13/11/2025
Within the 22 projects selected for the central Pitching Forum, moderated by John Marshall. Highlights include Hussein Eddeb’s moving project The Birth of Derna, which uncovers buried stories of resilience and transformation amid despair after the devastation of Derna in Lybia. Torstein Grude will pitch Anatomy of a Genocide, an observational film from within the mandate of Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on occupied Palestine. The film explores the challenging work to document the human rights situation and to share her findings with the world. Shaza Maddad brings Promised Land, a personal film on the director’s return to Syria after the fall of Bashar Al-Assad, after 11 years in exile. As she journeys across a fractured nation in search of her family, her past and her voice, she documents the uncertain rebirth of Syria. Maryam Ebrahimi will pitch Iran Unveiled, a documentary that portrays the history of Iran seen by its women. The very personal stories of the most brilliant minds of three generations of Iranian women, combined with exclusive personal archives. With Speak Image Speak, Pary El-Qaiqili wil explore a disobedient counter memory of Palestinians in Germany from a very personal point of view, while Gal Rosenbluth will present It Is What It Is, a love story spanning three generations which uncovers the hidden cost of crossing the love lines in Israel.
These are all the participating Pitching Forum projects:
A HOLE IN THE HEAD - Iota Production, Belgium
ANATOMY OF A GENOCIDE - Jordskjelv AS, Norway
ASHES - Bel Studios, Syria
DWELLERS OF THE CABINS - Dessi Films - Cellar Door, Egypt
FAREWELL TO THE ARCTIC - Cool Company, Poland
I ALWAYS SAID WE - Les films d'ici, France
IRAN UNVEILED - LOOKS Film GmbH, Germany
IT IS WHAT IT IS - uvs films, Israel
MATHARE FATHERS - Nordic Eye Productions / Morgane Sweden / France
MY EUROPEAN FAMILY - DayforNight, France
PARADISE PRISONERS Czech Television, Czech Republic
PROMISED LAND Babel Doc, France
SEEDS FROM KIVU Filmakers Monkeys, Spain
SPEAK IMAGE SPEAK Seera Films Gmbh, Germany
