From the 1990s onwards, festivals specialising in documentary film have spread across the globe, and their new features have changed the roles these events previously played in film culture and business. Where festivals once served primarily as exhibition sites, the recent incorporation of industry sections to their programmes has resulted in these events having a profound influence not only on film criticism, but also on production and distribution. In this context, independent filmmakers have found a professional space to develop their projects at different stages, from searching for pre-production funding to finding distributors for theatrical release or television broadcasts. In this environment, the term ‘independent’ documentary cinema becomes problematic, as various interests condition their production and circulation.

This chapter will reflect on the role of film festivals as nodal points for the development of the documentary, in order to identify which powers influence and challenge its independent character. Taking the professional trajectory of Czech filmmakers Vit Klusak and Filip Remunda as a case study, I will focus on the different production and distribution strategies they developed for their feature-length documentaries Czech Dream/Český Sen (2004) and Czech Peace/Český Mír (2010). These films can be considered paradigmatic examples of both highly creative approaches to documentary language and activist film practices as they tackle two controversial topics: the new consumerist society in former Communist countries and international politics in the first case, and a US initiative to establish a military radar site in Eastern Europe in the second. Their professional trajectory in the international festival circuit raises questions about how documentary filmmakers develop various dependencies in order to obtain global circulation of their works. The inclusion of industry sections within festival programmes surely influences the funding strategies of independent productions and the way filmmakers use the festival circuit as a promotion platform and distribution space. Our purpose here is also to establish the extent to which social networks of collaboration between filmmakers, festival programmers and industry professionals affect the performance of documentaries in the festival circuit. The following case study therefore focuses on the festival careers of these two young Czech filmmakers who took their films on the international circuit, not only actively participating in the festivals’ industry activities, but also helping to introduce this model to their own country.