Sunny Side reports increased attendance, announces BIPS winners

As the 20th anniversary edition of international documentary festival/conference Sunny Side of the Doc wrapped in La Rochelle, France, the event announced an increase in attendance numbers over last year. Bucking the trend of industry conferences hampered in attendance by the worldwide economic crisis, Sunny Side reported an increase of 6.4% from last year, with 1812 participants. The number of commissioning editors and buyers attending also increased over last year by four percent, at 281. Overall, 443 exhibiting companies showed their wares for 110 television channels, with 45 countries represented amongst attending delegates.

The conference also announced the winners for each category of this year's BIPS (Best International Projects Showcase) pitch presentations. The winner for History was They Were Coming to Get Me from Lupe Film, while The Interpreter by Inicia Films won for Science, Burning Needs by Notion Pictures won for Environment, Run for Life by Starhill D.o.o. won for Society/Politics, Donkeymentary:Through the Eyes of a Donkey by Bars Media (also a winner at the Realscreen Summit's pitching contest this past year) won the Art/Culture award and Poor Consuelo Conquers the World by Escape Pictures won the award for Cinema, Special and Series. The event also announced the top five screened films from the video library: Web Warriors by Edward Peill (Film Transit International); The Maps of the Great Explorers by Gil Kebaili (Grand Angle Production); Fly Me to the Moon by John Curtin (Film Transit International); Astroboy in Roboland by Marc Caro (Canal+) and The Berlin Wall by Patrick Rotman (France Televisions Distribution).