MEDIMED: Fostering Mediterranean exchange through documentary film in Sitges

Although better known for its fantasy and horror film festival, Sitges is also home to MEDIMED, the Euromediterranean Documentary Market for independent producers and international television channels that strives to promote trade and professional exchange between documentary makers from northern and southern Mediterranean countries. 

Now celebrating its 20th edition, over 250 documentary professionals from all over the world will attend MEDIMED from October 10 to the 13th.

This year it is co-organized by the International Association of Independent Producers of the Mediterranean (APIMED), presided over by the Catalan producer Isona Passola, and the Public Diplomacy Council of Catalonia (DIPLOCAT). 

According to Diplocat’s Secretary-General, Laura Foraster, MEDIMED’s mission is important and ties into DIPLOCAT’s aim because “Culture and intercultural dialogue can solve many many problems, some problems that perhaps cannot be solved in the political sphere.”

More than 500 documentaries exploring various social issues make up this year’s catalogue of films searching for greater promotion and distribution, among which are various Catalan productions, such as ‘Peret: King of the Gypsy Rumba’ directed by Paloma Zapata; ‘Idrissa, crònica d’una mort qualsevol’ directed by Xapo Ortega, or ‘Beirut, la vie en rose’ directed by Èric Motjer.

Alongside these Catalan films, however, there will also be numerous films produced in a total of 50 countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region.

Hannu-Pekka Vitikainen, of Finnish company Zone 2 Pictures, explains that he is in Sitges with his colleague to find funding for his documentary project called ‘Moroccan’: “The main character is Ilyas, who is suffering because his friend in Finland did a terrorist attack, and we are following him and a couple of friends after what happens to them.”

MEDIMED will also host more than 1000 face-to-face meetings between television executives and producers and documentary makers seeking to pitch their projects. 

All in all, MEDIMED has become a well-established and internationally recognized event for documentary professionals, and throughout the years more than 400 projects have found funding thanks to it.