BDC Discoveries Workshop
Archive 2023
For 14th year in row, the project development workshop BDC Discoveries is a prime strategic tool for linking European professionals and their production with Balkan documentary filmmakers and producers. In doing so, we aim at boosting the European documentary scene in an original and innovative way. The key objective of the project is to supply emerging documentary professionals with high-quality educational training of non-traditional and in-depth theoretical and practical knowledge in order to secure the necessary level of documentary audiovisual industry in Europe.
BDC Discoveries 2023 was conducted in three modules – Belgrade (during Belodox), Sofia (during Sofia Documental) and Leipzig (during DOK Leipzig).
Here are the seven projects, which took part in our workshop.
Where I end and you begin
Director: David Power
Producer: Raffaella Pontarelli
Production Company: Amarena Film
Country: Italy
The Hidden Secrets of the SOUL ( working title )
Director: Alexandra Lizeta Bărnuți
Producer: Daniel Bărnuți
Production Company: Two Doc
Co-producer: Dragoș Riti from Systemic Education Center
Country: Romania
I Have Never Been On An Airplane
Director: Redon Kikaj
Producer: Dardan Hoti
Production Company: Katarzë Films
Co-producer: Luca Tesei Li Bassi
Country: Kosovo
Berba
Director: Nikolay Urumov
Producer: Nikolay Urumov
Production Company: Bof Pictures
Country: Bulgaria
The fighter
Director: Damir Markovina
Producer: Tamara Babun
Production Company: Wolfgang&Dolly LLC
Co-producer: Osoba D
Country: Croatia
Asphalt
Director: Eleftherios Panagiotou
Producer: Sébastien Téot
Production Company: Cellulo Prod (FR)
Country: France
Brothers in Hunt
Director: Ieva Ozolina
Producer: Madara Melberga
Production Company: FA Filma
Country: Latvia
Dimitra Kouzi is an award-winning filmmaker, creative producer, journalist, and audience developer. Since 2013, she has led audience campaigns for European documentaries (La Chana, Nowhere to Hide, Siberian Love, Communion, Reconciliation, Radiograph of a Family, The Balcony Movie). She is an audience producer and tutor at BDC Discoveries, Doku Rough Cut Boutique, and Sarajevo’s Docu Rough Cut Boutique pitching workshop, working to support filmmakers in developing their projects and reaching audiences effectively.
Rada Šešić is a festival programmer, film director, critic, and lecturer originally from the former Yugoslavia, now based in Utrecht, Netherlands. She has collaborated with IDFA Amsterdam for over 15 years and has led the Documentary Competition at the Sarajevo Film Festival for 13 years. She co-heads the Docu Rough Cut Boutique and works with the Doha Film Fund and the Trieste Film Festival’s Last Stop Trieste platform. Rada also teaches at the Netherlands Film Academy and mentors at numerous international workshops across Europe and Asia.
Ieva Ūbele, a documentary producer, founded Baltic Balkan Productions in 2019, focusing on personal stories and social issues. Her notable films include homo@lv (2010), the first Latvian documentary at Berlinale, and Inga Can Hear (2018), premiered at Hot Docs 2019. Former Head of Industry at Beldocs IDFF (2020–2023), she holds an MA in Social Anthropology and an Executive MBA. An alumna of EAVE, EURODOC, and Emerging Producers, she is a member of the Documentary Association of Europe and EWA.
Boris Mitić is a documentary filmmaker, producer, and writer whose four films – including In Praise of Nothing and Pretty Dyana – have screened at over 200 festivals, won 25 awards, and aired on 20 international TV stations. Boris teaches ‘real-politics’ of documentary film in Europe, America, Asia and online, and writes satirical columns for magazines Playboy and DOX. He holds lectures and presents case studies about how to produce documentaries and how the documentary industry works.
Anna has worked with documentaries since 2013, following a career in banking as a project leader. In 2018, she founded Lightdox, a Swiss-based sales and distribution agency supporting impactful documentaries. Previously, she was a Sales and Acquisition Executive specializing in film marketing, branding, and impact distribution. Lightdox’s portfolio includes Paris Calligrammes (Berlinale Camera Award 2020), The Witches of the Orient (IFFR 2021), Intercepted (Berlinale 2024), and Bye, Bye Tiberius (Venice 2023).
Simone Baumann has worked in film production for over 25 years, producing numerous documentaries and feature films. From 1997 to 2010, she was the managing director of LE VISION. Until 2019, she headed the documentary department at Saxonia Entertainment. An expert on Russia and Eastern Europe’s audiovisual markets, she has also been the Eastern Europe representative for German Films since 2005. In April 2019, she became the Managing Director of German Films, overseeing the promotion of German cinema worldwide.