News

Polish helmers Sylwia Witowska and Piotr Wacowski are in mid-production on After Roll Call. Legio Patria Nostra, a feature documentary set inside a French Foreign Legion veterans’ home in Puyloubier, in the south of France. “This is not a film about war,” the filmmakers underline. “It is about what happens to a person when the system that shaped them no longer exists.”

In No Mother’s Land, pitching May 8 in Warsaw, director Wiktoria Davis Szymańska recounts her gripping decade-long ordeal to protect her daughter, all the time trapped in a Kafkaesque legal nightmare. For Szymańska, the pitch also marks a decisive step in bringing to the screen a story she began filming long before it could be safely told. BDE reports.

The 22nd edition of the Docu Talents from the East – a presentation of the most remarkable new documentary projects from Central and Eastern Europe – will take place August 16 during the Cinelink Industry Days at Sarajevo FF. “The Docu Talents has proven to be an event that effectively interconnects documentary film professionals with festival selectors and producers. Each year we see very tangible results both for the careers of the selected filmmakers and for their films,” adds Jarmila Outratová, head of Ji.hlava IDFF Industry. The deadline for submissions is May 31.

The ARTE European Talent Development Award is part of “a strategic alliance that strengthens the role of the professional market as a key space for promoting new documentary projects in the context of increasing complexity in sector financing,” the festival writes. The ARTE professional prize joins others offered by the of Al Jazeera Documentary and 3Cat. Total prize money at DocsBarcelona Pro this year exceeds €66,000, of which €52,500 is in cash.

The Audience Award for Best Canadian Doc was handed May 4 to American Doctor by Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod and Reem Haddad. The Hot Docs Best International Feature Documentary award was handed earlier to the Dutch/Palestinian House of Hope (pictured) by Marjolein Busstra. The prize for Best Canadian Feature Doc was awarded to Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom by Kim Nguyen. All awards…

The section features docs on cinema and its history, highlighting major figures such as Bruce Dern, David Lean, Vittorio De Sica, and Chris Marker, as well as Mark Cousins’ latest episode in his continuing series on the history of documentary filmmaking, this time focusing on the 1970s. These films will compete for the L’Œil d’Or award presented during the awards ceremony of the 79th Festival de Cannes. All doc selections…

Sheffield DocFest has announced the fifty doc projects for the 2026 edition of MeetMarket, all of which are at various stages of production. “The 2026 MeetMarket programme, which runs 11 to 12 June, is a distinctive and totally varied mix of bold, vivid and socially conscious work,” organisers write. Featured in the line-up are five Rough Cuts, first edits selected to be shown to the UK and international industry delegates in attendance.

Olivia Sophie van Leeuwen is selected to represent the Netherlands as Producer on the Move at Cannes 2026. Producers on the Move is European Film Promotion’s (EFP) long-standing programme to promote promising producers and foster international co-productions. On the Croisette, van Leeuwen will be presenting director Willemiek Kluijfhout’s new doc project The Woman Who Made Van Gogh Famous.

Running June 10 to 15, the festival will open with the protest doc We, The Hated by UK doccer Rich Felgate, ahead of a programme that presents 80 feature films and 24 shorts, including 45 World Premieres, 17 International Premieres, 5 European Premieres, and 35 UK Premieres from 64 Countries. “In 2026, we are navigating a world defined by both profound uncertainty and constant transformation. Our theme, Realities in Motion, captures this momentum, reflecting how our lives are continually reshaped by collective action,” says Raul Niño Zambrano, Creative Director.

The 15th Finnish Film Affair (FFA) invites project applications from feature films and documentaries with international potential. The Showcase Day, taking place on Thursday, 24 September, offers an opportunity to present projects to international industry professionals and network with guests ranging from sales agents and co-producers to investors and festival programmers. Application deadline: Friday, 5 June 2026.