Cannes Docs unveils Docs-in-Progress Showcase program

Cannes Docs unveiled April 15 details of its 2026  Docs-in-Progress Showcase program, during which institutions from around the world 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.

“By being exposed at Cannes Docs, these projects benefit from exceptional visibility, at the heart of the world’s leading film market, taking away key connections and substantial marks of interest from industry reps – but also of course, the mere catalyzing prestige of the Cannes ‘stamp’ itself,” organisers underline.

There are 8 docs-in-progress Showcases lined up for this year: Canada, Scotland, The Five Nordics, Docs by the Sea, Palestine Film Institute, Spain, Chile/Colombia & CIRCLE Doc Accelerator. 

“By trying to bring together projects and filmmakers from different corners of the world, we are also trying to symbolically connect artistic, aesthetics, and political dots between all kinds of countries and regions, advocating for a powerful, inspiring, stimulating overview of the current creative documentary state of the art,” organisers add.

Comments Babette Dieu, Cannes Docs Coordinator: “What really moves us is seeing what happens with the participating projects after the showcases. To mention just a few recent titles from last year’s selection: Everybody to Kenmure Street,which received the Al Jazeera Documentary Award at Cannes Docs 2025, won the Special Jury Award for Civil Resistance at Sundance 2026; Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest premiered at Berlinale Panorama and The Flight of the Stork had its world premiere at IDFA. The Docs-in-Progress strand has become a powerful springboard for many of the presented titles, and we are genuinely proud that it proves to be so useful for the projects’ future circulation. This confirms that what we’ve been building actually works: a relevant, efficient space for filmmakers and industry professionals to meet and connect, helping projects to move forward significantly in their production & distribution pathway.”  

The 33 projects selected for this year’s Docs-in-Progress are in the running for ten awards, to be handed over at the Awards Ceremony on Doc Day (19 May). The awards are made possible with the support of IEFTF – International Emerging Film Talent Fund, Al Jazeera Documentary, TransPerfect Media, Rise and Shine World Sales, Alphapanda, Think-Film Impact Production, Rulli Putortì & Partners Law Firm, and DAE – Documentary Association of Europe. Two new supporters join in 2026: American Documentary and Documentary Magazine.

The selected projects will be evaluated by a jury composed of Themba Bhebhe (Freelance Consultant, Strategic Advisor & Industry Programmer, Indigenous Cinema Alliance, Third Horizon), Fujioka Asako (Vice-chair, Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival), and Paulina Portela (Founder & Director, Compañía de Cine).

For details of all the individual Showcase projects, click here. 

SHOWCASE CANADA Partners: Telefilm Canada | Forum RIDM 

• Ba’s Book Directed by Ashley Duong; Produced by Ina Fichman (Intuitive Pictures inc., Canada); Country of production: Canada.
• Parrandas Directed by Constance Chaput-Raby; Produced by Isabelle Grignon-Francke (Club Vidéo, Canada); Countries of production: Canada, Cuba.
• Sisters of the Union Directed by Dan Popa; Produced by Line Sander Egede (TAK Films, Canada); Country of production: Canada.
• Steve’s Version Directed by Sofia Bohdanowicz; Produced by Sofia Bohdanowicz (Maison du Bonheur Films, Canada); Country of production: Canada.

SHOWCASE SCOTLAND Partners: Screen Scotland | Scottish Documentary Institute

• Children of Honey (Olanakwe Sa Ba’alako) Directed by Jigar Ganatra, Emmanuel Musa-Marco & the Hadza Community; Produced by Natalie Humphreys (Storyboard Studios, Scotland), Jigar Ganatra (JG Creative, Tanzania); Countries of production: Tanzania, Scotland.
• Flotsam Directed by Isa Rao; Produced by Nadira Murray (Sylph Productions, UK), John Archer (Hopscotch Films, UK); Country of production: UK.
• The Undermine Directed by Alice Nelson;produced by Lili Sandelin (North Isle Productions, UK); Countries of production: UK, Ireland.
• Untitled Horse Woman Project Directed by Lizzie MacKenzie; Produced by Emily Copley (Green Ray Films, UK), Lizzie MacKenzie (Of The Wild Productions, UK); Country of production: UK.

SHOWCASE THE FIVE NORDICS Partners: The Five Nordics

• All I Ever Wanted (På Et Splitsekund) Directed by Christina Martiny Moltke; Produced by Esther Nissen, Maria Kristensen (Final Cut for Real, Denmark); Country of production: Denmark.
• Island Nation (Eyríki) Directed by Nikolai Galitzine; Produced by Dögg Mósesdóttir (Northern Wave Productions, Iceland). Countries) of production: Iceland, UK.
• Lonesome Land (Raakkukuningas (WT)) Directed by Virpi Suutari; produced by Virpi Suutari (Euphoria Film, Finland). Country of production: Finland.
• The Greatest Illusion (Den største illusjonen) Directed by Benjamin Ree. Produced by Ingvil Giske (Medieoperatørene, Norway). Countries of production: Norway, Denmark, Estonia.
• Untitled Timbuktu Documentary Directed by Simon Klose; Produced by Martin Persson, Elin Kamlert (Anagram, Sweden). Country of production: Sweden.

