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The Czech Film and Television Academy (CFTA) announced August 19 Pepa Lubojacki’s feature documentary as the Czech candidate for an Oscar® in the category of International Feature Film. The doc had its world premiere in February this year at the Berlinale, where it won the award for Best Documentary Feature, as well as the independent Caligari Film Prize.

Docs Beyond, the new 3-module audience, impact & training programme from the Institute of Documentary Film, seeks to give documentary teams the time, expertise and practical tools to “find its audience, build the right partnerships and turn its topic into meaningful action.” Docs Beyond is intended for producers, directors, screenwriters, distributors and other members of documentary creative teams based in the Czech Republic.

The two titles are Imperium by Sergei Loznitsa (Germany-France-Italy-Lithuania), and Act 3 by Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor (Ireland-UK). “Our 2026 competition selection brings an astounding array of filmmaking styles to the screen. As ever, it’s been creatively nourishing for myself and the team to encounter each of these works - we’re excited to share these with audiences in October,” comments Kristy Matheson, BFI London Film Festival Director. The 70th edition runs 7 – 18 October 2026.

Seven highly promising docs from CEE, scheduled for theatrical release over the next 12 months were presented on Sunday August 16 as part of CineLink Industry Days at Sarajevo FF. The Docu Talent Award went to the Luxembourg–Slovak co–production Ora et Labora (pictured) by Dzhovani Gospodinov, while the DAFilms.com VoD distribution Award went to the Slovak project Retuning directed by Sára Prokopová. Ji.hlava IDFF further revealed the professionals for the Emerging Producers programme 2027, and the Guest Country of Ji.hlava IDFF 2026 as Montenegro.

The documentary, which explores the loss of home against the backdrop of the Gaza War, celebrated its world premiere in 2025 in Venice Giornate degli Autori, where it won the Cinema & Art Award. In early 2026, Who Is Still Alive (Qui vit encore) received the Prix de Soleure at the Solothurn Film Festival and was nominated for Best Documentary at the Swiss Film Awards. The film continues to screen at numerous international festivals, most recently in the Panorama Suisse section of the Locarno Film Festival.

The Pardo d’Oro in the Concorso Cineasti del Presente and the Swatch First Feature Award were both awarded to The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer (La ilusión de un verano sin fin) by Alessandra Sanguinetti. The Grand Prix Semaine de la Critique – Prix SRG SSR went to Blossoming by Kamila Serwicka. Also in Concorso Cineasti del Presente, the Special Jury Prize CINE+OCS was given to Mohanad Yaqubi for Revolutionaries Never Die.

Seventeen documentary films from across the Nordic region have been selected to compete at this year’s Nordisk Panorama FF (17-22 September 2026). In addition to its strong film programme, the fest will honour, for the fourth consecutive year, the role of the producer, with five producers nominated for the unique Nordic Documentary Producer Award. Nordisk Panorama will open September 17 with Norwegian Guro Saniola Bjerk’s In Cod We Trust.

Seven new major projects from Central and Eastern Europe will be presented August 16 during the 22nd edition of Docu Talents from the East at Sarajevo FF's CineLink Industry Days. All the selected projects are currently in post-production, with premieres expected between September 2026 and August 2027. The most promising projects will be awarded by an international jury and announced during a prize ceremony on August 17. 

Five near-ready doc projects will be presented August 16 during the CineLink Industry Days of the 32nd Sarajevo FF. Industry Days marks the final staging post in the three-module series that kicked off at Sofia in May 2026. Organised by CineLink and the Balkan Documentary Center, Docu Rough Cut Boutique is a platform dedicated to documentary projects at an advanced phase of the editing process.

Described as “a psychedelic doom scroll through the mind of a master Canadian politician,” and a “genre-bending collage of Canadiana,” Winnipeg director Matthew Rankin’s Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney will premiere in the festival’s Midnight Madness sidebar. Additionally, National Film Board of Canada) will world premiere Carol Nguyen’s feature documentary Still Night, Burning House at TIFF 2026, and oversee the launch of the NFB/TIFF short documentary initiative REDEFINED.