IDFA 2026 has unveiled a slate of 47 “outstanding” projects, culled from 859 submissions, for the 34th edition of IDFA Forum (November 15–18). Following a rigorous assessment involving 42 external experts, the final line-up brings together projects in development, production, and near completion, showcased across the Forum Pitches, Roundtable Presentations, Rough Cut Presentations, and IDFA DocLab Forum (new media).
“As the documentary market becomes increasingly fragmented and harder to navigate, IDFA Forum has revised its presentation formats to help projects communicate more clearly the support they need and to foster their meaningful engagement with funders, broadcasters, producers, and other collaborators, enabling those potential partners to better understand the role they can play in supporting a film,” the festival writes.
Under the revised structure, therefore, selected projects will be showcased either to a larger audience at the Forum Pitches or in the more intimate setting of the Roundtable Presentations, allowing for more in-depth conversations. Both formats offer access to the Forum’s one-on-one meetings with industry professionals. Co production and producer- to-producer meetings also remain central to Forum, with producers now invited to meet with selected projects in search of co-production partners.
“Despite the challenges of the market, both in terms of finance and distribution, we strongly believe that IDFA Forum should provide space for filmmakers who approach their craft with courage and curiosity,” says Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen, Head of IDFA Industry. “We champion works that surprise, reveal, and embrace complexity, and we hope to see all of these projects find audiences, whether on screens, big or small, via headsets, or in immersive installations.”
Welcoming emerging talent and some of today’s most recognized documentary filmmakers, this year’s line-up features new works by Wang Bing (Jiabiangou), Vitaly Mansky (Odesa.Mama), Rachel Leah Jones (Podium [You Have Three Minutes]), and Liang Zhao (Ship of Fools). The selection presents a mix of up-and-coming producers and production companies, alongside established players such as zero one film (FUR, dir. Joakim Demmer), Pieter van Huystee Film (The Night I Return, dir. Ehsan Fardjadniya), Aamu Film Company (This Body Is My Final Address, dir. August Joensalo), Sidsel Lønvig Siersted (Rebel Heart, dir. Ida Kat Balslev), and Ina Fichman (This Version of Me, dir. Gabrielle Zilkha).
Spanning five continents, the selection features projects from Paraguay, Tunisia, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan, Namibia, and Palestine, among others, reflecting a broad range of geographies, production contexts, and perspectives. Europe maintains a strong presence in the line-up, comprising major documentary markets (France) and smaller producing nations (Greece, Hungary). Gender balance has been achieved across all the formats, with a commitment to wider diversity beyond parity alone.
Forum Pitch and Roundtable Presentations
29 projects have been selected for the Forum Pitches and Roundtable Presentations. A number of films in the line-up address the urgencies of our time. Mehran Tamadon’s One Step Closer grapples with the consequences of polarization in a French rural community, while Andrew H. Brown’s Wild Goose Days lenses the Indigenous KYUK radio station in Alaska, threatened by government policies. War takes centre stage in Roman Bondarchuk and Vadym Ilkov’s mosaic-style Recovery, which reframes Ukraine’s reconstruction as resistance. Political upheaval is also at the centre of Lay Thida’s observational Sisters in War (one of the IDFA Bertha Fund-supported projects in the selection) in the wake of the 2021 coup in Myanmar. Archival filmmaking is present in the selection, with Juanjo Pereira’s Examination, which draws on declassified materials and their reinterpretations to reveal internal power systems. Meanwhile, Christina D. Bartson’s The Contract of the Century reckons with the legacies of colonialism, zeroing in on the energy megaproject, the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline.
Rough Cut Presentations
Six projects have been selected for this year’s Rough Cut Presentations. Featuring 20-minute excerpts, the presentations offer the buyers, festival representatives, and funders attending both IDFA Forum and Docs for Sale an early look at projects nearing completion. Vikram Singh’s Camels of the Sea offers a distinct take on climate change and endangered ways of living as illegal salt pans threaten India’s rare swimming camels. Facts join fantasy in Josefina Buschmann Mardones’ Artificial Clouds, an absorbing AI travelogue through Chile, tracing its ecological footprint. Finally, Nikos Pilos and Arsinoi Pilou’s Resisting Residents embeds us in an Athens squatted community, capturing solidarity as a lived practice.
