Nick Cunningham

From April 27 to May 1, 23 participants from 13 countries across the Mediterranean and MENA region will gather in Ajaccio, Corsica for a five-day workshop led by Alexandre Cornu and Diana El Jeiroudi. “At a time when unjust and devastating wars continue to affect parts of the Arab world, we believe it is more essential than ever to support documentary projects and voices from the region, and to foster meaningful collaboration and co-production between Western Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean,” organisers write.

Sunny Side of the Doc 2026 announced April 15 first speakers for the re-established event, running 22–24 June 2026 in La Rochelle, France. “Financing is...

The Docs-in-Progress program partners with institutions from around the world to exhibit carefully selected works at final stages of production and which are looking to hit the circuit within the coming weeks or months. Each of the eight showcases features four projects, presented in the form of a live pitch and a 10-minute excerpt of the rough-cut, designed to catch the attention of decision-makers, festival programmers, and sales agents. Cannes Docs runs 14-19 May 2026.

The 16 films competing for this year’s Doc Alliance Awards were announced April 15. Each of the seven European documentary festivals that make up the Doc Alliance network, together with this year’s guest festival GAIFF, the Golden Apricot Yerevan International Film Festival, has put forward one short and one feature-length documentary from its previous programme. The Doc Alliance Award will be presented on 19 May in Cannes during the Doc Day Lunch at the Marché du Film.

Three feature documentaries and one doc hybrid are selected for the Cannes sidebar section dedicated to independent, ground-breaking cinema. “The films presented are all gestures that bring us together—stories rooted in a poetic reality that is joyful, unexpected, but above all free and unformatted. They thus emerge as powerful acts of resistance—and of hope,” the ACID programmers collectively write.

The 12 films that constitute this year’s Main Competition represent an “absolute highlight of what is happening currently in documentary cinema,” write organisers, and are eligible for nine awards across the festival’s host cities of Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź and Bydgoszcz. The 23rd Millennium Docs Against Gravity festival runs 8 to 17 May 2026, and online from May 19 to June 1.

Among the 19 features and shorts selected for Cannes Directors Fortnight 2026 are five documentaries. These include Thanks for Coming, the final instalment of Alain Cavalier’s ongoing filmed diary. “We are delighted by the significant presence of documentaries (3 features and 2 shorts)…showcasing highly distinctive works that demonstrate the exceptional richness and vitality of [the form],” comments Artistic Director Julien Rejl.

Running May 7 to 17, the 29th Barcelona International Documentary Film Festival will open with Mehrdad Oskouei's story of resistance, A Fox Under a Pink Moon. John Wilson returns to DocsBarcelona with The History of Concrete, a humorous reflection on concrete and urban life, and the festival will tawad its Docs d'Honor prize to filmmaker Mark Cousins, who will present a retrospective of his work.

Guest of Honour will be leading UK thesp Maxine Peake, while the festival will also embrace actor Miriam Margolyes, Oscar-winning director Andrea Arnold and broadcaster and environmentalist Chris Packham. A one-off celebration of Sir David Attenborough at 100 will bring together leading filmmakers and activists to reflect on his extraordinary legacy. The 2026 edition of Sheffield DocFest, dubbed ‘Realities in Motion,’ will run June 10-15.

The award will go to one of 12 feature documentaries about luminaries working within the arts – ranging from film, music, and theatre to literature and the avant-garde. Festival partner The National Fryderyk Chopin Institute funds the €2000 prize. The 23rd MDAG will take place from May 8-17, 2026 in cinemas across seven Polish cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź, and Bydgoszcz), and online from May 19 to June 1.