Business Doc Europe

The only documentary in 2026 Berlin Competition, YO (Love is a Rebellious Bird) is a paean to love and friendship, and told using puppets. It details the close relationship between director Anna Fitch and her best friend Yolanda Shea, 50 years her senior. “It feels good, and I feel like the process of bringing it [the film] to the world is very dynamic and alive, and Yo feels present in that too,” Fitch tells Business Doc Europe before the February 20 world premiere.

Two tragic stories are at the heart of What Will I Become? the new feature documentary from Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos (premiering in Generation 14plus and sold by Taskovski Films). Blake Brockington and Kyler Prescott were both young trans men. They were very different personalities. Blake was extrovert and charismatic, the “homecoming king” at his high school in North Carolina. Kyler was a quieter, more reflective personality, a poet and a musician. Both were to end up committing suicide. The directors discuss their film with BDE.

Finlay Pretsell’s documentary on the great Scottish artist, sold by Autlook and produced by Sonja Henrici and Pretsell himself, is as close as you can come to watching a major talent in full flow. “I was fascinated by what makes a great artist tick, I suppose,” the director tells BDE. “He’s almost in some sort of trance, making this work. This would take hours. We would often spend 12 to 15 hours [a day] in the studio.”

Traces, selected for Berlin’s Panorama section, addresses head-on the collective trauma suffered by survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), as perpetrated by the Russian military on Ukrainian women and men since 2014. More so, the film is about the refusal to remain silent, and centres on Iryna Dovhan, head of SEMA Ukraine, who documents the testimonies of survivors. “You see these women, you see their faces. They're not covered. They're not blurred. They're ready to talk. They're ready to sacrifice their privacy for the sake of truth,” co-director Kovalenko tells BDE.

Tristan da Cunha may be the most remote inhabited island on the planet, but it is nevertheless the place where Loran Bonnardot, a piano-playing doctor from Paris, is determined to settle. His existentialist journey, part-fictionalised, is chronicled by Swiss director Tobias Nölle. “I saw in Loran a castaway from our hyper-competitive society, seeking an authenticity we’ve lost, on an island secluded from our war-torn world; a dream I wanted to transform into a cinematic experience,” he says.

In her new feature doc, a deep longing for motherhood, intensified by relentless pressure from those around her, compels a woman (Alejandra) to stage a false pregnancy, which leads to her eventual exposure and incarceration. “I always think reality is stranger than fiction,” Alberdi tells BDE. “I thought the events were extraordinary but, at the same time, quickly I connected with the questions about the depression of motherhood.”

The leading Greek docfest revealed February 19 the fourteen-film selection for its International Competition. Prizes include the Golden Alexander, which is accompanied by a cash prize of 12,000 euros, and the Silver Alexander, accompanied by a cash prize of 5,000 euros. The 28th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival runs March 5-15.

At EFM 2026 Ji.hlava IDFF presented the current cohort of professionals partaking in its Emerging Producers programme, and put out the call for the next programme that will run 2026 through 2027. Every year the festival selects 18 talented producers (17 European and one representing a guest country), which it provides with educational, networking and promotional support. The applications deadline for the next programme is March 31.

Academy Award-winning Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson sat down with Geeta Gandbhir to discuss her Oscar and Bafta-nominated The Perfect Neighbor, about the shooting of Ajike Owens, a Black mother of four, by her white neighbour, who claimed "stand your ground" rights in her defence. “It's really about the intersection of racism, polarisation, anger and predatory laws that lead to violence,” says Gandbhir of her Netflix documentary.

CPH:DOX returns to Copenhagen March 11–22 2026 for its 23rd edition, presenting more than 200 new films alongside debates, live talks, concerts, exhibitions and special events. 86 world premieres, 25 international premieres and 10 European premieres are featured in this year's festival, of which 63 are feature-length films. Key figures coming to Copenhagen include HBO cult icon John Wilson, French actress and director Juliette Binoche and acclaimed documentarian Louis Theroux, amongst many others.

At EFM 2026, a packed Café Connect saw a revealing conversation between German filmmaker Andres Veiel and Deadline’s Matt Carey. The 30-minute discussion, held on 17 February, ranged from Veiel’s latest feature Riefenstahl to questions of archival ethics, documentary responsibility and the renewed relevance of historical material in a tense global political climate.

On February 16, EFM hosted a candid roundtable that examined gaps and opportunities in international documentary co-production between Germany and Morocco. The Moroccan–German Non-Fiction Assembly, organised within the DocSalon strand in partnership with Morocco’s Cinematographic Centre (CCM) and FIDADOC Agadir, brought together producers, broadcasters, festival programmers and filmmakers to explore how ties between the two industries might be strengthened in practical terms.