IDFA DocLab Forum
The market’s new media strand, IDFA DocLab Forum, presents 12 projects, boasting diverse formats, from an immersive installation to VR, XR, mixed reality, a participatory performance, and an interactive documentary. The projects engage with such resonant themes as digital labor, bodily memory, virtual violence, and collective participation in democracies. Katja Verheul’s Mine Land looks at the remnants of war still unearthed in a Bosnian forest 31 years on. Hyeunjoo Woo and Jiyun Park’s How to Make a Chiffon Cake proposes an intriguing scenario, turning a woman’s invisible domestic work into AI training data. Mark Mushiva and Daniel Chein’s Time Hunter XR: Colonial Protocols also appropriates tech tools for resistance, conjuring a speculative decolonial mission in 1912 Namibia.
IDFA Forum 2026
IDFA Forum takes place on November 15–18, opening with the Rough Cut Presentations on November 15 at Pathé City, followed by IDFA DocLab Forum on November 16 at De Balie. The Forum Pitches take place on November 16–17 at the larger DeLaMar Theater, allowing more attendees to participate, while the Roundtable Presentations are held on the same dates at De Balie. Docs for Sale runs concurrently on November 14–18. The deadline to apply for IDFA Forum Observer accreditation is October 10.
Forum Pitch and Roundtable Presentations
- Being North Korean, dir. Roxy Rezvany, prod. Aya Kaido / Besheh Meesheh Films Ltd,
- Dr. Hedgehog, dir. Peter Alsted, prod. Birgitte Keseler / Elk Film, Katrine Dolmer / Elk Film(Denmark)
- Examination, dir. Juanjo Pereira, prod. Ivana Urízar / Cine Mío (Paraguay)
- Fur, dir. Joakim Demmer, prod. Thomas Kufus / zero one film GmbH (Germany)
- Game of Replacing Gods, dir. An Chu, prod. Kei Yiu Kathy Wong / In-sight Practice Ltd. (Taiwan)
- How Love Moves, dir. Pallavi Paul, prod. Aman Mann, Shaunak Sen / Kiterabbit Films (India)
- Jiabiangou, dir. Wang Bing, prod. Mao Hui / CS Productions, Sonia Buchman / Gladys
- Glover Films, Nicolas R. De La Mothe / Gladys Glover Films, Serge Lalou / Les Films d’ici (France, Hong Kong)
- La Linda, dir. Francina Carbonell, prod. Gema Juárez Allen / Gema Films (Argentina, Chile)
- My Father Killed Bourguiba, dir. Fatma Riahi, prod. Dorra Bouchoucha / Nomadis Images, Lina Chaabane / Nomadis Images, Fatma Riahi (Tunisia)
- My Rebel Heart, dir. Ida Kat Balslev, prod. Sidsel Lønvig Siersted (Denmark)
- Near Life, dir. Marta Miskaryan, prod. Alice Hughes / Beehive Films Ltd (United Kingdom)
- Odesa.Mama, dir. Vitaly Mansky, prod. Filip Remunda (Czech Republic, Latvia)
- One Step Closer, dir. Mehran Tamadon, prod. Rebecca Houzel / Petit à petit production, Marianne Romeo / Petit à petit production (France)
- Podium (You Have Three Minutes), dir. Rachel Leah Jones, prod. Rachel Leah Jones /
- Home Made Docs, Philippe Bellaiche / Home Made Docs (France, Switzerland, Canada)
- Re:collection, dir. Dane Dodds, prod. Antoinette Engel (South Africa, Denmark)
- Recovery, dir. Roman Bondarchuk, Vadym Ilkov, prod. Darya Bassel / Moon Man (Ukraine)
- Ship of Fools, dir. Liang Zhao, prod. Jia Zhao / Muyi Film (Netherlands)
- Shooting Stars, dir. Parsa Ansari, prod. Milad Khosravi / Seven Springs Pictures (Iran)
