Olga Chernykh / Ukraine, France, Germany / 2023

Produced by: Regina Maryanovska-Davidzon, Real Pictures

Synopsis: Olga Chernykh spent her childhood in Donetsk in the 1990s, before moving with her parents to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. Her grandma stayed in the Donbas region, large parts of which were occupied by pro-Russian rebels in 2014. The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the ensuing war, only increased the sense of distance between Chernykh and her grandmother.

A Picture to Remember is an essay-style account of the war from the perspective of three generations of women. There are frequent video calls between Chernykh, her mother (a pathologist working above a morgue, where it feels surprisingly safe during bomb attacks) and her grandmother. Recordings of their conversations are interspersed with photos and videos from the family archive, and news reports, as well as images of the parasites Chernykh’s mother observes with a microscope.

The result is a kaleidoscopic and personal film. Traveling fluidly through time, it connects the current violence in Donbas with the destruction there during the Second World War—as related by Chernykh’s grandmother. A sense of absence and loss prevails throughout.

Anna Dziapshipa / Georgia / 2023

Produced by: Anna Dziapshipa, Sakdoc Film / Niko Mikadze, Murman Original Pictures LLC

Synopsis: Anna Dziapshipa was born of the union between an Abkhazian man and a Georgian woman. In Self-Portrait Along the Borderline, she skilfully weaves together unique archives and fragments to offer a personal and political biography of Georgia-Abkhazia relations. This vibrant exploration foregrounds a divided identity caught between the margins.

Giorgi Parkosadze / Georgia, Greece / 2023

Produced by: Tamta Tvalavadze, Angelos Tsaousis & Giorgi Parkosadze

Synopsis: Georgia, Greece / Guri and his mother, Sanata, have spent all of their life in a remote mountainous valley in Georgia distanced from nearly any signs of urban civilization. Farming, beekeeping, and cheese making has been their lives’ routine for decades. While witnessing the daily life of mother and son, the audience immerses in the non-verbal, contemplative relationship between the two and through gentle gaze of the camera effortlessly enters into the rural reality as an inseparable part of their being. Through an utterly touching motherhood story, REQUIEM TO THE HOT DAYS OF SUMMER embraces sadness, silence and solitude, which follows every human being as the primordial seal of their fate and brings reminiscence of a blissful way of life, which is still present in the unconscious memory of humanity.

Alisa Kovalenko / Ukraine / 2023

Produced by: East Roads Films / HAKA Films

Synopsis: "We Will Not Fade Away" follows the adolescence of Andriy, Ruslan, Ilya, Lisa and Lera in the Donbass region of Ukraine in 2019, where bombings can be heard in the distance. Somewhere between existential questions, the desire to escape from reality and the yearning for the future, they seem to expect something to happen in their lives. One day, they are offered a unique opportunity to climb the Himalayas... In this bitter-sweet documentary, Alisa Kovalenko depicts a young generation full of dreams and questions that are constantly threatened by the ever-closer presence of a war that is set to escalate.

Hanna Badziaka, Alexander Mihalkovich / 2023

Produced by: Mario Adamson, Ashley Smith, Alexander Mihalkovich, Anita Norfolk

Synopsis: As young Nikita apprehensively enters his military conscription, and Svetlana travels the country looking for justice for her dead son, activists rage in the street against state-led violence rooted in dedovshchina, the cruel abuse that turns boys into soldiers and is the very mechanism of fear and violence Belarus uses to control its populace.

Silva Khnkanosian / Armenia / 2023

Produced by: La Huit Production

Synopsis: Armenia and Azerbaijan are engaged in a multi-secular conflict. A war breaks out again. In Stepanakert, capital of Nagorno-Karabakh, men are at the front, women hide in the cellars, director Silva Khnkanosian sets out to find them and keeps a logbook.

Life is organized under the bombs, women follow the war on the radio or checking their phones. No one sees defeat as an option. Yet after 44 days of battles, radio announces the capitulation of Armenia. We must leave.

