Docs for Sale catalogue opens with eight exciting films

The premier market and distribution incubator for creative documentary cinema, IDFA's Docs for Sale, heads into its new season with eight buzzy films that showcase a wide range of topical issues, poignant emotional stories and original artistic approaches. From volunteers helping stranded refugees in the most unexpected of places, moving personal testimonies set against a background of geo-political changes, heartfelt, brave and inventive stories of disabilities and trauma to lyrical, women-centered narratives, the eight films form a line-up of unmatched quality and depth.

We start this overview with French director Juliette de Marcillac's Nightwatchers, the opening film of this year's Visions du Réel. Shot over one night in the idyllic ski resort of Montgenèvre just across the border with Italy, the film follows volunteers helping refugees navigate the high mountains as they avoid border police who would send them back to Italy despite their legal right to request asylum. In an absurd contrast, during the day, the resort teems with blissfully unaware skiers. Suspenseful and provocative, the film stands out with its snowy night setting, a dark blue color palette and melancholy tone that is struck through with a note of optimism. The production company Dryades Films also has the international rights.

Another visually striking work is set on the other side of the world, in Central African Republic. In their CPH:DOX-premiering film Eat Bitter, co-directors Pascale Appora-Gnekindy and Ningyi Sun follow the 40-year-old Chinese construction manager Luan and local young man Thomas who lives off fishing out sand from the river for the Chinese projects. Despite the backdrop of civil war and class and racial inequalities, friendships are forged between the locals and investors, and the protagonists' dramatic family relationships come into focus in this inspiring documentary. Matthieu Faure's production company MJAGGER, which co-produced the film with Kea-Kwis Production and OAZ Picture Entertainment, holds the international rights.

A tonally opposite personal-political story comes from Italian directors Davide Rizzo and Marzia Toscano. In their Hot Docs title After the Bridge (pictured on top), they introduce us to the sorrowful world of former actress Valeria Collina whose life is upended when she discovers that one of the perpetrators of the 2017 jihadist London Bridge attack, killed by the British police, was her son Youssef. World sales are handled by the production company Sayonara Films.

An equally heartbreaking, and incomprehensively brave personal film, A Silent Story, comes from Anders Skovbjerg Jepsen. As a boy, the Danish director was sexually abused by his six years older friend Peter, over the course of several years. Now, as an adult, he seeks him out in an attempt to untangle the pain, and Peter, himself confused and traumatized, agrees to take part in the documentary. The CPH:DOX entry, co-produced by Denmark's Final Cut for Real and Sweden's Anagram, is sold internationally by Syndicado.

Sundance title Is There Anybody Out There? is a brighter but no less moving turn by the British filmmaker Ella Glendining. Born with no hip joints and very short thigh bones, a disability so rare that no statistics even cover it, she embarks on a journey to find others like her, leading her to change the way she sees the world. Mixing video diaries with contemporary and archive footage, the documentary is a production of the UK company Hot Property Films, while the world sales are handled by Austria's Autlook.

Another Sundance-premiering film expands our understanding of ability by exploring the sonic spectrum. Hard-of-hearing visual artist Alison O' Daniel's first feature film The Tuba Thieves is located somewhere between fiction and documentary and focuses on the presence and absence of sound itself. Immensely creative captions lead the viewer through this loosely narrative journey that combines a mysterious series of tuba thefts, the story of a deaf drummer, and historic concerts that embraced silence, such as the 1952 premiere of John Cage's legendary 4'33''. Cinephil handles the world sales for this co-production of US companies Open Captions, NA, Louverture Films, and Chicken & Egg Pictures.

The third Sundance title in the selection comes from Anna Hints who scooped Best Director prize at the festival for Smoke Sauna Sisterhood, a life-affirming tale set in the traditional Estonian hotbox where a group of women are cleansing their bodies and souls. It is an intimate space that immerses the viewer in an emphatic atmosphere where confessions are shared and women healed by the power of community. This beautifully visualized documentary was co-produced by Estonia's Alexandra Film, France's Kepler 22 Productions, and Iceland's URSUS PARVUS. Autlook is in charge of the world sales.

Argentinian director Martín Benchimol, the 2017 winner of IDFA Award for Best Mid-length Documentary, returns with  The Castle, a lyrical film of melancholic beauty which centers on two women. Having world-premiered at the Berlinale, it is a modern fairy-tale about the indigenous Justina who has inherited a mansion in the middle of the Argentinian pampas from her rich, white employer, under the condition to never sell it. Justina and her daughter face many challenges in keeping that promise, not least from lack of funds to upkeep the crumbling castle and the owner's family's frequent visits that glaringly bare class and racial inequalities. Luxbox handles the world sales for this co-production between Argentina's Gema Films and France's Sister Productions.

Submissions for the 2023 Docs for Sale catalogue are open now and will close on September 8. The 2022 catalogue will remain available until November.