European Documentary Distributors Speculate on Post-Pandemic Market at Docudays UA

One of the most jarring aspects of the global pandemic is the rapidity with which every part of life as we know it has been upended, forcing us to nimbly pivot at the drop of a hat. And the film world, of course, has not been spared the disease’s speedy domino effect, nor its subsequent demands. This seemed to be the consensus among the array of international panelists streamed in live from lockdown in their various home countries to participate in a DOCU/CLASS titled "International market after the quarantine: how to distribute documentary films tomorrow?" at this year's 17th Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival's all-digital edition. 

Moderated from Kiev by Ukrainian Illya Gladstein, a producer at Phalanstery Films and a co-owner and managing partner of the city's KINO42 cinema (as well as the owner of a rental company called 86PROKAT) from the empty Docudays office — strangely made sadder by all the festive white balloons in the background — the panelists included Parisian editor and director Qutaiba Barhamji; ZagrebDox Director Nenad Puhovski; Doc Alliance's executive director and head of acquisitions, Diana Tabakov; CAT&Docs sales agent Maëlle Guenegues; and German public broadcaster MDR's commissioning editor and head of documentaries Ulrich Brochhagen.

To read all about the doc market discourse visit Documentary magazine.