Igor Ivanko / Ukraine, Slovakia / 2022

Produced by: Mariia Ponomarova, Igor Ivanko, Alexandra Bratyshchenko

Synopsis: Soviet cinematographer Leonid Burlaka worked at Odessa Film Studio in the 60s on dozens of films that have travelled the world. Today he’s in his 80s and diagnosed with Alzheimer's. As his memory fades away, his grandson and young filmmaker, Igor follows the tracks that Leonid left behind via film rolls, homemade videos, letters and forgotten friends.

As he dives deeper and deeper into the archive, Igor realises that the story of his grandfather has historical value. Burlaka started his career at a time where scripts were rejected and artists were dealing with censorship and he was established as a cinematographer in the mid-60s when the soviet repression finally relaxed. This political change is present in his works and also creates a strong bond between Igor and Leonid, since both of these two men started working in cinema in times of turmoil.

Having the fear that Leonid’s memory will be eventually erased completely, Igor reaches out to his old friends and colleagues to find lost pieces that will hopefully reveal forgotten aspects of his grandfather’s life. However, Leonid’s memory fades faster and faster - will he be able to see the new life that Igor gives to his archive?

Sasha Kulak / Russia, France / 2022

Produced by: Louis Beaudemont, Les Steppes Productions

Synopsis: "A Hawk as Big as a Horse" follows the strange daily life of Lydia, born Sergei, a queer ornithologist who lives in Shcherbinka, a remote suburb of Moscow. She lives with her wife Vasilisa, working for a company that prevents bird strikes in airports. Vasilisa trains horses for the police of Moscow. In a wooden house that she built on her own Lydia tries to recreate the atmosphere of Twin Peaks, the famous David Lynch series she loves, and tries to make her own version. Sasha Kulak, the film's director, faces a question that will upset her concept of a of documentary: how can one extract reality from a dream? Sasha's voice draws us in until she becomes a character in a rare cinematic experience.

Inna Mkhitaryan / Armenia / 2022

Produced by: Anzhela Fangyan, Stéphane Jourdain

Synopsis: Rural Armenia: In a rustic hut, five women are baking bread. In the process, conversations arise about their lives as women in a patriarchal society, about war and genocide, and the different perspectives of the generations. The kneading and beating of the dough, which is captured in shots lasting several minutes, seems like a catalyst for coming to terms with one’s own history. The calm use of the camera combined with the quick but unrushed, routinized hand movements, consolidated over decades, creates a meditative mood that casts a spell.

Marta Smerechynska / Ukraine / 2022

Produced by: Vitaliy Sheremetiev, Natalia Libet

Synopsis: To understand why she has dissociated from her religious family values, Marta Smerechynska, the film’s director, approaches her sister after six years of silence. She films her sister’s life in a new home - a convent of Brides of Christ located in Western Ukraine. There, Marta not only struggles with the rules set by the nunnery, but also re-discovers her own beliefs and values.

Marta’s relationship with her sister Nastia, who has renounced all of her human possessions to become a part of this isolated world, reflects the experience of other families and their daughters inside the closed religious community. The film, in turn, explores their loss, misunderstandings and judgments. Unlike when talking to her sister, Marta manages to freely discuss her emotions and feelings with nuns who see Marta as a point of connection to their past. She seeks answers to why young girls decide to enter centuries-old churches to become Brides of Christ. The choice to become a nun has crossed Marta’s mind as well. The choice not to follow the urge to join while staying emotionally involved forms the nerve of the film.

Searching for answers, Marta rediscovers love for her sister and her companions throughout this journey despite their paths taking very different directions.

Sasha Kulak / Belarus / 2022

Produced by: Louis Beaudemont, Ksenia Gorenstein

Synopsis: It’s 2020 and Minsk, the capital city of Belarus, is overflowing with anti-government protests.

A dreamy figure – Mara – takes us on a journey alongside the protesting crowds. Mara’s symbolic presence is a stark contrast to the harsh reality of the street. There is a determination to Mara, but also a fragility – as if her persona reflects the collective mental state of the protesters witnessing their dream for freedom turn into a nightmare.

