SUCCESS STORIES IN SIDE
THE INTERNATIONAL DOC MARKETS
WWW.SUNNYSIDEOFTHEDOC.COM
SUNNY SIDE, COPRODUCTION MARKET First ideas, first contacts, first signatures… A number of major coproductions have come about at Sunny Side, making the documentary market an unmissable event for international series.
SPACE REPORTERS
An international adventure for a sustainable world The transmedia project Space Reporters has been constructed and financed following presentation at Sunny Side and Asian Side.
Click the icon to play the video
VIDEO: D-DAY, AN AMBITIOUS HISTORY Interview with Nicolas Deschamps, MC4
ASIA-SECRETS LIVES, HIDDEN PLACES
THE SECRET TO A SUCCESSFUL COPRODUCTION German, Chinese and Malaysian producers found common ground at Asian Side of the Doc to complete an ambitious coproduction for the series Asia - Secret Lives, Hidden Places, showing how people have adapted to living in protected areas of Asia.
Asia - Secret Lives, Hidden Places tells the story of cohabitation, men in women living in stunning Asian national parks have learned how to create new ways of life, sharing the environment with protected, sometimes dangerous and always amazing wildlife. The series explores five stories of marriages between man nature in five Asian countries: India, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan and China. The 5 x 45-minute series, written by Ruth Berry, is also the story of a successful coproduction between Eikon
Media and Autentic GmbH from Germany, LIC from China and FINAS (National Film Development Corporation Malaysia) from Malaysia. The project was pitched at Asian Side 2013, quickly garnering interest from FINAS. “Our presentation at Asian Side was key in continuing the series”, said producer Patrick Hörl (Autentic). “This is where the links between the partners were forged or strengthened, giving rise to a harmonious relationship. LIC has a 20 % share in the coproduction, ensuring in part the shooting of the episode which takes place in China. It has the rights for “Greater China”, leaving Autentic with the distribution for the rest of the world. The first season is now complete, and the partners are already working on the production of season 2.
•
Space Reporters is a global project, an international adventure initiated by the French company OXBox Productions (Guillaume Roussy) and which is made up of a 3D animated film, a series of 60 shorts and an interactive site. Three ways of working towards the unique ambition, the ambition of creating a sustainable future world through the stories of a couple of space reporters who land on earth to explore the solutions that mankind has thought up to cope with the future. The project was both born and developed at Sunny Side. “Firstly it was selected for the Science pitch session at Sunny Side 2011, then Asian Side 2012”, explained director Hélène Guétary, who is also behind the whole idea of the project. “The first thing we did was to contact Laurent Dondey, managing director of La Géode, who encouraged us to produce the long film in 3D. Secondly, we had discussions with representatives from the Chinese company CICC, who wanted to invest in the short programmes series. We went on to find a Canadian partner, Les Productions Thalie (Yves Fortin), who decided to coproduce the long film”. With added support from the Media Programme and the UK company Unanico the transmedia programme is advancing well in the hope of being ready for the COP 21 international climate conference in Paris in December 2015.
•
TASTING BRAZIL The French company FL Concepts and Brazilian company Grifa Films met at Latin Side. In just a few years they built a bridge between Europe and South America by producing films together. Their latest creation together really whets the appetite. In the series Tasting Brazil Michelin-starred Brazilian chef Bel Coelho explores the vast diversity of his country through food and those who prepare it.
DEADLY DEPTHS This is a subject which cannot leave people indifferent… Thanks to Asian Side of the Doc French, Japanese and Chinese partners (Georama TV/Arte, NHK and Heilongjiang TV Station respectively) came together to coproduce Deadly Depths. This film exposes how countries are reluctant to pay the price needed to eradicate the tonnes of chemical weapons that they have themselves dumped in the sea.
www.sunnysideofthedoc.com
2
SUNNY SIDE, HOTHOUSE FOR PARTNERSHIPS The shared passion to promote documentaries around the world regularly drives participants at Sunny Side and Asian Side to create and complete unique and ambitious partnerships.
WHEN CHINA AND EUROPE WORK HAND IN HAND
CANOPE/ONF COLLABORATION At Sunny Side of the Doc 2012, the Réseau Canopé (formerly the CNDP) and the Canadian Film Board (CFB/ONF) signed a partnership for partnerships and sharing experiences in terms of digital works designed for the education community. They committed to increased collaboration with the setting up of ambitious projects to fuel an innovative offering tailored to specific needs and public use, particularly for the education community.
Five years after the creation of Asian Side of the Doc, and thanks to the many workshops that have been organised, China has become a lasting partner for a number of European producers.
