Nick Cunningham

Netherlands-based Aboozar Amini’s study of two brothers in the Afghan capital won in Main Competition. Additionally, Weronika Mliczewska's Child of Dust got the jury nod in Polish Competition, while Dmytro Hreshko’s Divia picked up the Green Dog Award. The 25th edition of the Polish-based human WATCH DOCS ran December 5-14.

Impact Days 2026 kicks off in earnest on January 15 2026, bringing together international experts for the annual Impact Filmmaking for Social Justice webinar. The 75-minute session will focus on choosing the right team to best articulate and implement impact goals, and will feature Ishtar Lakhani of Rogue Union, and Prince Odera Onyore Nyambok II of DocA – Documentary Africa.

Eighty Plus by Želimir Žilnik wins the Laceno d’Oro 50 Award, as decided by a jury composed of the filmmaker Andrei Ujică, the producers Jani Pösö and Donatella Palermo and the editor Joe Bini. The film, which receives a €3,500 prize. The Audience Award “Franca Troisi” was won by Je suis la nuit en plein midi by Gaspard Hirschi. The 50th Laceno d’Oro International FF ran December 1 to 8 2025.

In 2026 DocsBarcelona Pro will double the value of its awards to nearly 60,000 euros, of which 42,500 euros are paid in cash. The event will run May 9 to 14 during the 29th edition of DocsBarcelona (May 7 to 17, 2026). Professionals from around the world can apply for sic initiatives which include the Public, Rough Cut and New Tech pitches. The deadline for submissions is January 30, 2026, through Docs&Me.

Organisers of the Sundance Film Festival announced Dec 10 their program for the upcoming edition, running January 22–February 1, 2026, and online Jan 29 to Feb 1. Documentaries will compete in World Cinema Documentary Competition and US Documentary Competition, and a raft of docs are selected within the Next, Premieres, Midnight, Non-fiction Showcase, Spotlight, Family Matinee and Special Screenings sections. Read on for all doc selections.

Matt Alesevich and Hemal Trivedi’s short documentary focusses on the deeply personal relationship between Aney, a New York–based healthcare worker, and Farida, a wise and resilient teenager from an Indian nomadic tribe. “People say that there are three types of C that get funded, which are films about cult, crime, or celebrity,” co-director Trivedi tells BDE. “But there's a fourth C which people don't talk about, which is community. And our film is about building community.”

The Nyon-based docfest is inviting films for its Official Selection, which includes six competition sections, as well as projects for VdR–Industry activities. Films in competition receive their world, international or European premiere. The final date for submissions for both Festival and Industry is Dec 15. The 57th edition of Visions du Réel will run 17 to 26 April 2026.

Oscar-winning Ukrainian filmmaker Mstyslav Chernov talks to Alexander Nanau, himself nominated for an Academy Award in 2021, about 2000 Meters to Andriivka, in which Chernov and AP colleague Alex Babenko follow a Ukrainian brigade as they battle through approximately one mile of heavily fortified forest on their mission to liberate the Russian-occupied village of Andriivka. The film is in the running for a Feature Doc Oscar in 2026.

“This difficult but necessary decision results from a combination of factors: the loss of its main European grant, a decline in key financial support, as well as organisational constraints that make it impossible to deliver an event that meets the expectations and challenges of today’s global audiovisual ecosystem,” the organisation writes in a statement dated December 5.

It is one of the most famous photos in history. In 1968, two days after the Tet Offensive, the South Vietnamese General Loan was photographed executing Captain Lēm of the invading Vietcong with a single shot to the head. “For the Vietnamese, it was really the definition of the civil war. It was a Vietnamese brother shooting another Vietnamese brother,” director Naja Pham Lockwood underlines to BDE of her short documentary On Healing Land, Birds Perch. “I wanted to tell the stories behind that photo.”