Interview by Anne-Marie Borsboom, Founder of ShareDoc

“The commercial side of fiction has completely worked its way into the documentary world.

It’s not so much about your point of view as a filmmaker anymore. It’s more about how you tell the story to a wider audience: numbers and figures. How many people are going to watch it, and who is going to buy it?

Public broadcasters ought to offer varied programming, and documentaries should play a major role in helping viewers understand the world they live in. That should be one of a public broadcaster’s main purposes: to act as a bridge between a wide audience and the rest of the world."— Sergi Doladé

Tell me about your start in the industry.

MEDIMED started as a dedicated market for co-productions between the North and the South of the Mediterranean. The very first edition was dedicated to fiction and documentary, but right away we understood that these were very different approaches, and that fiction has another way of bringing up projects. For the second edition, we decided that it would be a specific market only for Euro-Mediterranean documentaries.

And before MEDIMED?

Before 2000 I worked for six years at the European Commission office in Barcelona, where I dealt with the MEDIA programme. So I was very much in contact with producers and filmmakers. When my contract with the EC was ending, a well-known producer and director in Barcelona asked me to help him create an international department in his production company. I always thought the film industry was appealing because it's creative, international and deals with emotions as well. My first trip was to the Berlinale for the premiere of his latest film. So it was an exciting start in this sector, but it lasted one year. Then the Association of Catalan Producers asked me to join the new Association of Independent Mediterranean Producers, where I am now. It gathers 400 producers from the Mediterranean basin, from Morocco to Tunisia to Turkey to Greece to Spain. The idea of creating something new and bringing together filmmakers from different backgrounds was exciting.

So you have a long road behind you. What has changed in the documentary world?

Wow. Well, in the early days it was a small scene of very well-positioned documentary filmmakers in central Europe. ARTE played a very good role in the early 2000s. There were very well-established production houses producing documentaries in a way that felt very easy, with no complications. Every deal was based on trust. That's actually why we created this market. Let's co-produce with people from abroad. Let's bring common subjects to the table. Why not explore new ways of financing and producing with the South, and help them tell their stories? So it was easy, in the sense that things were imagined and they became reality. Public television channels were supportive, even experimental, and helped filmmakers find their own voice. So the market was in good condition. That was extraordinary for me. Coming from the European Commission, with a background in an institutional framework, I thought: these are creative people who do what they really want to do, fully supported by the market.

And what's changed?

Unfortunately, public television channels are now confronted with this new, more complex scenario. There are more windows, and the private players have changed the game. And the competition is terrible when we actually pay attention to the content. I mean, the commercial side of fiction has interfered in the documentary world completely. So it's not so much about your point of view as a filmmaker. It's more about how you tell the story to a wider audience: numbers and figures. How many people are going to watch this, and who is going to buy it.

Back then it was also important to promote the films, but the most important thing was to make them, and to really have the means to make them the way you wanted. You could travel abroad, you could live with the protagonists. Time wasn't really something you had to take into consideration in your budget. Those things have changed a lot. Now filmmakers have to shoot in a very short time, send the images right away, and the film has to air immediately. So the industry has changed: not only our perception of our business, but also, I think, the content of the films that are made. Undoubtedly.

And if you were the boss, what would you do to make the future better?

Oh, I would propose that public broadcasters support documentary the way they did before, simply because it helps people understand better what's going on in the world, or in their own societies. When you understand the complexity of a situation in your society, you're more aware of how difficult it is to manage politically. I mean, we've shifted to this simplistic way of approaching the news. Everything is a headline, fake news sells papers, and we are confronted with what is real and what isn't. You cannot trust the traditional media players anymore, and that's because there's this interest in shaping societies in one particular way, but not in a democratic way.

So you'd approach the broadcasters. But in the world we live in today, everybody's moving away from the broadcasters, because they are losing territory.

They're losing territory, but at the same time they still play a very important part as the central players in most European countries, not to mention the public broadcasters in the Arab world. I mean, that's another reality. In Europe we are moving towards a model that probably won't stay the way it is, but that depends on who is in power.

You are in power for this moment, so what needs to change?

If I were in power, I do believe that public broadcasters ought to have varied programmes. And within those programmes, documentary has to play a major role, offering viewers the opportunity to understand the world they live in. That should be one of the main reasons for a public broadcaster to exist: to be a bridge between a wide audience and the rest of the world. Private media can have content like fiction, entertainment or sports. That's fair enough. But a public broadcaster has an extra role, which is to educate the viewer. That's why we pay taxes.

Here in Catalonia, the public broadcaster TV3 realised many years ago that if you programme documentaries in prime time, you get a great audience share. This is still proven today: the programme Sense ficció on Tuesday evenings has a very loyal audience.

What actually made you love the documentary world?

I must say that even before I dropped into the documentary world, I already loved films and had studied cinema in England. They showed me realities I wouldn't have thought of before.

Can you give us some titles? A film where you cried your eyes out?

Oh, wow… so many. Films that touched not only my emotions, but also my curiosity to know more about the subject, and even to take action towards that reality.

So we get no title from you? Maybe a scene, then?

When I was 18 I had already seen Agnès Varda's filmography. For me she is a master, as is Jean-Luc Godard. Documentaries take you to an unknown space.

One title, please?