SHOWCASE DOCS BY THE SEA Partner: Docs by the Sea

• Gan (甘) Directed by Ruonan Jiang; produced by Huihui Lou (Oui Production, France), Ruonan Jiang (RuonanJ FIlms, China). Countries of production: France, China.
• Green is the Fire’s Tint Directed by Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi, Arya Rothe. Produced by Cristina Hanes, Isabella Rinaldi, Arya Rothe (NoCut Film Collective, India and Romania), Kaleo La Belle (La Belle Film, Switzerland). Countries of production: India, Romania, Switzerland.
• Land of Evanescence (Vùng đất của những biến mất) Directed by Trang Nguyen Thi Xuan. Produced by Wilfredo Manalang (Fusee, Philippines), Charlotte Lelong (Trance Films, France). Countries of production: Vietnam, Philippines, France.
• When the Fire Sleeps Directed by Eri Mizutani. Produced by Sara Skrodzka (Warboys Films, France), Emi Ueyama (Article Films, Japan). Countries of production: Poland, France, Japan.

SHOWCASE PALESTINE Partner: Palestine Film Institute 

• Azziza: In a Cherished Land (بأرض عزيزة) Directed by Tareq Khalaf. Produced by Bilal Alkhatib. Countries of production: Palestine, Lebanon.
• Baba (نانا) Directed by Giacomo Fausti, Laila Sit Aboha. Produced by Marta Melina (SMK productions, Italy). Country of production: Italy.
• Gaza Sunbirds Directed by Flavia Cappellini. Produced by Kristian van der Heyden (Harald House, Belgium), Alex King & Andrea Kurland (Perfidious Pictures, UK), Lydia Kali (Urbania, France), May Jabareen (Philistine Film, Palestine). Countries of production: Belgium, UK, France, Palestine.
• Super Sila (سوبر سيلا) Directed by Mohammed Alshareef. Produced by Ala’ Abu Ghoush. Country of production: Palestine.

SHOWCASE SPAIN Partners: ICEEX | ICAA | Zinebi

• Altxaliliak (Altxaliliak) Directed by Maia Iribarne. Produced by Zuri Goikoetxea, Ainhoa Andraka (Doxa Producciones, Spain). Countries of production: Spain, France.
• Artifacts of War (Artefactos de guerra) Directed by Jorge Caballero Ramos. Produced by Anna Giralt Gris (Artefacto Films, Spain), Diego Pino Anguita (CangrejoFilms, Chile). Countries of production: Spain, Chile, Colombia.
• Homefire (Un fogal) Directed by Neus Pagès. Produced by Laura Alvarez (Nanouk Films, Spain; Glia Films, Spain; Minimum Moderne, France). Countries of production: Spain, France.
• The Path That Walks (Nar ‘hi nan) Directed by Efthymia Zymvragaki. Produced by Efthymia Zymvragaki (Gris Medio, Spain), Babet Touw (Witfilm, The Netherlands), Eirini Makedona (Ethereal, Greece). Countries of production: Spain, The Netherlands, Greece.

SHOWCASE CHILE-COLOMBIA Partners: Chiledoc | ProImagenes

• Antipodal Dreams (Sueños Antípodas) Directed by Juanita Onzaga. Produced by Juanita Onzaga (Llamas Etéreas, Colombia). Countries of production: Colombia, Mexico.
• Burning Daddy (Papito Corazón) Directed by Tana Gilbert. Produced by Paola Castillo Villagrán (Errante, Chile) Co-Prod:  Dirk Manthey (Dirk Manthey Films, Germany), Carolina Astudillo, Wendy Espinal (Isolda Films, Spain). Countries of Production: Chile, Germany, Spain.
• The Boy Girl and the Gothik Whale (El Niño Niña y la Orka Gótika) Directed by Sidka Saavedra Vera. Produced by Constanza Schmidt (Argentina), Sidka Saavedra Vera (Chile), Claudia León (Fårö Cine, Chile). Countries of production: Argentina, Chile
• Chilapa´s Girl (Muchachita Chilapa) Directed by Juana Lotero. Produced by Anahí Farfán (Fuega Cine, Colombia), Juana Lotero (Noctámbulos Cine, Colombia). Country of production: Colombia.

SHOWCASE CIRCLE Partners: CIRCLE Doc Accelerator

• Amazonas Directed by Clara Lopez Rubio. Produced by Laura Dauden (Forward Films, Spain), Isabela Parra (Caleidoscopio Cine, Ecuador), Anke Petersen (Jyoti Film, Germany). Countries of production: Spain, Ecuador, Germany.
• Intimate Revolutions Directed by Julia Maryanska. Produced by Marc J. Francis.Executive Producer (Speakit Productions, UK), Marielle Olentine, Consulting Producer (Tikkun Olam Productions, USA). Countries  of Production: USA, UK, Poland.
• Portrait of A Directed by Rand Beiruty. Produced by Rand Beiruty, Jude Kawwa (Shaghab Films, Jordan). Countries of production: Jordan, Germany, Qatar.
• Sisters (Sestry) Directed by Tereza Bernátková. Produced by Dagmar Sedláčková, Natália Pavlove (MasterFilm, Czech Republic), Peter Kerekes and Tereza Tokárová (Kerekes Film, Slovakia), Virginia Subramaniyam (Bachibouzouk & Les Poissons Volants, France). Countries of production: Czech Republic, Slovakia, France.