B2B Doc Story: This project attended several B2B Doc workshops until it was pitched at the B2B Doc Launch Pad in Kyiv 2021. Later that year it received the Silver Eye Award of the industry professionals at the film festival Ji.hlava. Mara had it’s world premiere at Rotterdam International Film Festival 2022

Olha Zhurba / Ukraine / 2022

Produced by: Darya Bassel, Nienke Korthof, Anne Köhncke, Willem Baptist

Synopsis: As a 13-year-old boy, he became the poster boy of the Ukrainian revolution. Now Roma is back on the streets with nothing in his pocket but a lighter and a knife. Can he get his life together before it’s too late?

More about the film: http://www.finalcutforreal.dk/outside_

Marusya Syroechkovskaya / Sweden, Norway, France, Germany / 2022

Produced by: Ksenia Gapchenko (Docs Vostok), Mario Adamson (Sisyfos Film)

Synopsis: Marusya is 16 and, like many Russian teenagers, is determined to end her life. Then she meets her soulmate in another millennial, Kimi. They spend a decade filming the euphoria and anxiety, the happiness and misery of their youth, muzzled by a violent and autocratic regime in the midst of a “depressed Russia”. This film is a cry from the heart, a tribute to an entire silenced generation.

Aren Malakyan & Vahagn Khachatryan / Armenia, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Georgia / 2022

Produced by: Vahagn Khachatryan (OOlik production), Eva Blondiau (Color of may)

Synopsis: Three Armenias are sketched out here, brilliantly and with delicacy, through four protagonists aspiring to fulfil their dream. There is the lift operator in a hospital who wants to travel into space, the farmer in search of a perfect wife, and the young queer couple who simply want to live out their love story… while awaiting the demonstrations and hopes of the revolution.

Dmytro Hreshko / Ukraine / 2021

Produced by: Polina Herman

Synopsis: An intimate portrait of life in a remote mountain village, seen through the eyes of four paramedics, as the spectre of COVID-19 looms over it.

Mariia, Tetiana, Anna and Svitlana are well-known figures in Kolochava, a small village that sits on the edge of the Carpathian Mountains, in the southwest of Ukraine. The paramedics operate the only ambulance in an area that has changed little in decades. The women bear witness to the cycle of life, from births to deaths, treating illnesses and infirmities. But the growing threat of the pandemic, filling local hospitals, poses a threat to outpatients and visitors. Through its focus on the paramedic’s daily routine, Dmytro Hreshko’s film presents a compelling portrait of this remote world.

Alina Gorlova / Ukraine, Latvia, Germany, Qatar / 2020

Produced by: Maksym Nakonechnyi (Tabor), Olena Yakovitska (Tabor), Avantis Promo, Bulldog Agenda

Synopsis: This Rain Will Never Stop takes the audience on a powerful, visually arresting journey through humanity's endless cycle of war and peace. The film follows 20-year-old Andriy Suleyman as he tries to secure a sustainable future while navigating the human toll of armed conflict. From the Syrian civil war to strife in Ukraine, Andriy’s existence is framed by the seemingly eternal flow of life and death.

Irina Tsilyk / Ukraine, Lithuania / 2020

Produced by: Anna Kapustina (Albatros Communicos Ukraine), Giedre Žickyte (Moonmakers)

Synopsis: To cope with the daily trauma of living in a war zone, Anna and her children make a film together about their life among surreal surroundings.

B2B Doc Story: This film project took part in B2B Doc’s story development workshop 2017, then with the working title Yellow Bus. The film had it’s world premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2020 and traveled the world winning prices at different festivals.

Silva Khnkanosian / Armenia / 2019

Synopsis: In the mountains of Nagorno-Karabakh, 5 women are demining meter by meter the "Lachin Corridor", a former combat zone where thousands of mines have been planted. This film deals with the great thoroughness of their labor, the tension that results and the humanity at work to ward off fear.

B2B Doc Life: This film project, supported by B2B Doc got its world premiere at Dok Leipzig in October 2019. Silva, the young and promising film director from Armenia got the producers from France, who managed to bring her story to the international market. It was Silva’s debut film.