- Silence Diaries, dir. Daniela Muñoz Barroso, prod. Daniela Muñoz Barroso / Estudio ST, Leila Montero / Estudio ST (Spain, Cuba)
- Sisters in War, dir. Lay Thida, prod. Lay Thida / Lavender Productions, Maya Newell / Closer Productions (Myanmar)
- Sonia – Searching for Balance, dir. Rita Balogh, Peter Akar, prod. Sára László / Campfilm, Marcell Gerő / Campfilm (Hungary)
- Stitch by Stitch, dir. Alina Baitokova, prod. Adilet Karzhoev / Karzhoev Films (Kyrgyzstan)
- Super Sila, dir. Mohammed Alshareef, prod. Ala’ Abu Ghoush (Palestine)
- The Contract of the Century, dir. Christina D. Bartson, prod. Elijah Stevens / Space Time Films (United Kingdom, United States)
- The Earth Beneath Our Feet, dir. Jack Wolf, Janvier Murairi, prod. Arne Buettner / Kino Adagio, Quentin Laurent / Les Films de l’oeil sauvage, Quentin Noirfalisse / Dancing Dog Productions SPRL (Germany, France, Belgium)
- The Night I Return, dir. Ehsan Fardjadniya, prod. Pieter van Huystee / Pieter van Huystee Film (Netherlands)
- This Body Is My Final Address, dir. August Joensalo, prod. Emilia Haukka / Aamu Film Company (Finland)
- This Version of Me, dir. Gabrielle Zilkha, prod. Ina Fichman (Canada)
- Wild Goose Days, dir. Andrew H. Brown, prod. Andrew H. Brown, Katie Basile (United States)
Rough Cut Presentations
- Artificial Clouds, dir. Josefina Buschmann Mardones, prod. Daniela Camino / Mimbre Films, Boris Garavini / Les Films Invisibles (Chile, France)
- Camels of the Sea, dir. Vikram Singh, prod. Mandakini Gahlot / Elefant Films (India)
- Moon Is Watching You, dir. Chi Hang MA, prod. Chi Hang MA, Catherine CHAN (Hong Kong)
- My Mother & I, dir. Dilpak Mjaeed, prod. Marwa Tammam / Patchwork Productions (Egypt)
- Oh Heart, Don’t be Afraid, dir. Ana Kvichidze, prod. Avtandil Khorava / Moonbow Productions, Mariam Bitsadze / 17/07 Productions, Ana Kvichidze (Georgia)
- Resisting Residents, dir. Nikos Pilos, Arsinoi Pilou, prod. Dafni Kalafati / Filmiki (Greece)
IDFA DocLab Forum
- Artificial (Body) Intuition, dir. Amit Palgi, prod. Amit Palgi (Netherlands)
- The Atlas of Sound, dir. Siobhan Silén, prod. Annika Hagemann (United Kingdom)
- The Bridge, dir. Brandon Powers, prod. Brandon Powers / Our Time Projects (United States)
- How to Make a Chiffon Cake, dir. Hyeunjoo Woo, Jiyun Park, prod. Ubac Studio (South Korea)
- Just a game?, dir. Jo Sol, prod. Georgina Oliva / Shaktimetta Produccions (Spain)
- Lidscape XR, dir. Sebastian Carrasco, prod. Andrés Piñeros / Scrmbld Studio (Colombia)
- Mine Land, dir. Katja Verheul (Netherlands)
- The Passage, dir. Nicole-Christine Strasser, prod. Sebastian Herbst / Arkanum Pictures (Germany)
- This Pleasant Lady, dir. Victoria Mapplebeck, prod. Victoria Mapplebeck (United Kingdom)
- Time Hunter XR: Colonial Protocols, dir. Mark Mushiva, Daniel Chein, prod. Laura Kloeckner / Seera Films (Germany, Namibia, United States)
- TKHAFSH / تخفش (working title), dir. Noor Abed, Haig Aivazian, prod. AFAC Arab Fund for Art and Culture (Lebanon), with Time Based Editions (Belgium)
- We Walk the Bridge of Worlds, dir. Sara de Gouveia, Inka Kendzia, Zinhle Purity Mkhize, prod. Sara de Gouveia / Lionfish Productions (South Africa)
