ZINEBI – International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao debuted as partner festival of the Cannes Docs platform, aimed to bring together professionals specialized in documentary films from over the world. On behalf of the Festival, between 19 and 24 May, ZINEBI’s director, Vanesa Fernández Guerra, and programmer, Rubén Corral Giménez, attended different meetings with other professionals of the sector; participated in workshops and presentations of documentary feature film projects from New Zealand, Ukraine, Canada, Japan or Chile, among other countries; and attended professional meetings with representatives of the other Cannes Docs partner festivals: CPH:DOX (Denmark), DokuFest (Kosovo), DOK Leipzig (Germany), Movies that Matter Festival (Netherlands), Visions du Réel (Switzerland), RIDM – Montreal International Documentary Festival (Canada), DMZ Docs (Republic of Korea), É Tudo Verdade / It’s All True International Documentary Film Festival (Brazil) and Ji.hlava (Czech Republic).

In addition, they also participated in the various events organized during the Doc Day (on 24 May) by the Marché du Film, with the support of the Doc Alliance and in collaboration with the French National Film Centre, Unifrance, the L’Oeil d’or prize, the European Association of Documentaries DAE and the Association for the Distribution of Independent ACID Cinema.

Furthermore to meetings between producers, distributors, festivals and documentary filmmakers, Cannes Docs hosted the world premiere of the Franco-Greenlandic co-production Polaris, directed by Navarrese filmmaker Ainara Vera, and a talk with American film director Brett Morgen (who showed his latest work, Moonage Daydream, in the Official Section of the Festival, out of competition), French documentary filmmakers Marie Perennès and Simon Depardon, as well as with the prestigious Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland, also president of the European Film Academy (EFA).