Organisers of Cinéma du réel’s ParisDOC Works-in-Progress programme have invited submissions for the next edition, running 24-25 March 2027.
“ParisDOC Works-in-Progress actively supports the distribution, promotion and placement of feature documentaries by linking, at a key stage of the production process, project holders (filmmakers and producers) to industry professionals,” underline organisers, who are targeting producers and filmmakers working on an original feature-length documentary project, currently between the final editing and post-production stages, and seeking cinema, TV, VOD, festival, or sales distribution.
Selected projects will have the opportunity to be presented to French and international professionals, who will be able to advise and support them in their distribution and festival opportunities.
The deadline for registration is 21 December 2026. The selection announcement will be made mid-February 2027.
Each Cinéma du réel invites three experts to share their analyses and recommendations with project holders. In previous editions, ParisDOC Works-in-Progress has welcomed Rthe likes of ichard Copans, Marie-Pierre Duhamel-Muller, Annette Dutertre, Luc Forveille, Nepheli Gambade, Davide Oberto, Guillaume Morel, Antonio Pezzuto and Claire Simon.
Projects selected in previous editions include:
INTO THE JAWS OF THE OGRE by Mahsa Karampour (L’ACID Cannes 2026), IMAGO by Déni Oumar Pitsaev (Œil d’or for Best Documentary – Semaine de la Critique 2025); AL OESTE, EN ZAPATA by David Bim (FIPRESCI Prize, Jury Special Award – Visions du réel 2025); PEACHES GOES BANANAS! by Marie Losier (Venice International Film Festival 2024); GREEN LINE by Sylvie Ballyot (MUBI Award and Junior Jury Award – Locarno Film Festival 2024); GUERILLA DES FARC, L’AVENIR A UNE HISTOIRE by Pierre Carles (IFFR 2024); FRAGMENTS FROM HEAVEN by Adnane Baraka (Locarno Film Festival 2024); GHOST SONG by Nicolas Peduzzi (L’ACID Cannes 2021); THE EARTH IS BLUE AS AN ORANGE by Iryna Tsilyk (Sundance 2020); RED MOON TIDE by Lois Patiño (Berlinale 2020).
ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS
- Proposed projects must be feature-length documentaries (minimum length 60 minutes) that are between the editing stage and the end of post-production. A first cut must be completed in order to apply (teasers are not eligible).
- Projects must be free of any distribution commitments in the following three categories: festival premiere, representation by a sales agent, theatrical distribution.
- The presentation of the project at this stage and in this form must be unprecedented, which means that no identical or similar version of the edit has been screened in its entirety at any other event (e.g., a professional festival platform) prior to Cinéma du réel.
- The selection will take into account their compatibility with the editorial line and artistic vision of Cinéma du réel.
- Projects must demonstrate potential for distribution (festivals, theatrical, VOD platforms, TV).
- Projects from around the world are eligible to apply. They must be submitted in French or English. For films made in other languages, subtitles in one of these two languages must be available for your application to be considered.
- The information and video file sent to the festival will remain confidential and will only be used as part of the selection process of ParisDOC Works-in-Progress.
- Projects must be registered online between 5 November and 21 December 2026, using the submission form accessible from www.cinemadureel.org. The submission fee is €40. Registrations are only considered complete upon receipt of said amount by the festival.
- The selected projects will be notified in February 2027.
- The films are presented as works-in-progress, and their screenings are therefore not considered world premieres.
