Cannes Docs

Runtime: 90' / 52'

Expected release: Spring 2027

Budget: €488,885 (4% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Co-producer, financiers, broadcasters, sales

Synopsis:

Nana, a Georgian translator based in Berlin, serves as a bridge for asylum seekers, helping them share their stories through translation and navigate the challenges of starting a new life. She offers emotional support alongside her translations, balancing her work with personal life. However, as German authorities push for remote translation systems, Nana’s job and personal connections come under threat.

Director’s Profile:

Anna Khazaradze co-founded Tbilisi-based, women-led 1991 Productions with Nino Chichua, specializing in developing and producing fiction and documentary films. The company’s recent co-production, Levan Akin’s “Crossing” (2024), opened Berlinale Panorama and received the Teddy Jury Award. The latest release of 1991 Productions is the documentary “9-Month Contract,” which won the HUMAN:RIGHTS Award at CPH:DOX 2025.
Anna also co-directed and produced “Glory to the Queen” (2020), which won Best Documentary at Tbilisi IFF after screening at over 25 festivals. Additionally, Anna produced “Smiling Georgia” (Karlovy Vary IFF 2023, Main Award at AJB DOC Film Festival 2024) and co-executive produced “Negative Numbers” (2019). Anna holds a BA from London College of Communication (UAL).

Producer’s Profile:

Nino Chichua, the co-founder of 1991 Productions, a Tbilisi and London-based company, produces director-driven fiction and documentary films through international co-productions. She co-produced Levan Akin’s “Crossing” (2024), the opening film of Berlinale Panorama, and produced “9-Month Contract” (2025), the winner of the Human Rights Award at CPH:DOX. Her credits also include “Smiling Georgia” (2023) by Luka Beradze, which premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. Nino is currently producing “Tear Gas,” a narrative feature by Uta Beria (supported by ZDF, GNFC, and CNC), and “Berliner,” a feature documentary by Anna Khazaradze.

She holds a BA in Film and TV Production from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and an MA in Global Media Industries from King’s College London.

Runtime: 95'

Expected release: February 2026

Production stage: Production

Budget: €425,000 (75% in place)

1st feature: No

Looking for: Festivals, sales agents, distributors, buyers, gap financing

Synopsis:

In DEAR, the director unveils her personal story of a six-year journey with her mother and close friends on an ever changing and seemingly never-ending road of courage, despair and resilience. As they lift each other up in the most dire moments, their journey turns into a struggle for justice and the efforts to preserve their own reality and solidarity pulls them back from despair.

Director’s Profile:

Ramona has been in the international documentary circuit, having attended over 150 festivals with her films, in the likes of IDFA, Sheffield, Moma, Krakow and Sarajevo film festivals. In total, she has won 20 awards to date. She’s received prestigious support from international institutes like Sundance, Tribeca, IDFA, Creative Europe MEDIA and Catapult film fund.

Producer’s Profile:

Julia Cöllen studied film and cultural studies in Hamburg and Belfast (M.A.). Before becoming a partner and producer at Fünferfilm in 2019, she realized numerous internationally successful documentaries in ten years as a creative producer for the production company Filmtank. In 2021 she participated at Cutting Edge Talent Camp. She is a graduate of EAVE Ties That Bind 2020. FÜNFERFILM was launched in 2016 and has since established itself as a company in northern Germany and internationally with its repertoire of auteur films and exceptional cinematic signatures.

Runtime: 100'

Expected release: Beginning of 2027

Production stage: Production

Budget: 52,96% in place

1st feature: No

Looking for: Gap financing, distributors, festivals

Synopsis:

Spanning a quarter of a century, Hope Against Hope is the filmmaker’s own story and an intimate look at how political and social conflicts shape us.

Director’s Profile:

Mina Keshavarz (b. 1984) is an award-winning Iranian documentary filmmaker and creative producer. Her films explore social-political issues using personal narratives, including “Unwelcome in Tehran” (Thessaloniki International Film Festival, 2012), “Profession: Documentarist” (Tim Hetherington Award in Sheffield Doc/Fest, IDFA, 2014), “Braving the Waves” (Best Documentary Film Award at London Film Festival, 2016), “The Art of Living in Danger” (Best Documentary Film at Busan International Film Festival, IDFA, Sheffield, 2020), and “Phobos” (CPH:DOX, Sheffield Doc/Fest, Millennium, 2023).

Mina is an alumnus of Berlinale Talents, Hot Docs Emerging Docs Accelerator Lab, EsoDoc, Tribeca Film Institute, and Women’s Circle Doc Accelerator. She is an invited fellow at Nipkow Film Residency, Berlin Air Film Residency, Cité Internationale des Arts, Villa Serpentara Rome, Akademie der Künste, and the Camargo Foundation.

Producer’s Profile:

Anita Norfolk is the founder of Norwegian Folk Film. She has co-produced a string of internationally acclaimed feature documentaries, most recently “Motherland” (2023, winner at CPH:DOX, nominated for the European Film Awards) and “How to Save a Dead Friend” (ACID Cannes, Grand Jury Prize at DOC NYC).

Christophe Bruncher: In 2006, he co-created Films de la Butte, producing “All Together” by Stéphane Robelin, managing to convince Jane Fonda to return to France after a 30-year absence. The film premiered at Locarno and was released in over 30 countries with great success. His latest productions include “Women Do Cry” by Mina Mileva & Vesela Kazakova (Un Certain Regard, 2021) and “Not a Word” by Hana Slak (TIFF 2023).

Runtime: 80'

Expected release: First quarter 2026

Production stage: Early post-production (editing)

Budget: €368,000 (65% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Festivals, sales agents, gap financing

Synopsis:

While trying to help a fellow adoptee find her birth mother, British-Romanian filmmaker Rachel delves back into her own family story looking for healing and closure. Launching an international search for her missing sisters she unearths a tragic legacy of abuse and exploitation. Can she harness the creative power of self-authorship to interrogate the ghosts of her past and write a new script for her future?

Director’s Profile:

Rachel Close is a British-Romanian filmmaker, lecturer, and social worker (BA, MA, MA, PGDip). Rachel has directed documentary short films selected for Sheffield Doc/Fest, East End Film Festival, and SEE Documentary Festival.

Rachel was awarded the Cineuropa Marketing Award, as well as winning first place for the Romanian CNC Development Fund in 2022 for her debut feature-length documentary, “Something Familiar”. The film has also received funding from Creative Media and the British Film Institute (Doc Society). Rachel is a member of the Documentary Association of Europe.

Producer’s Profile:

Monica Lazurean-Gorgan, member of AMPAS/Oscar and EFA, is the producer of “Acasa, My Home” by Radu Ciorniciuc, winner of the Sundance Cinematography Award 2020 and over 40 international awards, producer for “Tata” by Lina Vdovii and Radu Ciorniciuc, selected at Toronto IFF 2024, and of “Bright Future” by Andra MacMasters, IDFA 2024.

Founded by Jamie Clark, My Accomplice is an award-winning London-based production company known for its commitment to diverse voices and cultural credibility. Under the creative leadership of Aleksandra Bilić, who joined in 2018, My Accomplice has delivered feature documentaries including BIFA-nominated Nascondino (BFI Doc Society) and has served as UK producers on Netflix’s Emmy and BAFTA-nominated The Great Hack.