News

The 2026 edition of CPH:DOX’s flagship financing and co-production event will bring together 101 directors and producers representing 23 countries who will present 30 new doc projects spanning early to late development and production. “The 2026 CPH:FORUM selection tells the story of the times we live in through the lenses of filmmakers who challenge the status quo, take risks and engage in dialogue with the world,” comments Mara Gourd-Mercado, Head of Industry & Training.

Directed by Anna Fitch and Banker White, the US documentary details how, after losing her friend Yo, director Anna builds a detailed one-third scale version of her friend’s house. It is just big enough for Anna to squeeze into, and inside lives a puppet of Yo. When the pair first met, Yo was 73 and Anna was 24. The 76th Berlinale runs February 12 to 26, 2026.

European Film Promotion will welcome filmmakers and industry professionals to its EUROPE! HUB at Sundance (22 Jan – 1 Feb), “highlighting and celebrating the presence of European films in this year’s line-up,” the organisation writes. European films in World Cinema Doc Comp include All About the Money by Sinéad O’Shea, To Hold a Mountain by Biljana Tutorov & Petar Glomazić, Closure by Michał Marczak, and the UK doc features Everybody to Kenmure Street by Felipe Bustos Sierra, Birds of War by Janay Boulos & Abd Alkader Habak and One In A Million by Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes.

International FIPRESCI members will vote for the best documentary film of the past year, making this award “one of the most important distinctions in global documentary cinema,” writes Millennium Docs Against Gravity. “It is a great honor for MDAG and for the Polish film industry that, among all festivals worldwide, [it] has been chosen as the place where this exceptional award will be presented.” The first winner will be announced during the MDAG opening ceremony on May 7 2026.

Croatian Igor Bezinović’s feature doc tells the story of the flamboyant, some say narcissistic, politician Gabriele D’Annunzio who staged a coup in the Croatian port town of Rijeka, and thereafter ruled for 16 months. In the film, local residents and a variety of amateur actors are drafted in to play the role of D’Annunzio. Sales of the film are handled by Lightdox. Icarus is handling the US release of the film, while the ICA is aboard for the UK. The ceremony of 38th European Film Awards took place in Berlin on January 17.

Swiss docfest Visions du Réel has announced US filmmaker Kelly Reichardt as Guest of Honour of its 57th edition (17–26 April 2026). Reichardt will take part in the Festival with a masterclass and a retrospective of her work, as well as a carte blanche, while her latest feature film, The Mastermind, will also be screened ahead of its limited theatre release. The full programme of the 57th Visions du Réel will be announced March 25.

Organisers of the 76th Berlinale announced January 14 the complete list of doc titles in its Panorama and Generation sections, and titles so far selected for Berlinale Special. Eleven docs are selected for Panorama, and four in the various Generation sub-sections, while six doc features and series are so far slated for Special. The upcoming Berlinale will run February 12 to 22.

Ten international films are in the long list in the Documentary category, while four documentaries are long-listed in the Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer category. Round two voting runs to January 20, with final nominations to be announced Tuesday 27 January on the BAFTA YouTube channel. The winners will be revealed Sunday February 22.

BAFTA-winner Felipe Bustos Sierra’s documentary about one of Scotland’s most spontaneous and successful acts of civil resistance in recent memory will open the festival’s 22nd edition on 25th February. Executive-produced by two-time Oscar® winner Emma Thompson, Everybody To Kenmure Street will world-premiere in World Cinema Doc Comp at the upcoming Sundance FF.

The industry arm of Cinéma du réel (March 21-18 2026) “actively supports the distribution, promotion and placement of feature documentaries by linking, at a key stage of the production process, project holders (filmmakers and producers) to industry professionals,” organisers write. The deadline for the Works-in-Progress of ParisDOC 2026 (25-26 March) is January 7 2026.