Rough Cut Pitch Selected Projects
LHASA
Sophie Leblond
Production: Audrey-Ann Dupuis-Pierre (Metafilms)
Synopsis : Lhasa is a feature documentary on the work, life and artistic vision of Lhasa de Sela, an internationally celebrated singer-songwriter who tragically died at the age of 37, leaving behind three award winning albums (BBC’s World Music Award, Platinum, Gold Records and more). The film will feature Lhasa de Sela narrating her own story through a series of never-heard interviews, audio excerpts, written diaries, cherished recordings of her songs and artwork. With her voice as a guide, the film dives into the inner world of this woman as she shares her doubts, aspirations and reflections on life, death, and creation.
NOLANDIA
Kinga Michalska
Production: Ashley Duong, Danae Elon et Paul Cadieux (Productions Megafun)
Synopsis : Nolandia draws a psychological portrait of contemporary Poland from the perspective of young Poles living next to post-Holocaust sites of Jewish trauma. Poles have a complicated identity as victims, witnesses, and perpetrators in WWII. While they eagerly speak about their victimhood, their complicity in the murder of Jews and the appropriation of Jewish spaces is usually left unspoken. What would it take to hold together all of the pieces of their identity, including the most difficult parts? This observational documentary evokes both heartbreak and subtle humor by depicting the absurdity of denial and the unsettling coexistence of the impossible contrasts.
PARRANDAS
Constance Chaput-Raby
Production: Constance Chaput-Raby
Synopsis : In a Cuban village, during the grand Nativity celebration, men and women set off fireworks in bursts. One of them falls too low too fast causing an explosion that seriously injures several people, including teenagers. After this serious accident, the village decides to exclude minors from the explosives throwing area and offers workshops to learn the art of pyrotechnics. Through the journey of two teenagers, Edelsy and Lazarito, who are initiated into operating fireworks, the film portrays this community, torn between passing down knowledge and protecting its children. Parrandas is an ode to the continuity of this ritual and to these celestial displays that combine danger and splendor.
SPARE MY BONES, COYOTE! | ¿A DÓNDE VAMOS, COYOTE?
Jonah Malak
Production: Dominique Dussault (Nemesis Films)
Synopsis : For more than twelve years, every two weeks, Ely and Marisela have been organizing “búsquedas”, search operations in the American desert that separates Arizona from Mexico. With a group of volunteers known as “las Aguilas del Desierto”, they must search for, locate and return to families the migrants' bodies who died during their crossing on foot. Their reputation quickly spread not only in the Latinx community of California and Arizona, but also in Mexico and Guatemala. The feature documentary tells the story of their work, dedication and the challenging lives they have chosen to lead.
ANTES DO NOME
Luana Melgaço
Produced by Luiz Pretti (Anavilhana / Errante Filmes)
Feature film - Brazilian selection
Logline : Before the Name is the constant search for a place in the world. Walking towards the other, towards the unknown, yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Selected in collaboration with Brasil CineMundi and with the financial support of the Gouvernement du Québec
FATHER'S DAY
Ayana O'Shun
Produced by Bellange Bianca (Bel Ange Moon Productions)
Feature Film - Canadian selection
Logline: A documentary investigating the phenomenon of absent fathers in Black communities through the personal stories of the director and compelling women from Canada and Guadeloupe.
I LOST MY VIEW OF THE LANDSCAPE
Sophie Bédard-Marcotte
Produced by Pierre-Mathieu Fortin (Office National du Film du Canada)
Feature Film - Canadian selection
Logline: I lost my view of the landscape is a humorous and poetic feature-length documentary about the intricacies of the creative process and the search for meaning in art and life. Director Sophie Bédard Marcotte follows her neighbor, playwright and director Gabriel Plante, as he crafts a play based on the myth of Sisyphus.
JAMAPA
Tania Ximena Ruiz
Produced by Paulina Villavicencio (Disruptiva Films)
Feature film - Mexican selection
Logline : The waters of the JAMAPA River flow against the passage of time in their fierce resistance to death. A glaciologist, a photographer, and an elderly woman echo the river's fate, capturing a thunderous disappearance.
Selected in collaboration with DocsMX and with the financial support of the Gouvernement du Québec
LAND OF THE LIVING SKIES
Mackenzie Reid Rostad
Produced by Kristina Pedersen (Kristina Picture)
Feature Film - Canadian selection
Logline: In a move the ruling classes would describe as backwards, a filmmaker and his grandmother reverse time in an attempt to correct the mistakes of the past.
LITI LITI
Mamadou Khouma Gueye
Produced by Rosa Spaliviero (Twenty Nine Studio et Production)
Feature Film - Senegalese selection
Logline: Through the story of the launch of Africa's first TER, the film questions its development and its impact on ordinary people, far from the challenges of globalization.
ON THE SERBIAN BORDER
Federico Cammarata et Filippo Foscarini
Produced by Stefano Centini (Volos Films)
Feature film - Italian selection
Logline: In the Serbian forest, near the Hungarian border, a clan of Afghan migrant smugglers is hiding in the dark. During a long night in this extreme limbo, the walls between their world and ours almost disappear.
Selected in collaboration with Festival dei popoli and with the financial support of the Institut Italien de Culture de Montréal
FORUM RIDM AWARD winner
SKIN OF THE SKY
Andrea Bussmann
Produced by Andrea Bussmann
Feature Film - Canadian selection
Logline: SKIN OF THE SKY is an essay film that explores the interconnected lives of humans and non-human species in the Mexican American borderlands.
GRANDÉ STUDIOS SUPPORT winner
WIND AND VIEW
Sheng-Hung Hsieh
Produced by Ina Hon (Moolin Films)
Feature Film - Taiwanese selection
Logline: For over 60 years, a tiny grocery store in the Taiwanese mountains has been the setting for a romantic love story between an Indigenous Paiwan princess and an exiled Chinese soldier.
Selected in collaboration and with financial support from Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute and Tawain Docs
Rough Cut Pitch Jury
BÉRÉNICE HAHN
Sales Agent | Square Eyes
AUSTRIA
CLAIRE LASOLLE
Member of the selection comitee | FID Marseille
FRANCE
INTI CORDERA
Executive Director | DocsMX
MEXICO
Rough Cut Pitch Awards
ROUGH CUT PITCH AWARD PRESENTED BY VITAL PRODUCTIONS & HOT DOCS
Vital Productions is committed to offering a 1 500$ grant in cash to one of the projects.
Hot Docs is committed to offering an Industry All Access accreditation (valued at $1,000) for the 2024 edition of the festival.