Through the creation of Asian Side of the Doc in 2010, Sunny Side took on a major challenge: bringing together China and Europe to encourage them to work together on partnerships that can enrich the documentary genre. Now, five years on, reality has swept the dream away and China and Europe are working hand in hand. The number of workshops on understanding their respective markets has increased over the years and over the editions. Initial contacts have been transformed into long-lasting relationships, theoretical lessons have given way to the first coproductions. “Sunny Side has enabled us to explore specific case studies and work on different cooperation models with European companies”, said Leland Ling, CEO of LIC China. “Going beyond our cultural differences, the many opportunities provided by Asian Side have enabled us to find the right conditions for encouraging and multiplying collaboration between Europe and China. At Sunny Side of the Doc, following a workshop entitled “Working With China”, several European producers came to see me to talk about potential upcoming coproductions”, such as the French company Mona Lisa which came to talk about the documentary Planet Sand.
•
Click the icon to play the video
VIDEO: NIGHT ON EARTH, BRINGING TECHNOLOGY TO WILDLIFE Interview with Barthélémy Fougea, Winds Films and Jacques Perrin, Galatée Films
BIG CITIES
GLOBAL SEND OFF IN LA ROCHELLE Highlighting innovative solutions for a better life in the major metropolises of the 21st century. This is the ambition of the collection Big Cities. But Big Cities is also a unique international coproduction bringing together broadcasters from the world over.
2014 Sunny Side of the Doc saw the first meeting of the Big Cities project with representatives of almost all the major regional television broadcaster bodies who have decided to work together: the Asian Broadcasting Union (ABU); the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), NORD Vision (Scandinavian broadcasters), the Arab State
Broadcasters Union (ASBU), Copeam and Urti for the Mediterranean and Africa. “We could dream of the same thing together”, said Malu Viana Batista, head of Tal TV, who is behind the Big Cities initiative. Each association will be an ambassador for the project in its region for its member broadcasters – more than 500 are represented – to encourage them to enter into the production of a part of the series. In the EBU, RAI from Italy and UR from Sweden have already got on board. The setting up of editorial coordination and training for all the coproducers was also discussed in La Rochelle. Delivery expected in 2016.
•
ARTLINE AND CCTV10 WORKING TOGETHER ON THE CHINESE SCHINDLER French company Artline Films (Olivier Mille) and Chinese public broadcaster CCTV-10 signed a partnership agreement at Sunny Side 2014 concerning a project initiated by CCTV-10, Oriental Memory, The Chinese Schindler. Artline Films will focus on finding finance in Europe and developing the international version in a 90-minute format. In China the documentary will be a 4 x 52-minute series, exploring the action of a Chinese diplomat who helped 4000 Jews leave Europe.
www.sunnysideofthedoc.com
3
SUNNY SIDE, RESOURCE AND TRAINING CENTRE With its 25 years of experience, Sunny Side of the Doc can now make its expertise available for training and cooperation purposes with emerging countries. This way the documentary genre will flourish throughout the world!
THE MENADOC PROJECT
Structuring the documentary in the MENA zone Training producers in the MENA zone and creating a documentary market: the ambition of the Menadoc project.
Click the icon to play the video
VIDEO: BRAZIL BACK TO SCHOOL AT SUNNY SIDE Interview with Rachel Do Valle, Brazilian TV Producers
DOC TRAINING FOR KOREA Sunny Side of the Doc and RAPA (Korea Radio Promotion Association) organised training in Seoul in May 2014 for Korean producers and directors looking to move into the international market.
Useful and beneficial! These were the words of the Korean documentary producers and directors summing up the 4-day course in Seoul in May 2014 organised by Sunny Side of the Doc and RAPA (Korea Radio Promotion Association). Far from being theoretical and academic, the course let them work on actual practices and the realities of the marketplace through case studies into 11 concrete projects. “It wasn’t just a question of learning to know the market and preparing for it better, but it was a real launch, materialising and realising all the
ideas concerning each of our productions”, enthused young producer Jin Jeon, who came to the course with her project Becoming Who I Was. The attendees put there projects into real-life situations with mini-pitch sessions at the beginning of the first day and the end of the last day after 4 intense days where they listened to and took on board the advice and experience of highly experienced professionals including producers Christian Popp and Richard Liang, and director Najeeb Mirza. “The attendees needed to learn about the formats and criteria required in international production”, said Christian Popp, who, like all the attendees, praised the work achieved. “It was a wonderful experience and a particularly enriching exchange of experiences”.
•
After initiating and taking part in training in Asia and Latin America, Sunny Side is now making inroads into Africa. Last May, the Menadoc project was presented at the Festival International de Documentaire d’Agadir (Fidadoc), designed to professionalise documentary players in the MENA (Middle East North Africa) zone. The initial step was to create a professional platform dedicated to training documentary producers from Morocco, the Middle East and North Africa. “The Maghreb has a large number of talented authors and directors”, explained Hind Saïd, President of Fidadoc, and also a producer at Bellota Films in France, but the zone is sadly lacking in producers trained for the international market”. Supported by Fidadoc, the Moroccan broadcaster 2M and Sunny Side of the Doc, the initiative’s ambition is to train producers in terms of more international production standards to help them access the world market. Producers should have the possibility of working concretely on their own projects in an incubator, supported and guided by a team of experts. In time, the second phase of the Menadoc project should see the creation of a documentary market in the MENA zone towards Europe and Asia.
