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Paris Doc 2022

Each year, Cinéma du réel ponders upon the state of the documentary, its forms, its developments and the approaches of its filmmakers. This is what lends the festival its exploratory side, makes it an ongoing research project. In addition to the screening of this flourishing contemporary internatioanal documentary cinema, Cinéma du réel invites us to experience the world and cinema through a plethora of gazes on the world, a plurality of documentary practices and visions other than our own. Because cinema passes from the filmmaker’s mind to the mind of the spectator, it is an art of connivance, even collusion, between filmmaker and spectator, who experiences another imaginary, a universe other than his or her own. But this experience – which is also that of the other or rather the distance separating him or her from me – is singular inasmuch as it also reminds us that we all inhabit the same world. A world to watch without being blinded by the continuous flow of events. And it is perhaps through films that disturb, upend imaginaries, confront other desires, other aspirations, other dreams, that a discontinuity occurs in the inexorable unfolding of real-world events. This discontinuity, which questions, surprises, resists, delights, is what helps us to avoid being blinded and to look at our contemporaries. This is our invitation to the audiences of Cinéma du réel. Catherine Bizern

WORKS-IN-PROGRESS

From March 15 to 17, 2022, selected films will have the possibility of being screened once in their entirety at the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles, a historic partner of Cinéma du Réel located in the heart of Paris.

Attendees will consist of carefully selected French and international industry professionals who play an active and strategic role in giving films the visibility they need: festival programmers, sales agents, TV programmers, theatrical and online distributors, as well as theater exhibitors.

Each screening will be followed by a discussion, which can take on the form of an informal conversation and/or a one-on-one meeting according to participants’ wishes and needs.

Thanks to a carefully curated program, ParisDOC Works-in-Progress offers a unique opportunity for project promoters to outline their films’ future in a favorable environment, and for professionals to gain exclusive access to new and promising projects.

Collaborations:

In 2022, the film lineup at Works-in-Progress, as results from our annual call-for-projects, will be supplemented by a selection of films in the editing stage, all produced on the African continent. Collaborations of this type were first launched in 2020. They diversify the offer presented to distribution professionals while energizing the conversations being had.

Aiming to provide the best possible support for selected projects, ParisDOC Works-in-Progress has established a partnership with Studio Orlando. As a result, one of the selected projects will benefit from post-production support (sound mixing or color-grading) from the Studio.

– you are a professional engaged in an activity related to film distribution and broadcast: festival and TV programmers, sales agents, theatrical and digital distributors. Contact us in order to participate in ParisDOC Works-in-Progress 2022: cinereel-parisdoc@bpi.fr

– Download the PDF presentation and regulation 2022: here

– Consult the previous selections of ParisDOC Works-in-Progress : here

PUBLIC FORUM

To center the debate, exchanges are made to revolve around one key topic. This central theme is chosen by Amis du Cinéma du Réel, which sees to the smooth running of discussions via a work group set up for this purpose. Public Forum’s aim is to highlight various concerns industry players may be grappling with in France, as well as the challenges linked to documentary production. In 2021, Public Forum examined how digital technology has transformed film production and distribution in the context of the public health crisis.

For this 44th edition of Cinéma du Réel, Public Forum will focus on the following question: “Can we still make the films we dream of?”

A number of recent and far-reaching changes have weakened the production of independent films. Taking into account every production stage, from a film’s writing to its release, what are the new conditions shaping the production and existence of these films? What are the obstacles and possibilities at hand? Filmmakers and producers will take an uncompromising look at the prospect of a shared future.

This topic will be at the core of three round-table discussions which will strive to account for the many aspects and complexities of this issue.

MORNING SESSIONS

Four sessions are set to take place in 2022. They will bring together industry professionals, emerging talents, students, and representatives of partner organizations.

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON HERITAGE DOCUMENTARIES / Discussion

EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON HERITAGE DOCUMENTARIES / Projects