Markets

Up to fifteen production and distribution companies make up the Spanish delegation that will be attending Sunny Side of the Doc (SSD), the main European market dedicated to documentaries and XR narrative experiences, starting Monday, June 19, 2023. The forum, which will bring together more than 2,200 professionals from 60 countries, is hosting its 34th edition from June 19 to 22 in the French town of La Rochelle.

Organised by Docs from Spain, one of the imprints under the umbrella brand Audiovisual from Spain of ICEX Spain Trade & Investment to promote companies and audiovisual content in the documentary genre, the Spanish pavilion is made up of the companies Al Borde Films, Ártico Distribution, Auna Producciones, Bideografik, El Gato Verde Producciones, Enero Films, Feelsales, Marmoka Films, Mayéutica Producciones, Morena Films, Onza Distribution, Trespés, Vértice 360, Vinyl Producciones and Zona Mixta.

All of them will participate in Spanish Rendez-vous: Docs from Spain matchmaking, an exclusive event organised by Docs from Spain on the afternoon of June 19, where they will showcase their projects in development to potential international partners, both production companies and sales agents, interested in them. There will be one-to-one appointments, which have been scheduled according to the expert criteria of the SSD organisers.

Spain will have a prominent presence in the official programme, with five projects selected from among the 42 finalists to be presented in the various themed categories that make up the co-production pitching sessions: Hope! The greatest opportunity ever (El Gato Verde Producciones) participates in the Science pitch; The Sleeper (Morena Films) and Alexina B. (Digital Films) compete in the Arts and Culture category; Diary of an Infiltrator (co-produced by Vértice 360) is part of the History section; and The Daughter of the Volcano (Auna Prod. and Mayéutica Prod.) is included in Impact Campaigns. All of them will be presented in the large auditorium in front of more than 300 international decision-makers including major broadcasters, streamers, distributors and investors looking for innovative and impactful stories.

The official agenda of SSD sessions and panels will also feature Spanish talents like Bernardo Pajares, social media manager of the Prado Museum, who will participate in a panel on how museum institutions innovate in their storytelling to attract and engage with their audience – he will explain the Prado's social media strategy, which won the People's Choice award in the Social, Art & Culture category of the Webby Awards. Also, Cristian Liarte, head of original content at Rakuten TV, will take part in a panel giving his vision on the possibilities of the documentary genre in FAST channels.

The team of CaixaForum+, the FVOD platform specialised in factual content around culture and science themes, will attend the event for the first time as decision makers to make themselves known among the international documentary sphere and will have the opportunity to meet with the finalist projects of all the pitching sessions.

The presence of Docs from Spain at this event is coordinated by ICEX, with the support of the Spain Audiovisual Hub of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, in the framework of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan financed by the Next Generation Funds of the European Commission.

Here is the Spanish agenda for this edition of Sunny Side of the Doc 2023:


Spanish Rendez-vous: Docs from Spain matchmaking – June 19, 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. (CET) at One-to-One room (1st floor)

Up to nine Spanish projects in different stages of development will take part in more than twenty one-to-one meetings facilitated by the SSD organisers between the companies in the Spanish pavilion and international prodcos and sales agents. The projects presented will be: Flying Hands by Al Borde Films; Homeland Security by Enero Films; The Sleeper by Morena Films; Hope! The Greatest Opportunity Ever by El Gato Verde Producciones; The Daughter of the Volcano by Auna Producciones and Mayéutica Producciones; The Hidden Secrets of the Museums by Zona Mixta; Life Science for Ageing by Onza Distribution; Daughters of the Wind by Trespés; and Diary of an Infiltrator by Vértice 360.


Science Pitch Session – June 19, 5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. (CET) at Auditorium

Led by El Gato Verde Producciones and directed by Álvaro Ron, Hope! The Greatest Opportunity Ever is a documentary series project in which the environmental communicator Javier Peña explains a wide range of solutions within our reach that can help us reverse the climate crisis in different areas such as energy, food, transport, housing and social policies.


Arts & Culture Pitch Session – June 20, 5 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. (CET) at Auditorium

Two Spanish projects are among the six finalists participating in this section: in The Sleeper by Morena Films, director Álvaro Longoria narrates the most sordid and unknown aspects of the art market, based on a case that occurred in Spain in 2021, when a family discovers by chance that the painting hanging for decades in their living room is actually a Caravaggio; the second project is Alexina B., by the production company Digital Films, which tells the story of one of the first intersex people to be recognised in 19th century France.


Museums Stories – June 21, 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. (CET) at Conference room

This two-hour session will alternate panels, keynotes and case studies on how the world's most important museums are developing innovative narratives in the digital environment to attract and retain new audiences. The Prado Museum will share the space with the Met in New York, the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, among others. Its social media manager, Bernardo Pajares, will talk about the strategy that the art gallery has been developing in recent years to remain the most followed art museum in the world on TikTok.


Impact Campaign Pitch Session – June 21, 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. (CET) at Side room

The Daughter of the Volcano is a co-production between Auna Producciones and Mayéutica Producciones in which filmmaker Jenifer de la Rosa reconstructs the tragedy of the Colombian volcano Nevado del Ruiz from the impact it had on her own life, when she was given up for adoption 30 years ago after its eruption left her an orphan.


Embracing fast audiences –June 21, 5:30 p.m. - 6:10 p.m. (CET) at Auditorium

FAST channels have become a trend in recent years due to the new content exploitation model they offer. Spanish executive Cristian Liarte, head of original content at Rakuten TV, will participate in this panel along with other players in the FAST ecosystem to analyse the opportunities and challenges that this proposal poses for the documentary community.


History Pitch Session – June 22, 10 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. (CET) at Auditorium

Vértice 360 and Bioesférica Filmes present the Spanish-Chilean co-production Diary of an Infiltrator, a spy story centred on the Spanish journalist Miguel Herbert, who, on the orders of the legendary Roberto Rossellini, managed to infiltrate the Pinochet regime that overthrew President Allende in Chile in the 1970s.