Alexander Mihalkovich / Belarus, Ukraine / 2018

Produced by: Volia Chajkouskaya (BY/EST), Igor Savychenko (UA)

Synopsis: My granny Zina had lived in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and, after retirement she moved to Crimea. Cheerful and bossy, she has always been uniting our big family. After the Ukrainian revolution and the annexation of Crimea by Russia, visiting her became an endless hustle.

The family was separated, Crimea turned into 'a distant planet', like Mars, and its' environment became unfriendly towards grandmother. The same old place... with a new culture, symbols of state, music and propaganda. What a time to be an old lady! Trying to fit into a new environment she ends up feeling mixed-up and lonely. The entire family manages to come for the celebration of granny's 80th anniversary and help her to make a crucial decision.

B2B Doc-life: This film project with a working title Babushka Lost in Transition was picked up by B2B Doc tutors in 2016 during the presentation of Belorussian documentary projects at Listapad IFF in Minsk. The film director Alexander Mihalkovich had the idea of making a film about his grandmother, living in Crimea, occupied by Russia in 2014. B2B Doc took the project to a number of workshops, where the story was developed. In 2017 the project was among 5 Belorussian doc projects, that were taken by B2B Doc to the pitching at Meeting Point Vilnius (the industry section of Vilnius IFF Kinopavasaris). The project got a huge interest there. Ukrainian producer Igor Savychenko came onboard, as well as the Estonian/Belorussian producer Volia Chaikouskaja. Recently, the film was premiered at Jihlava IDFF in Czech Republic, which is one of the biggest film festivals in Eastern Europe.

Dragos Turea / Moldova / 2019

Synopsis: Dragosh, filmmaker from Moldova which was formerly part of the Soviet Empire, discovers a secret scientific experiment. Through nearly ten years of investigations, Dragosh unveils the secret plan to transform Moldova into the Soviet Garden by the application of atomic energy in local agriculture. Agricultural Chernobyl.

B2B Doc Story: The film project by Moldovan film director Dragos Turea. He participated in B2B Doc’s story development and trailer production workshops. B2B Doc has supported Dragos Turea’s participation on various co-production markets and pitching sessions in Europe. Dragos met Romanian producers for his project. The film got its international premiere at Sarajevo IFF in August 2019.

More about the film: https://www.facebook.com/sovietgarden/

Nadia Parfan / Ukraine / 2019

Produced by: Illia Gladshtein (Ukraine)

Synopsis: The municipal heating company from Ivano-Frankivsk has a cultural offer for its employees. To break away from their daily routine, run-down infrastructure and troublesome clients, they may come to sing in the company choir once a week.

B2B Doc story: This film project participated in B2B Doc's story development and trailer production workshops. B2B Doc has supported the film crew’s participation in various co-production markets and pitching sessions in Europe. The film got its world premiere at Vision du Reel in April 2019 and was bough by NHK (Japan).

More about the film: https://www.facebook.com/iftkemovie/

Maksim Shved / Belarus / 2019

Synopsis: A mysterious artist appears in different districts of Minsk.He spreads his canvas and begins to paint. He creates puzzling geometric figures, rectangles and squares… Step by step we get to know the artist better. He is Zahar Cudin, one of the most promising Belarusian painters. What is the mystery behind the rectangles and squares he's painting? The explanation will be a great surprise…

B2B Doc Story: The project was first presented at B2B Doc pitching of Belarussian projects at the industry program of Vilnius International Film Festival in 2016. Then it participated in B2B Doc workshops and supported to attend various industry events in Europe. The film got its international premiere at Krakow IFF in June 2019.

More about the film: https://www.facebook.com/Pureartdoc/

Inna Sahakyan / Armenia, Netherlands / 2019

Produced by: Vardan Hovhannisyan

Synopsis: Mel is an intimate documentary about Mel Daluzyan, one of Armenia’s most talented weightlifters, a once beloved champion who has won medals and broken world records, but whose fame turned to infamy when his transgender identity became widely known.

Despite all the adversity Mel has faced since then, he continues to fight. A fight that almost cost him his life and eventually brought him to the Netherlands, where he fights for a new life with his great love Lilith.