La Rochelle – With more than 2000 professionals from around the world (60 countries represented in 2014), including almost 300 international decision-makers and 450 exhibitors, Sunny Side of The Doc is the international market for both linear and interactive documentaries.
For four days from 22 to 25 June, the documentary world will rotate around the Espace Encan in La Rochelle, showcasing the depth and diversity of international documentary production through pitch sessions, round tables and screenings.
As an illustration of the economic impact of Sunny Side of the Doc on the global documentary market, the 2015 edition will welcome two new professional umbrellas, the first, with CICC (the China Intercontinental Communication Centre), hosting LIC China, the Sichuan TV Festival, DOC China, Companion Culture Media and other organisations involved in documentaries in China. The second is a Spanish initiative: ICEX, the Spanish Initiative for Foreign Trade, an agency of the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Trade, will support the promotion of Spanish companies and help them develop internationally.
This year Sunny Side is pleased to be welcoming delegations of producers from countries as far afield as South Africa, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Spain, Italy and Japan, among others. There will be lots of opportunities to extend your network and make new international contacts.
The conference programme is loosely based around daily themes and will explore natural history and wildlife, science, history and transmedia documentaries, focusing on linear and interactive documentaries which push back the limits of the genre. There will also be new opportunities for professionals with Meet the Executives enabling exchanges with TV executives, Hands on Knowledge, and practical workshops run by specialists and designed for producers wanting to go international, along with R&D Exclusives to discover daring projects where creativity rhymes with technological innovation.
Monday 22 June / Go Global: thinking documentaries without borders
Following the success of its 6th edition in March 2015, Asian Side of the Doc is now recognised as a major event for co-productions, sales and acquisitions of documentary programmes in Asia.
It was therefore natural to create a bridge between these two events and enable an increasingly international coproduction ecosystem to flourish and grow.
Highlights
– CICC Showcase (Auditorium – 11.30): Presentation of the international coproduction strategy of CICC and launch of DOC CHINA APP, a common platform for documentary channels in China aimed at increasing collaboration and synergies.
– “Global Issue” Pitch (Auditorium – 16.30): 6 documentary projects illustrating the world we live in will be pitched to an audience of decision-makers.
– Presentation of the CNC – State of progress of COSIP reform for documentary (Auditorium – 15.00)
Tuesday 23 June / Science Day: Science in all conscience
International broadcasters with science slots, producers with extraordinary science programmes, foundations and institutions for the diffusion of science will meet for a day of forums, pitches, and case studies…
Highlights
– Science & Knowledge Pitch – in partnership with the EBU/UER (Auditorium – 11.00): For the second year running Sunny Side is partnering with EUROVISION to enable 7 extraordinary science programmes supported by international producers to take part in the market.
– Climate Panel (Auditorium – 17.00): By 2050 half of the world’s population will be living in cities. The rapid development of agglomerations brings social, technological and environmental challenges. As a prelude to the Paris Climate 2015 conference (COP21), broadcasters, institutions and producers will meet to discuss how to make these complex, but essential, questions understandable to the general public.
Wednesday 24 June / Natural History Day: Naturally Wildlife
Sunny Side Goes Wild and this is not just a slogan! For 2015 Sunny Side of the Doc has decided to put nature and wildlife at the heart of its programming. Suffering from an image of being too unexciting for younger audiences, abandoned by broadcasters in France, natural history documentaries are pouncing back! New writing, new images and above all new coproduction and broadcasting territories.
Highlights
– Natural History Pitch (Auditorium – 11.00): 6 projects will be pitched to an audience of decision makers, under the guidance of Andrew Solomon, Head of Natural History – Universum, ORF Austria
Sponsored by FOX International Channels Content Sales and Natgeo Wild
– R&D Exclusives Thomas Wallner (Agora – 14.30)
Digital technology, social networks and people power are a heady combination when applied to natural history, and considerably strengthen audience engagement. Join Thomas Wallner, founder of DEEP Inc., for a breathtaking journey through the North West Passage in “Polar Sea 360°”, the very first 360° documentary in the world, along with a unique interactive experience.
– “How Wild Are We?” – Panel (Auditorium – 17.00): With a view to pushing back the boundaries of wildlife documentaries – in both form and substance – the panel will bring together broadcasters and directors capable of transforming raw truth into prime-time hits.
Thursday 25 June / History Day: Has History Still Got a Future?
Sunny Side will answer this question with a programme created by an editorial committee made up of Antje Boehmert (Docdays Productions, Germany), Adam Gee (Channel 4, UK), Marc Brasse (ARD/NDR, Germany), Elizabeth Klinck (Researcher, Canada), John Farren (360 Production, UK) and Emma Perkins (360 Production, UK). One purpose: to create a forum for discussions on History programmes and their future.
Highlights
– History Pitch (Auditorium – 11.00): 6 creative teams will have an opportunity to present their projects in development to an audience of international decision-makers specialised in History, with expert moderators. This session is open to all and sponsored by PBS International.
– Panel: The Future of History (Auditorium – 15.00): New slots, new partners and news ways of telling great stories. Key broadcasters will reveal how they make History a success in early peak-time viewing slots.
Sunny Lab: a programme focusing on reality
The incursion of new screens, new ways of consuming images means that creation has to be rethought, no longer being only linear but also delinearised and interactive. Since 2014 Sunny Lab has become an event in its own right, with unique programming made up of pitches, panels and cases studies exploring interactive documentaries, transmedia systems, all marked with the seal of innovation.
Sunny Lab is also a space devoted to innovation in the heart of the Encan exhibition area: 4K HD camera from NHK as part of their new underwater series “DEEP OCEAN – The Last Frontier”, Sunfony immersive sound seats, Oculus Rift virtual reality headsets for 360° documentaries, etc. Finally, let’s not deny ourselves a treat! Much acclaimed at the Tribeca Film Festival, the virtual reality documentary The Enemy will receive its French première at Sunny Side.
As always, delivers a public screening programme, Gran. This year the programme is going wild and will see the arrival of two new partners: the prestigious documentary festivals of the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival and the Wildscreen Film Festival which have concocted a larger than life programme for the general public.
