History Summit 2023
The 2023 edition of the History Summit brought together filmmakers, historians, producers, broadcasters, and creatives from around the world to explore new perspectives on historical storytelling.
Attendees
Key Facts
50+ countries
from 5 continents
50+ CEO / COO
60+ Commissioning Editors 80+ Executive & Creative Producers 80+ Film Directors 60+ Authors
28 Journalists
95 Academics 20+ Archivists & Archive Producers 10 Film Distributors 6 Politicians
40+ Broadcasters / Streamers
Including: ABC, Al Jazeera, Arte, BBC, BR, CBC, CCMA, CNN, CTV, Deutsche Welle, Discovery, HBO, Histoire TV, HR, MDR, My Cinema Europe, National Geographic, NDR, ORF, RBB, RTV Slovenia, SBS Australia, SR, SVT, SWR, WDR, ZDF, Kabel Eins, RTL, SAT.1, Servus TV, TRT World, TVR, Vox, WNET, World
300+ Mio viewers
Is the cumulated, worldwide outreach of the History Summit attendees
The History Summit presented 4 dynamic sessions/day featuring distinctive speakers who are leaders in their fields, followed by q&a. Between sessions were networking coffee breaks; lunches were held in conjunction with all Powerhouse attendees.
International experts shaping the future of historical storytelling.
Dawn Porter
Documentary filmmaker, founder of Trilogy Films/ USA
Her acclaimed work has appeared on ESPN, Netflix, HBO, PBS, and Discovery.
Prof. Erik van de Loo
Psychoanalyst & Professor of Organizational Behaviour at INSEAD, Co-Founder & Program Co-Director of “The Executive Master in Change”
His research focuses on board dynamics, unconscious phantasies of leaders and collective traumas.
Sergei Loznitsa
Director, Author & Producer/ Ukraine
At the Cannes Film Festival, nine of his films premiered (Best Director Award, FIPRESCI Prize). Cannes Walk of Fame.
Chris Hastings, Executive Producer / World Channel
Aurélie Reman, COO / Sunny Side of the Doc
Jason Steinhauer, Founder & CEO/ History Communication Institute
"Great & important topic for the doc agenda"
Sönje Storm, Commissioning Editor / DW Documentaries
"A good time with a lot of talented people and decision makers."
Max Permantier, Funding Executive XR / FilmFernsehFonds Bayern
"A great networking market"
Theo Baltz, CEO / MedienKontor Movie Gmbh
"Such a great all in one successful event"
Adel Ksiksi, Manager of Programming / Al Jazeera Documentary Channel
"The panels hosted incredibly intellectual conversations, skillfully weaving together various topics."
"We explored everything from the current state of history documentaries to the challenges of war reporting, and even delved into how social media influences the consumption of historical content."
Chris Hastings, Executive Producer / World Channel
"It was an insightful opportunity to consider South African archives and our lost Special Collections archives in the context of global archiving practices and the various risks and threats that they face."
Jade Nair, University of Cape Town
"Impressive, inspiring, provocative and reconciling"
" ... a breath of fresh air from the outside to see and evaluate the inside anew; dialogue in the midst of a polarized, fighting world."
Elvira Lind, Consultant / International Documentary Market
A centrepiece of the History Summit program was the Great Pitch Session on Friday, October 27. Producers from all over the world submitted their history project ideas – concepts for films, series, shorts – to be considered for the History Summit Pitch.
From left to right: Elizabeth Klinck, Angela Steidele, HE Dr. Fatou Bensouda, Former First Lady of Afghanistan Rula Ghani, Erik van de Loo, PROGRESS CEO Gunnar Dedio, Anaïs Roth MDR, Louise Rosen (PROGRESS Program Director)
From left to right: Former Defence Minister of Ukraine Ganna Maliar, PROGRESS CEO Gunnar Dedio, translator Xsenia
Dr. Markus Nievelstein, Managing Director / ARTE Germany
History Summit Keynote by director Sergei Losnitza
From left to right: HE Dr. Fatou Bensouda, Elizabeth Klinck, Former First Lady of Afghanistan Rula Ghani
Keynote by Dawn Porter
Panel "What Really Happened: the history books vs. reality" with former Defence Minister of Ukraine Ganna Maliar, Pál Dániel Rényi, Michal Kokot, Anton Yaremchuk, Bence Máté, Diana Feuerbach. - Front right: PROGRESS CEO Gunnar Dedio
From left to right: The Great Pitch Session with Cara Mertes, Keisha Knight, Anaïs Roth
The Great Pitch Session: "Our Sister Angela – Black Power in the GDR" with Katharina Warda (rear view)
Audience in the History Hall
Anaïs Roth, head of the editorial department for history and documentaries / MDR
Panel "History Hits" with Ruth Berry, Adel Ksiksi (Manager of Planning & Scheduling, Al Jazeera Documentary Channel), Chris Hastings (Executive Producer & Editorial Manager, WORLD) and Mark Willock (Commissioning editor, SWR).
Panel "Threat or Benefit? AI, the unconscious, and the reshaping of history" with Anil Ananthaswamy, Joanna J. Bryson
Sergei Loznitsa, Anton Yaremchuk
Valéry Gaillard, HE Dr. Fatou Bensouda, Elizabeth Klinck
Aurélie Reman, Keynote Speaker Dawn Porter
Lucie Kon, Louise Rosen
The 2023 edition of the History Summit took place at the Händel Halle in the heart of Halle (Saale), bringing together international guests in one of Germany’s historic cultural centers.