One title that comes to mind is Searching for Sugar Man. You cannot take this film in one go; you can watch it many times. It is about a human soul who makes his life the way he really wants to, without any strategic moves. It's about being free in your inner self and not playing by the rules. What matters is what drives you towards your own freedom. Yes, I loved this film.

Documentary is not about fantasy. It can be told like a fantasy, but it's real. And that's what really moves me: when I see something that opens my mind towards a person, a society, a new world that I cannot touch with my hands, but at the same time brings that reality close to my mind. It makes me think of myself and my reality in a different way.

When selecting films for MEDIMED, are you looking for films like that?

Our selection would go in that direction, but we also consider filmmakers who have great potential but don't have the means because of the political or social reality of the country they live in. I've just written to an Iranian filmmaker who said: thanks for selecting my project, but I cannot make it, I have no financial support. Then you have to bring your imagination to the table and say, okay, how can we make this happen? If we hear that voice, this is what we try to do. It's always possible to find a way.

No Other Land, for instance: these guys, they sent me a one-page treatment. They had an idea. And I thought, well, this is extraordinary. For the first time at MEDIMED, after so many years, in 2022 we received a project co-directed by two Israelis and a Palestinian, and they wanted to do it together. I said, they have no money, but let's help them. So they found their co-producer in Europe at MEDIMED. That's our main goal: to bring people together, to make things happen, and to intervene as much as we can to bring together talented people and, of course, the money. It's quite difficult nowadays to make that happen, but it happens.

Will MEDIMED survive in these difficult circumstances?

You have to re-examine yourself all the time. You have to keep going and deliver positive results and impressive figures every year. So yes, selection is very important. You have to be very careful about who you end up inviting. But I always like to take risks as well. I mean, nothing is certain. For different reasons, broadcasters are not as supportive as they were. They tend to support films that have won a prize at major festivals. They need to position themselves as a window for special films accessible to a general audience: films that have already been embraced by international audiences. They won't premiere a film anymore. It's more about showing the Oscar winners.

Is there something you'd like to tell us about this year's edition of MEDIMED?

Well, we are very excited to have a Moroccan delegation. That tells you that in Morocco right now, the national film centre is supporting documentaries in a very generous way. We made an open call for Moroccan projects, and we were surprised to receive 85 projects; we selected five. Back in 2000, when we started, this wouldn't have been possible. There were not many filmmakers in Morocco producing documentaries. So within these years, and with the support of 2M television, which now has a very remarkable slot for documentaries, they've created a network of documentary filmmakers that I believe we have to pay attention to.

What's going on with young people in Morocco? Why do they sometimes demonstrate against the government? If you look at what happened in the Spanish city of Ceuta, where more than 70,000 Moroccans crossed the border in a few hours a month ago, this has an effect not only on the Spanish border but on Europe, and therefore on our societies. We have to understand why these people are risking their lives. It did not happen out of the blue, and we must understand what or who provoked it. Not just say, very simplistically, oh no, we don't want this. This is a fact, this is happening, and this will continue to happen. So we must understand why it's happening before we give an opinion.

Is MEDIMED also trying to have gender diversity?

Well, curiously, this is something we never had to pay attention to, because it was natural. When we think about the gender element in the documentary industry, about women filmmakers, directors, producers and also technicians, it's quite balanced. And at MEDIMED in general, I would say that women are more present than men. When we actually look at the figures, not only filmmakers but also commissioning editors, distributors, sales agents, fund managers and festival programmers, women are very present, and not only in Europe but also in the south of the Mediterranean.

I hear that buyers want stories about men?

I would think that this is also quite balanced… I don't see this. I mean, not in our selection at least.

That's you. But the ones who buy and want to show…

It could be the case that films made by men about men's subjects are more present in general terms. That is a fact. That's certainly true. And the market's logic is about the supposed audience. But we at MEDIMED intend to balance it. That's the thing.

At festivals and documentary screenings, it's mainly women who go and buy the tickets. So how do you explain this?

But then again, this tells a lot about our culture. I mean, in fiction it's a fact, that's for sure. And there are women making films, but from a man's perspective, because most of the time the story is told from a man's perspective. We call it the male gaze. That's part of the game. And if you want to play the game, you have to stick to the rules. But that's interesting enough to make visible. You at least have to realise that this is real, that this is the way it is. Another thing is that there are associations of women filmmakers working to change this logic. But probably, when we look at the figures again, we will realise that the male perspective is still the majority.

What would you like to say to the audience coming to MEDIMED this year?

Well, I want to say that this year they have the opportunity to meet you, ShareDoc, and to understand through your examples and your background, because you are also a filmmaker, that at the end of the day, the role of the protagonist and of the story in how we perceive a certain reality in a film leads us to take action. This is crucial for us and for the industry: to have audience bonding, of course. The audience doesn't watch documentaries only to be entertained and not think about anything in today's reality. I mean, that's TikTok. That's Instagram. You have other windows for that. We have to force ourselves out of passive media consumption and demand that we engage deeply with the world around us. A film makes you think. And by thinking, people may want to take action. That's precisely why I invited you to be our special guest in Sitges.

Meet ShareDoc at MEDIMED in Sitges, 8–11 October 2026

In 2025, ShareDoc worked with MEDIMED on an online programme showing filmmakers how to reach out to their audience when their protagonists need support. This year, Anne-Marie Borsboom, Founder of ShareDoc, and Daria Podsiadlo, ShareDoc Ambassador, will be there in person at the 2026 edition of MEDIMED in Sitges, 8–11 October.