Verzió DocLab is an international, documentary, post-production development workshop for directors, producers, and editors, organized during Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, at Central European University, in Budapest. The goal of the workshop is to create an international supportive platform for documentary filmmakers and creative professionals from all over the world and region.
The 8th edition of Verzió DocLab will be a 5-day, intensive editing workshop for directors and editors, held during the 20th Verzió Film Festival in Budapest, on 21–25 November, 2023. The workshop will provide individual tutoring and master classes. The seven selected project teams will be invited to define, develop, and strengthen the key narrative elements of their projects with the guidance of outstanding mentors: Jesper Jack (DK), Tue Steen Müller (DK), Michael Seeber (AT), Réka Lemhényi (HU), and Anna Kis (HU). Filmmakers will work in groups, have one-on-one meetings, and receive individual tutoring. At the end of the workshop, the teams will present their projects to industry professionals as part of the public event, “Verzió DocLab Pitch.” As a result, the projects can potentially gain international attention, grow their network in the industry, and receive funding or distribution opportunities.
Verzió DocLab Pitch | November 25. Saturday 4 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Venue: Blinken OSA Archivum, Budapest, Arany János street 32.
Public presentation of the projects of the 8th Verzió DocLab.
The 7 projects of Verzió DocLab documentary development workshop present themselves. They showcase their film projects and the scenes they have worked on with the guidance of the mentors of DocLab to an industry panel and the audience. After the presentation, the industry panel reveal the award winners Verzió DocLab during the DocLab / DocPro Guests meets Guests event.
Moderator: Jesper Jack (Denmark)
Find out more about the Verzió Doclab here!
Verzió DocLab projects selected in 2023
Not a Statue
Cameroon, Germany
How did the sacred statue Ngonnso come from Cameroon to Germany? And how should the colonial heritage be dealt with today? In search for answers, a young activist embarks on a journey in archives, museums and palaces.
CREATIVE TEAM
Sylvie Njobat - Director, Editor
Marc Sebastian Eils - Director, Editor
The Violent Skin (La Piel Violenta)
Costa Rica, Spain
Set in the untamed wilderness, “The Violent Skin” portrays the intricate ties of a jaguar hunter with the natural realm, revealing profound insights into the relationships of power that mankind exerts over nature.
CREATIVE TEAM
André Robert – Director, Editor
Maria Jose Merino - Story Editor
Lluis Miñarro – Producer
DELTA
Greece
A small community of fishermen activates around the Delta of the river Pinios. The river is a source of life, but it also hides death, as it has taken human lives with it, bringing in mind Acheron, the river that in ancient Greek mythology was the passage to the Underworld.
CREATIVE TEAM
Vivian Papageorgiou – Director
Maria Kounavi – Editor
Ioanna Petinaraki - Producer
Funeralzzi
Ukraine, Italy
Natasha and Sergei are a Ukrainian family of undertakers in Italy. Every week they send bodies of migrants back to Ukraine, but the war turns their life and work upside down and gives a whole new meaning to what is home.
CREATIVE TEAM
Olena Fedyuk - Director
Polina Georgescu - Co-Director, DOP
Mykola Bezkrovnyi - Editor
One Day I Wish to See You Happy
Ukraine, France
One Day I Wish to See You Happy is a portrait of family and relationships during wartime, where the process of filmmaking itself is a language of love.
CREATIVE TEAM
Maryna Nikolcheva - Director
Florent Coulon - Producer
Dear Helen/I'm already them (Mert én ők vagyok már / Dear Helen)
Hungary
Hoping to find relief from the shadows of the past, a filmmaker decides to document her survivor grandma's memorial visits in former concentration camps.
CREATIVE TEAM
Diána Groó - director
Julianna Ugrin - producer
Ghetto Chicken (Gettó Csirke)
Hungary
A 17-year-old guy from Szeged explodes as a rapper in just a few months, going from a pub gig to millions of YouTube views. Marcell Szirmai (Pogany Indulo) quits high school, moves out of his family home to Budapest and takes a deep dive into his career.
CREATIVE TEAM
Olivér Márk Tóth - Director
László Józsa - Producer
Ádám Szabó - Co-producer
Shortlist Projects
Along with the seven selected workshop projects, the 8th Verzió DocLab has offered four, promising shortlisted projects the opportunity to consult with our mentors during the 5-day event.
How Did I End Up Here?
I try to reconstruct the timeline and memories of my early childhood years, spent alone with my grandparents, hoping to understand my parent’s decision to periodically leave me behind in an environment where my mother was abused, inevitably confronting personal as well as transgenerational trauma.
Márton Dorottya - director
Eduardo Saraiva - editor
Mangos
After months of non-stop rain, a small village in Sinaloa, Mexico, becomes an isolated island surrounded by newly-formed rivers. After the disappearance of one of its inhabitants, a rumor begins that anyone who attempts to leave the island will be killed by the drug cartel. An intimate and hypnotic journey into the life of a town forced to find new ways to survive.
Ben Guez – director
Tin Dirdamal - producer, editor
The Wind Blows Where it Pleases
How does Eszter, a 37-year-old woman living in Budapest, reconcile loving God with loving women?
Andreea Udrea - director
Ana Vijdea - producer
Steps of Domonkos
Domonkos is a 27-year-old recently-recovered drug addict who has started a journey towards romantic and sexual intimacy, which has been missing for most of his life.
Réka Pinczés - director
Bohdan Herkaliuk - producer
Anna Tóth - co-producer
Flóra Erdélyi - editor