•
HOW TO WORK WITH A DISTRIBUTOR At Sunny Side of the Doc, just as at Asian Side, several workshops led by professionals are on offer to attendees. During the “How to Work With a Distributor” workshop held at Sunny Side 2014, experts Roberto Salvestrin (Lucky You) and Jan Rofekamp (Films Transit) explained how and when to call on a distributor, and the way they work and collaborate with producers.
S. SEIDENBERG, TRAINER IN CHINA In Beijing in January 2014 documentary filmmakers took part in a 4-day course provided by Sunny Side. Over four days a team of 6 trainers, including Steven Seidenberg, explained the international documentary market before looking into more concrete questions such as financing by broadcasters, signing contracts and tax issues in a coproduction.
www.sunnysideofthedoc.com
4
SUNNY SIDE, INNOVATION CROSSROADS By definition the documentary is a shifting genre. Sunny Side understood this a long time ago and in each market, every year, it encourages and fosters the emergence of new writing, new tools and new distribution.
GAME FEVER
From film to transmedia The documentary film Game Fever became a web series after it went to Asian Side of the Doc. Projects can develop after coming under the scrutiny of professionals for the first time. This was the case for Game Fever, a documentary by Hervé-Martin Delpierre, initiated by the French company Zed. “When we were looking for funding, we presented our project to potential investors at Asian Side of the Doc in March 2014”, explained producer Christine Le Goff. “That was when we realised that new media, more than traditional broadcasters, was particularly interesting for the themes of our project. It explores the peculiar world of pro-gamers, professional online gamers, and seeks out the best known of them – from South Korea in particular”. In just a few weeks, the producer re-worked the project into a 52 x 10-minute interactive webdoc series produced specifically for mainstream platforms such as YouTube or Dailymotion, specialist channels such as Twitch and U-Stream, and sponsors targeting the 15-34 age-range such as Red Bull or Coca-Cola. And although the series is now living its own life, this does not mean that the film has been left by the wayside, as it will be produced as a second phase.
•
THE OTHER LIFE OF GENERATION WHAT?
Click the icon to play the video
When French youth says what it is and what it feels, the result is Generation What ?, a series for France 2, but above all a website which has been inundated with visitors. With the dream of hearing what the youth of Europe have to say and of interacting with them, producer Christophe Nick (Yami 2), launched an ambitious project at Sunny Side 2014 picking up the original French concept with the production of four films and the launch of a website per country. To be continued … www.generation-quoi.france2.fr
VIDEO: CUBAN HAT, INCUBATING TALENT Interview with Giulia Frati and Diego Briceño
CANADA DIGITAL FRAMEWORK “SELLING ITSELF” AT SUNNY SIDE Attending Sunny Side for the first time in 2014, the Canada Media Fund found contacts and partners for new digital projects.
The Canada Media Fund (CMF/FMC) is a not for profit company which annually gives $368m in support of the Canadian television industry and digital media. Director of programmes Nathalie Clermont came to Sunny Side for the first time in 2014 to present the Canada Digital Framework, a new funding environment with incentives for international coproductions involving digital media. “Sunny Side is an event where new forms of documentary writing and production,
particularly for digital media, are broadly expressed. From our point of view, we are financing an increasing number of projects for digital media and are constantly on the lookout for foreign partners to complete out funding”. Regretting that there are far too few digital media coproductions between Canada and Europe, Nathalie Clermont came to Sunny Side to make contacts. What are her impressions? “It’s very clearly positive because I met as many producers as I did international financiers. A number of discussions triggered before Sunny Side were continued at the event and there were some new encounters as well. Some projects will be concretised in the near future”.
•
NEW DOC TOOLS No good tools, no good pictures. Manufacturers and rental companies regularly come to Sunny Side to present new cameras and novel services. Just like Sony in 2014 which presented its 4K and ultra-HD cameras, or Audiovisuel Broadcast, providing unique made-tomeasure services.
www.sunnysideofthedoc.com
5
FOLLOW US ON TWITTER twitter.com/sunnysidedoc
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK
facebook.com/sunnysideofthedoc
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL youtube.com/sunnysideofthedoc
Contact 21 bis Quai Maubec - 17000 La Rochelle, France Tel. + 33(0)5 46 55 79 79 welcome@sunnysideofthedoc.com
www.sunnysideofthedoc.com