237 documentaries seek financing at DocsBarcelona

For five days, Barcelona becomes the documentary capital and attracts around 450 professionals from 34 countries.

This year, DocsBarcelona moves to spring. From May 28 to June 2, the event will screen a wide selection of the best current documentary cinema in eight theaters in the city, with the presence of its directors or protagonists.

In parallel, it will bring together the genre industry in one of the most prestigious markets for project presentation and financing in the world, the Pitching Forum, and with other activities especially aimed at professionals: workshops, master classes, an international conference on interactive documentary (INTERDOCS) and closed-door viewing sessions with television stations, distributors and sales agents (Rough Cut Screenings).

For five days, Barcelona will thus become the documentary capital and will attract around 450 professionals from 34 countries.

La 16ª edición de DocsBarcelona presenta novedades importantes. Además de trasladar las fechas a la primavera, reestructura sus secciones ampliando y fortaleciendo la oficial, que proyectará 22 títulos y pasa a englobar las secciones temáticas de otras ediciones. Se mantienen las secciones de Nuevo Talento, con la proyección de propuestas firmadas por la cantera emergente de realizadores, Xtra, no competitiva, y Kids & Teens, la apuesta para atraer público infantil y juvenil que ya cuenta con más de 800 inscritos. En total se proyectará una cuarentena de películas documentales.

El palmarés de esta edición estará formado por cinco galardones: el premio principal, que reconocerá a la mejor película de la sección oficial con 5.000 euros y una estatuílla, y los premios Nuevo talento, Teens & Docs y el del público.

Pitching Forum

The DocsBarcelona Pitching Forum will receive 41% more documentary projects this year than in the last edition. This financing and dissemination market for the documentary industry has received 237 projects this year from 37 countries in Europe, America and Asia.

Joan González, director of the contest, explains the success of the call "by the desire to fight and explain stories that people have at this time, and by the consolidation of this market as a useful tool for financing documentaries."

A hundred of these requests come from Spain. Other countries with a good number of registered projects are Italy, France, Germany and Colombia.

A total of 25 candidates will choose to present their project to potential financiers and distributors (Financing Pitching Panel). In the current difficult context, the DocsBarcelona Pitching Forum aims to become an engine of economic development.

Ya se han confirmado algunos de los representados que constituirán el panel de financiadores. Como representante s de distribuidoras asisten este año Melissa Caron, de Echo Bridge Entertainment (Estados Unidos), Maelle Guenegues, de Cat & Docs (Francia) y Astrid Guger, de Autlook Filmsales (Austria). Seis cadenas de televisión también participarán: Jordi Ambròs y Joan Salvat de Televisión de Cataluña, Andrés Luque de TVE, Cynthia Lopez, de POV, el canal documental de la PBS (Estados Unidos), Emelie Persson, del canal SVT (Suecia), Mark Young, de IMG MEDIA (Reino Unido) y Jenny Westergard, de YLE (Finlandia).

The Pitching Forum was born in 1996 by EDN, current co-organizer of the event, and each year it brings together more than 300 professionals from more than 30 countries. It has become one of the most requested project financing forums in the world. The Pitching Forum is a profitable opportunity for producers: 58% of the projects presented are completed and a further 14% are currently in production.