:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T08:49:11","slug":"sunny-side-of-the-doc-to-return-in-june-surviving-near-cancellation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/492144\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunny Side Of The Doc To Return In June, Surviving Near Cancellation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tSunny Side of the Doc<\/a>, the international documentary marketplace held in La Rochelle, France, is about to open its 37th edition. It almost folded after the 36th.<\/p>\n

\n\tFaced with the cancellation of a key European grant, Sunny Side announced last December it wouldn\u2019t happen in 2026. But a recognition of the event\u2019s importance to the nonfiction filmmaking community prompted the Centre National du Cin\u00e9ma (CNC), an agency of France\u2019s Ministry of Culture, to step up with financing. And Documentary Campus<\/a>, a nonprofit with deep experience in training media professionals, stepped up too \u2013 partnering with Sunny Side to ensure SSD did not succumb to turbulence in the documentary field.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe near cancellation \u201cprobably allowed a collective consciousness of how important it is to have a standalone market for documentary with a global vision and an international reach,\u201d notes Aur\u00e9lie Reman<\/a>, managing director of Sunny Side of the Doc. \u201cIt said a lot not only about how the brand existed beyond the borders [of France], it said a lot maybe about how much louder we need to fight for documentary storytelling, especially in a period and a moment [of] conflicts, disinformation, polarization around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Aur\u00e9lie<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tAur\u00e9lie Reman, managing director of Sunny Side of the Doc<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSunny Side of the Doc<\/p>\n

\n\tReman adds, \u201cWhat we observe is that there\u2019s no lack of interest in documentary. It\u2019s the contrary. And so we just need to be more agile, maybe think more collectively in how we\u2019re going to be able to renew our financing models, our collaboration patterns at every level \u2014 broadcasters, producers, distributors, authors, filmmakers as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA slimmer, reimagined Sunny Side of the Doc will unfold from June 22-24, hyper-focused on delivering for the 2,000 professionals expected to attend from Europe, the U.S. and other parts of the world. Reman says SSD\u2019s main objective is \u201cto bring clear market intelligence to allow independent producers and distributors to strategize. That\u2019s what they\u2019re missing. They don\u2019t have the long view now. They don\u2019t know what to develop for the next 12 or 24 months.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn Europe, unlike in the U.S., public money remains vital to the creation of nonfiction content, but budgets have tightened. \u201cWe still have strong European public broadcasters who have been the main financier, I would say, of the documentary genre in Europe, but they\u2019re also very active in terms of international co-production to work with their peers beyond Europe,\u201d Reman observes, adding that this year\u2019s SSD is \u201creally a call for them to ensure they clarify their strategies, their editorial lines, the actual budgets they have and allow producers then to do what they do best \u2014 \u00a0being creative, adapting their formats, the narratives and how to introduce either technology or new forms of storytelling in their habits, in their daily work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Sunny<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tSunny Side of the Doc<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJean Fran\u00e7ois Aug\u00e9<\/p>\n

\n\tSunny Side notes that alongside key players in the ecosystem \u2013 France T\u00e9l\u00e9visions, ARTE, PBS, ZDF, the BBC and NHK \u2013 \u201cthis year sees the arrival of around sixty decision makers who were absent last year, ranging from National Geographic to Paramount, and from RTL Television to the MBC Group. It\u2019s a more diverse line-up, which speaks volumes about the real influence of Sunny Side of the Doc.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSSD is introducing several new elements, including the Copro HUB \u201cto facilitate co-production meetings around thematic issues, Speed Dating between buyers and distributors, and the Meet & Match program developed with Documentary Campus, to enable over 100 new projects to access the right partners in targeted meetings.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Copro HUB will emphasize case studies \u201cthat we are going to be presenting every morning to kickstart the day,\u201d Reman says \u2014 sessions designed to illuminate how successful documentary productions came to be. \u201cHow they managed to build very high-quality international co-pros. Who did they work with? Always sharing the most insightful and concrete information\u2026 Every day a different theme, going from science, archeology, to wildlife and history.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Director<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tDirector David Borenstein accepts the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature from presenter Jimmy Kimmel.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKevin Winter\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\tNo international co-production of the last year has been more successful than Mr. Nobody Against Putin, the film directed by David Borenstein and co-directed by the film\u2019s protagonist, Pavel \u201cPasha\u201d Talankin. BBC Storyville, Made in Copenhagen, ZDF\/Arte, and Pink Productions combined forces on the project which gained steadily after its premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, going on to win the Academy Award in March for Best Documentary Feature. In one of Sunny Side\u2019s keynote addresses, Mr. Nobody Against Putin producer Helle Faber, CEO of Made in Copenhagen, will explore lessons drawn from her experience on the film.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Helle<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tHelle Faber, Oscar-winning producer of \u2018Mr. Nobody Against Putin\u2019<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSunny Side of the Doc<\/p>\n

\n\tFaber will offer \u201ca candid view of a market in flux,\u201d the Sunny Side program promises. \u201c[T]raditional financing sources are narrowing, public media support is shrinking, and the dominance of global streaming platforms is reshaping what kinds of documentaries get made\u2014and seen\u2026 Drawing on her experience at the heart of the industry, Helle Faber will reflect on how producers can adapt, what new partnerships may emerge, and what must change for bold, globally relevant documentary stories to continue reaching audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Ben<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tBen Zand, founder and CEO of Zandland<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSunny Side of the Doc<\/p>\n

\n\tThe opening day keynote on Monday, June 22 will be delivered by Ben Zand, Founder and CEO of Zandland, exploring \u201cwhat truly connects with audiences today, and how creators can build lasting engagement across an increasingly fragmented media landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA major part of that media landscape: YouTube, a colossus that for documentary makers represents \u201cthe elephant in the room,\u201d as Reman puts it. YouTube got out of producing documentaries itself a few years ago but stands as a readymade and gigantic distribution platform for nonfiction creatives, as the PBS series Frontline and Independent Lens have recognized (they\u2019ve got their own revenue-generating YouTube channels).<\/p>\n

\n\tYouTube \u201cneeds to be tackled or better understood in terms of the real potential for creators,\u201d Reman insists, \u201cbut also for, I would say, traditional players who now need to integrate that factor into their ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tReman says keynoter Ben Zand will shed light on the convergence of TV and digital, describing him as \u201csomeone who really knows how creators can build lasting engagement around high quality content because that\u2019s where we are right now. It\u2019s not anymore those YouTubers who have very low-quality content production. They\u2019ve reached the [next] level. They\u2019re now able to actually do feature films and we can see them in theaters right now\u2026 They want to be able to collaborate more with TV channel producers, distributors. They also want to generate more revenues from their work. So, it\u2019s really about understanding each other\u2026 It\u2019s the role of Sunny Side to try to build that bridge.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tSunny Side of the Doc may have wobbled after its 36th edition. But the bridge is now supported by a stronger foundation, welcome news for the documentary community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunny Side of the Doc, the international documentary marketplace held in La Rochelle, France, is about to open…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492145,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[211384,211385,93,61,60,270,211386],"class_list":["post-492144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-auru00e9lie-reman","tag-documentary-campus","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-movies","tag-sunny-side-of-the-doc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492144"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492144\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}