Global Pitch 2024: Official Selection unveiled

Global Pitch 2024: Discover the official selection!

La Rochelle, January 8, 2024 – Sunny Side of the Doc today announced the official selection of the fourth edition of its Global Pitch. This two half-day online event, Global Pitch for Global Change - sponsored by AJB DOC Film Festival, Al Jazeera Documentary Channel - is dedicated to projects linked  to the 17 Sustainable Development Goals defined by the United Nations. After focusing on Women's Voices in 2022 and on Climate Change last year, Sunny Side's Global Pitch aims to continue mobilizing the international documentary community around the major issues of our time, in order to be a vector for change. 

The 2024 edition of Global Pitch is therefore still intended to be about commitment and mobilization as well as analysis. Highlighting stories that are important, powerful, original, committed and engaging, inspiring, moving, analytical, investigative, solution-oriented, it is the first part of our 2024 focus “Mapping the Future”. The 35th anniversary edition of Sunny Side of the Doc (24-27 June, La Rochelle - France), will  be focused on the future of our ecosystem and the documentary genre itself.

Ahmed Mahfouz Nouh, Managing Director, Al Jazeera Documentary Channel, Global Pitch sponsor, says: “Al Jazeera Documentary Channel and AJB DOC Film Festival are proud to sponsor the Global pitch third year in a row, we understand the crucial urgency of documenting the journey towards sustainable development and a better life. Let’s collectively appreciate our planet through this platform provided by Global Pitch, understand its challenges, and explore the paths where progress meets sustainability. Join us, make a difference, and become a part of the solution.”

Following the Call for Entries launched last October, more than 130 projects were received from 45 countries. Already significant last year, the participation of multiple countries from the African continent is a strong and stimulating marker, as well as the involvement of Asia-Pacific countries. It is also worth noting that two-thirds of the selected projects originate from first or second time filmmakers. This is the result of consistent efforts over several years to attract new voices to Sunny Side and to the documentary community, especially with a focus on "Docs for the future".

“The deliberately broad theme of the Sustainable Development Goals has enabled us to receive an incredible diversity of high-quality projects from all continents”, says Mathieu Béjot, Director of Strategy and Development at Sunny Side of the Doc.  “In their own way, all the projects, whether selected or not, illustrate the acute awareness that people around the world have of the major issues facing the world today. Almost all the Objectives are addressed in the projects, which is hardly surprising given that they are known to be highly interdependent, to the point where they may result in conflicting goals and achievements, as illustrated by several projects in the selection. And yet, only 15% of these Objectives, which are essential to our very survival, are on the right track. It is therefore our responsibility to continue to provide a platform, such as the Global Pitch, for these impactful stories to find partners, so that the messages of the activists and whistleblowers they highlight can ultimately reach the public”.

On February 6 and 7, the 12 selected projects will be pitched to key international decision-makers representing major broadcasters, streamers, foundations, buyers and other funders. The participating companies already confirmed to date are: NRTVE, IDA, S4C, BBC, PBS, TG4, NHK, Arte, German Films, Channel 4, RAI, ZDF, Mediawan, Sky Deutschland, Canal Curta, Little Dot Studios, France 24, and many more.

For this fourth edition, the jury of industry experts who will select THE winning project at the end of the pitches will be made up of Jane Mote (The Whickers), Patricia Finneran (The StoryBoard Collective) and Mohammed Saïd Ouma (Documentary Africa Fund). The award-winning project will receive a cash prize of €3,000 as well as two free market passes for the 35th edition of Sunny Side of the Doc (24-27 June 2024, La Rochelle).