Mapping the future: Championing Diversity and Inclusion

Sunny Side of the Doc is dedicated to fostering an inclusive environment where all participants, regardless of background or ability, can fully engage in our programs and initiatives. We believe that accessibility and diversity is not only a necessity but also a fundamental aspect of fostering creativity, collaboration, and innovation within our community. 

As a professional event organiser, we have a significant responsibility towards creating accessibility to the opportunities presented on the market to all talents, including to people with disabilities.

This Is a Quiet Love - Winner of the 2023 Global Issues Pitch

We are continuing to champion accessibility – and even more so since our eyes were opened further by the deaf and hearing team who produced the film “This Is a Quiet Love” - winner of the Global Issues pitch at Sunny Side 2023 (Curious North Productions Ltd, Ireland), and the publication of the Nonfiction Media Makers with Disabilities survey from the International Documentary Association (US). 

We have therefore decided to improve our information on accessibility as well as our on-site accessibility, thanks to a partnership with ReelAbilities, the organisation that paved the way in New York as the first festival to exclusively present films made by people with disabilities or about people with disabilities.

Two documentary projects received Sunny Side prizes there this April and are invited to participate for the first time at Sunny Side of the Doc to give faces to equal opportunities and inclusiveness which will enrich our community today and tomorrow.

‘The Business of Accessibility’ (25 June - 10.00) panel discussion co-produced with ReelAbilities will delve into strategies to fund, produce, market and distribute disability on screen.

 

Diversity & Gender equality

The issue of diversity is present throughout the Sunny Side of the Doc event and its team. We made and kept a series of commitments that go well beyond the framework set by the Charter of Commitment for Gender Equality in Cultural and Creative Industries, which we signed, such as by ensuring gender equality when composing our juries and our conference speakers, by producing data and statistics on our official selections and accreditations, and by developing working conditions that respect gender equality.

Following on from the 2022 Global Pitch which gave voice to women in front of and behind the camera, it was time to create at Sunny Side a space for dialogue and exchange around female industry professionals and their documentary ambitions. To do this, we have teamed up with MediaClub’Elles and the #DocSafe initiative supported by the Documentary Association of Europe.

 

 

Caroline Béhar at Sunny Side of the Doc 2023

‘Empowering Women in Documentary,’ (26 June - 12.00) moderated by Caroline Béhar, Director of International Coproductions and Documentary Acquisitions at France Télévisions, will spotlight stories of abuse and harassment, documentary creation that highlights women, new visions of creativity and storytelling, and the fight to push back gender boundaries. It will also support talents from Native cultures and under-represented communities in the international documentary market.

Following the Canal+ lineup, Christine Cauquelin, EVP of Documentary and Factual and Head of the Discovery TV Channels at the Canal+ Group, and the association Pour les Femmes dans les Médias, of which she is vice-president, will discuss the impact of the documentary « Vivantes » (directed by Claire Lajeunie) in the session “VIVANTE(S) Case study - Media companies, a role model in the face of domestic violence?” (25 June - 3.30).