Haitian filmmaker Samuel Suffren’s debut feature “Job 1:21,” unveiled in the Work-in-Progress section of Visions du Réel, Switzerland’s leading documentary film festival, is already gaining traction on the industry circuit, picking up one of the top prizes at the market forum. The project denounces Haiti’s justice system through the story of a woman imprisoned for […]

Chilean documentary filmmaker Ignacio Agüero will be honored with a retrospective at the 25th Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Intl. Film Festival, which takes place April 23-May 3 on Spain’s Gran Canaria island.  The tribute will celebrate the life and career of the groundbreaking and award-winning documentarian, known for films including “Cien niños esperando un tren” […]

Opening the industry section of Swiss doc festival Visions du Réel, with her latest Netflix-produced feature “Cover-Up” serving as the festival’s opening film, Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras pointed to a documentary sector that is not only under pressure but increasingly mobilized – including around opposition to the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery deal. Citing an open letter […]

“Heat is like a death sentence.” The line, spoken by a Kuwait-based meteorologist in Jacqueline Zünd’s “Heat,” anchors a film that examines global warming not through explanation but through what the Swiss filmmaker describes as “a sensory experience.” Premiering in the main competition at Visions du Réel, Switzerland’s leading documentary film festival, “Heat” immerses the […]