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Based on footage Fernanda Pessoa and Adriana Barbosa recorded during Covid, this film celebrates female empowerment. It falls short of the pioneers it pays tribute to, but it’s an earnest snapshot of the pandemic

A feminist homage; a visual record of female friendship; a political collage. Fernanda Pessoa and Adriana Barbosa’s documentary is all this and more. Based in São Paulo and Los Angeles, the two film-makers are separated by geographical distance and 2020 Covid restrictions, circumstances that trigger a chain of audiovisual correspondence in lieu of texts and emails.

Explicitly inspired by the works of feminist film-makers such as Carolee Schneemann and Cheryl Dunye, Swing and Sway tries to create a cinematic haven from the rise of rightwing politics.

For 10 American docu teams, this year’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival will be opening new doors for collaboration and support that are completely unknown to most indie filmmakers in the West.

The New Visions Forum: U.S. Docs section, building on a successful launch last year, is a financing, co-production and networking event dedicated to “supporting documentary production in its diversity and creativity.”

It features U.S. projects in development as well as in production and post-production, with selected projects spanning diverse genres and audiovisual formats – from fiction films with documentary aspects, to hybrid, “cinema expanded,” experimental and short films. The platform connects American filmmakers with the potential co-producers, distributors, sales representatives and film festivals from Europe.

Each project is pitched and presented by a director-producer pair, who screen a preview of the upcoming film at Ji.hlava on Oct. 27.

The U.S. projects feature a diversity of approaches and subjects,...

The documentary festival will include 38 world premieres.

The UK’s Sheffield DocFest (June 23-28) has unveiled its 2022 line-up, including the world premiere of Werner Herzog’s The Fire Within: Requiem For Katia And Maurice Krafft.

The documentary festival will host 38 world premieres, 22 international premieres and 11 European premieres.

The Fire Within, which is written, narrated and directed by Herzog, will feature in DocFest’s Memories strand. It chronicles the French volcanologists who died in a volcanic eruption on Japan’s Mount Uzen in 1991, leaving an archive of more than 200 hours of footage that makes up the film.

Herzog previously explored the...

Five docs making their world premiere at the fesitival

The UK’s Sheffield DocFest has selected nine films for its International Competition, with five of the documentaries making their world premiere at the festival. It runs from June 23-28.

The docs come from a broad span of countries - Australia, Brazil, Lebanon, Mexico, Poland, Spain, UK, US, and Ukraine.

The films in selection reflect the full spectrum of documentary production, from collective filmmaking on the frontline of war in the world premiere of Volodymyr Tykhyy’s One Day In Ukraine to the experimental exchange of video letters during the pandemic...

Casting

Nomzamo Mbatha (“Coming 2 America”) is set to star in period drama “Shaka Ilembe” about the iconic African king. The series is set in 1700s and will also star Lemogang Tsipa and newcomer Ntando Zondi, who will both play Shaka at different ages, Thembinkosi Mthembu as King Dingiswayo and Senzo Radebe as King Senzangakhona.

Mbatha, who will play Queen Nandi, Shaka’s mother, will also executive produce. “I am honoured to bring the giant that is Queen Nandi to life,” she said. “History will remember those who informed its people of where we come from, to better understand who we are. I am fortunate to be part of a project that is much bigger than ourselves and to tell this story in our own language. Impi iyeza!”

The series comes from MultiChoice and Bomb Productions.

Screen Summit

Wales is set to host an inaugural screen summit showcasing the film...

The Arche lab is part of Doclisboa’s Nebulae industry programme.

Twelve Ibero-American projects in different stages of production have been selected as part of the Arché project development lab to be held onsite again during Doclisboa’s industry programme Nebulae, running October 21 – 31, 2021.

2021’s line-up includes projects by cinematographer Ana Mariz (All The Roses), and directors Natalia Garyalde (Bea VII), Fernanda Pessoa and Adriana Barbosa (Swing and Sway) and Miguel de Jesus (Ultimate Bliss).

Mariz has served in the past as DoP on documentaries by directors including Ruben Goncalves, Ico Costa (Timkat) and Lucía Pires (Harvest Queen). All The Roses...

The Ji.hlava Film Festival has launched New Visions Forum and Market, a financing, co-production and networking event. The program will present 16 new documentary projects by U.S. filmmakers to the more than 1,000 film professionals who are expected to take part in the festival physically and online.

The director-producer pair behind the projects will be pitching to potential co-producers, distributors, sales representatives and film festivals from Europe. The projects, in all stages of production, will be presented along with a preview of the film. The filmmakers taking part include Godfrey Reggio, Sara Dosa, Fern Silva and Brent Chesanek.

The New Visions Forum and Market will take place physically at the Ji.hlava Industry Hub and will be streamed online to the holders of industry accreditation. It will take place on Oct. 28-29.

Projects In Development

Backside

Director: Raúl O. Paz-Pastrana

Producers: Gabriella Garcia-Pardo, Patricia Alvarez Astacio

Production Company: Backside Film...

The Dok Industry prize-winners were announced last week.

Congolese filmmaker Dieudo Hamadi’s Downstream To Kinshasa won this year’s Golden Dove in Dok Leipzig’s (Oct 26-Nov 1) international competition for long documentary and animated film.

The co-production between the Democratic Republic of Congo, France and Belgium centres on a group of disabled civilians setting off on a long journey to Kinshasa to demand compensation for the injuries suffered during the so-called Six Day War between Ugandan and Rwandan troops in 2000.

The film, selected for this year’s Cannes Film Festival and given a special mention by the Amplify Voices...