This year’s Women Doc Accelerator gets its first module under way this week in Serbia, which will be followed by events in Croatia and at Trieste’s When East Meets West

The participants in this year's CIRCLE

The fifth edition of CIRCLE – Women Doc Accelerator kicked off yesterday with its first module, which traditionally takes place in Serbia, during which ten female-identifying documentary filmmakers will be working on an in-depth analysis of their projects.

The second module, taking place in Croatia in September, centres on production strategies with experts, and aims to prepare the projects for pitching in order to reach international financiers. This module focuses in particular on strategic planning, marketing and distribution strategies.

Finally, the third module is angled towards networking and the presentation of the projects to potential partners and financiers during Trieste’s When East Meets West, unspooling in January 2023.

On this occasion, the participants will have the chance to work with four mentors: Documentary Association of Europe founder Brigid O'Shea, producer Paula Vaccaro, editor Phil Jandaly and producer-director Diana Al Jeroudi.

The projects will be eligible for two awards at WEMW: the EWA Network Female Talent Award (€1,000 in cash for further project development) and the Cineuropa Marketing Prize (marketing services).

Here is the full CIRCLE 2022 line-up:

One of Us (UK/Romania)
Writer, director: Rachel Close

The Days of Ripe Raspberries (Greece/France)
Director: Marta Bouziouri

Blindspot (India)
Director, producer, writer: Shirley Abraham

Vrajitoare (Slovakia/Austria/Czech Republic)
Director, producer: Vera Lacková

Finding La Singla (Spain)
Director, producer, writer: Paloma Zapata

River Dreams (Kazakhstan)
Director, producer: Kristina Mikhailova

The Elf’s Tower (Ukraine/Netherlands)
Director: Polina Kelm

Tale of the Plum Spirit (Serbia)
Director: Milica Djenić

Where Do Butterflies Sleep (Slovenia)
Writer, director: Simona Jerala

Darkness Disappearing (Finland)
Producer: Sandra Enkvist