Sunny Side of the Doc will relocate from La Rochelle to Strasbourg in June 2027, ending the international documentary market’s 27-year association with the Atlantic port city.

The move was announced by Gaëtan Bruel, president of France’s National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image, during the opening of Sunny Side’s 2026 edition. A future industry association will work with national and international partners to construct a renewed market responding to a documentary sector facing declining commissioning budgets, financing instability and wider structural change.

The Strasbourg event will receive backing from the CNC, the City and Eurometropolis of Strasbourg, and the Grand Est Region. Its programme will include a dedicated European component bringing documentary professionals into closer contact with institutional actors and debates around democracy, fundamental rights and cultural diversity.

Strasbourg offers an unusually concentrated political and audiovisual ecosystem. The city hosts the European Parliament, the Council of Europe, Eurimages and the European Audiovisual Observatory, while Franco-German broadcaster Arte is headquartered nearby. The relocation therefore places the market closer to the institutions shaping European media policy and cross-border production.

The announcement follows a turbulent period for Sunny Side. Its 2026 edition was initially cancelled after the loss of European funding and reductions in financial support, before returning through CNC intervention and a strategic partnership with Documentary Campus.

The CNC has presented the Strasbourg edition as a new international documentary market rather than merely a transferred event. Its precise governance, dates and programme structure have yet to be announced, leaving open how much of the Sunny Side identity will survive the transition.