The Prague-based dok.incubator workshop has announces its final film selection for 2026. “From a world-renowned blind pianist redefining independence, to stories bound to the oldest marathon in Europe, and a new generation of Ukrainian youngsters documenting their own lives during wartime, the films selected for this year’s workshop explore how individuals navigate the forces that shape their lives in stormy times,” organisers write.
Over the past 14 years dok.incubator worked with more than 200 films, many of them premiering at A-list festivals, such as Sundance where 13 projects have been selected for the festival’s various competitions. Two have been nominated for Emmys, 6 for European Film Awards and more than 30 of them were screened at IDFA. Films from dok.incubator workshops are also regularly selected for CPH:DOX, HotDocs, Visions du Réel, or Krakow Film Festival, organisers underline.
“We strongly believe only the productions with high quality development, which can take advantage of new opportunities and master new market strategies will strive to succeed.”
DOK.INCUBATOR 2026 PROJECTS
- MARATHON (SK, CZ, FR) by Peter Kerekes. Editor: Martin Piga. Producer: Tereza Tokárová, Kerekesfilm. Synopsis: Through the history of the Marathon, held for a hundred years in Košice, a small city in central Europe, we learn stories woven across the world. Stories of people running for freedom, running to be ahead of time, running to run. The history of the town and the history of the marathon are blurring into one. From the first marathon, Košice was part of four different governments. The regime changed, but the marathon stayed. This track and blue lines on the road marking the way to the past. Behind the bend is the present which disappears in the fog of autumn morning in the memory of the runners.
- VALLEY OF THE HEART (CZ, SK) by Theodora Remundová. Editor: Šimon Špidla. Producer: Jiří Konečný, Endorfilm. Synopsis: Purna, a young Nepalese man from the highest caste of Himalayan Brahmins, grew up in a remote mountain valley. He sets out for Europe, where he hopes to earn money and free himself from the rules and regulations of his family and culture. Far from home, Purna realizes that he cannot entirely escape his destiny. During his visits home, it is as if he was traveling back in time, but also into his own inner self. He is eagerly searching for a life partner to share his future with him in Czechia.
- SLAVA (SK, IT, CZ) by Soňa G. Lutherová. Editor: Peter Harum. Producer: Nataša Ďuričová, Azyl Production. Synopsis: An intimate journey with pioneering opera director Sláva Daubnerová as she brings avant-garde interpretations of classic operas to European stages. Through her work, Sláva seeks to capture the essence of today’s world, all while walking the fine line between her art and the search for her own sense of self.
- MY SHINING DARKNESS (HU, PL) by Lia Lőrinczy. Editor: Dániel Márton. Producers: Julianna Ugrin, Petra Pantyi, Éclipse Film. Synopsis: My Shining Darkness is an intimate documentary about blind Liszt Prize-winning pianist Tamás Érdi and the family that shaped his life. For decades, his mother Márta devoted herself to organizing his world, making his musical career possible. As she grows older, that role must gradually shift to Tamás’s wife, Réka. A delayed coming-of-age story and a sensual cinematic journey through memory, sound and family relationships.
- NOT SO SILENT PROTEST (PL) Director: Celina Przyklęk. Editor: Filip Wojciechowski. Producer: Wojciech Szczerba, Media Synergia. Synopsis: An acclaimed Polish artist sacrifices his career, relationships and stability as activism consumes his life. What begins as artistic expression gradually becomes a struggle with pressure, identity, and the cost of constantly fighting for visibility and change.
- GENERATION NIKA: YOUNG AND RESTLESS (CZ) by Zdeněk Chaloupka, Vojtěch Hönig. Editor: Libor Alexa. Producer: Jakub Pinkava, Punk Film. Synopsis: Czech filmmaker Vojtech and volunteer Alice launch a workshop for front-line youth. Hours later, 17-year-old artist Nika is killed in a missile strike. Her lingering poems and art become the film’s beating heart. Blending raw observation with the teenagers’ own video diaries, this intimate, raw, and unexpectedly funny portrait captures a fierce generation holding onto love, laughter, and lipstick next to tourniquets. They refuse to be victims; they insist on telling their own story.
- THE CURSE (PL) by Jakub Jakubik. Editor: Szymon Kuczyński. Producer: Piotr Smiechowski, Telemark. Synopsis: In Inowłódz, a small town in central Poland, a former synagogue has become a liquor store, and people keep drowning in a nearby pond. Waldek, an abstinent, believes the town is cursed. When another death occurs, he brings Dawid, a Polish Jew, to uncover the synagogue’s dark past. Blending observation, local legend and noir atmosphere, The Curse is a “documentary horror” about memory, addiction and guilt.
- LAYERS OF DISOBEDIENCE (CZ) by director, editor Barbora Johansson. Producer: Kristýna Drozdová, Fresh Lobster. Synopsis: Layers of Disobedience is a documentary about the psychology of obedience and the rare act of breaking free from it through the stories of ordinary people who consciously violated the law to help themselves or loved ones despite facing imprisonment. In an era of expanding regulation and quietly eroding autonomy, the film poses urgent questions. Are we making autonomous decisions, or have we surrendered our agency to external systems?
