– The event will take place from 19-25 March in Prague, presenting 40 documentary projects from more than 20 countries, many of them examining what remains when conflicts end
Kind of Adults by Rita Balogh and Peter Akar
The 2026 East Doc Platform, the largest documentary industry platform in Central and Eastern Europe, which will take place from 19-25 March in Prague (see the news), has announced its selected projects, split across three sections: East Doc Forum, East Doc Market and Czech Docs: Coming Soon. Many of the selected films engage with the idea of the aftermath, examining what remains when conflicts end, regimes shift or families face irreversible change.
The East Doc Forum presents 21 feature-length documentaries and docuseries, including 14 projects developed within the Ex Oriente Film workshop; the projects will be pitched to international industry professionals on 24 March at Kino 35. Several films explore the long-term impact of war and political repression (such as Crossing Oxus, Rojava, My Love and Not So Far Away Places). Other projects address questions of identity, belonging and personal freedom (Metanoia, Two of Us and Stitch by Stitch). Intimate family portraits also form an important strand of the selection, with films such as Home Is a Dollhouse and The Enchantress examining how personal histories intersect with broader social and historical change. The Forum also includes five docuseries. Among them are Hijacked Life, a family saga spanning five decades and three continents that begins with a Soviet aeroplane hijacking; Justice as Legalised Terror, examining how justice systems can become tools of political intimidation; and World Divided, a journey through historically divided regions, from Belfast to Western Sahara, in search of resilience and coexistence.
The East Doc Market offers curated one-on-one meetings with international producers, financiers, editors and sales agents, and is divided into two programme strands. The rough cut and completed projects section (23 March) presents eight films, including 80 Angry Journalists, addressing press freedom and political pressure, and Letters. Other titles, such as Hide Me in the Light and Raid, explore personal vulnerability, and the physical and emotional consequences of conflict and social instability. The development and production section (24-25 March) features six projects reflecting themes of migration, generational change and social transformation. Among them, Berliner follows a Georgian immigrant navigating memory and exile in Berlin, while Caretakers portrays undocumented Hungarian caregivers searching for belonging in Germany and the USA. Films such as Kind of Adults and nava mama zoom in on generational identity and cycles of patriarchal violence.
The Czech Docs: Coming Soon showcase, which is organised in cooperation with the Audiovisual Producers’ Association (APA), presents five upcoming Czech documentaries ahead of their premieres at 5:30 pm on 23 March, at Kino 35. La Mona follows a former Colombian rebel fighter confronting the consequences of leaving armed struggle behind, while PLAYTOPIA observes children from different countries as they reveal how they perceive the world through play. Silence on the Path focuses on people searching for forgiveness after a suicide, while This House Is Undamaged examines the propaganda narrative surrounding the reconstruction of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol. In Valley of the Heart, a young man raised in a Brahmin family in a remote Himalayan valley leaves for Europe following his father’s death.
The East Doc Platform will have 13 awards on offer. Among the key prizes is the Silver Eye Award, presented by the East Silver international jury to the best rough-cut project from the East Doc Market: the award includes a year-long festival distribution service through East Doc Caravan. Financial awards include the HBO Award (€2,000), the Docs Up Fund Award (€2,000 for human rights-focused projects), the Golden Funnel Awards for Ex Oriente Film and Ex Oriente Series teams, the Ex Oriente Fine Cut Award, the Cut thru the Noise Award (providing distribution strategy consultancy) and the Czech Television Award, offering a licence fee of CZK 150,000, or €6,156 (see the full list of awards here). Most prizes will be presented during the closing ceremony at 8 pm on 24 March, at Kino 35.
Here is the full list of selected projects:
East Doc Forum
Feature-length projects
Stitch by Stitch – Alina Baitokova (Estonia/Kyrgyzstan)
Producers: Marianna Kaat, Adilet Karzhoev
Dance with Me – Leila Basma (Czech Republic/France/Germany/Lebanon)
Producer: Natalia Pavlove
Co-producers: Christian Eid, Marisa Meier, Baptiste Bertin
Not So Far Away Places – Renato Borrayo Serrano, Yulia Vishnevets (France)
Producers: Vlad Ketkovich, Milana Christich, Albin Bourgeois
My Dear Vira – Olga Chernykh, Maryna Brodovska (Ukraine/France/Sweden)
Producer: Veronika Stepanchuk
Co-producers: Christian Popp, Tobias Janson
Metanoia – Matúš Ďuraňa (Slovakia/Moldova/Romania)
Producer: Matej Sotník
Co-producers: Ion Gnatiuc, Vlad Petri
Children of the Moon Land – Roman Ďuriš (Slovakia/Czech Republic)
Producer: Richard Šimeček
Co-producer: Michal Sikora
Tendrils – Mateusz Góra, Kamil Wilk (Poland)
Producer: Piotr Śmiechowski
Total Mess – Oleksandra Horiienko (Sweden/Ukraine)
Producers: Alex Shiriaeff, Max Tuula, Kateryna Yahodka
Crossing Oxus – Svitlana Lishchynska (Ukraine/Sweden)
Producer: Olga Gibelinda
Co-producer: Fredrik Lange
Home Is a Dollhouse – Dorottya Marton (Hungary)
Producer: Anna Tóth
House in a Bottle – Anna Morawiec (Poland)
Producer: Agata Jujeczka
Rojava, My Love – Širín Nafariehová (Czech Republic)
Producer: Matěj Paclík
The Enchantress – Martyna Peszko (Poland/Lithuania)
Producer: Alicja Gancarz
I Was Told to Save the World – Hana Piscevic, Nebojša Resanović (Serbia/Croatia)
Producer: Savina Smederevac
Two of Us – Juratė Samulionytė (Lithuania)
Producers: Dagne Vildziunaite, Danielė Kunčinaitė
I Had a Dream About an Elephant – Štefan Straka (Slovakia)
Producer: Mátyás Prikler
Series
Justice as Legalised Terror – Zora Cejnková (Czech Republic)
Producer: Gordon Lovitt
Hijacked Life – Andrius Lekavičius (Lithuania)
Producer: Jurgita Rakauskaitė
Grandpa Was a Genius – Kalina Nikolova (Bulgaria)
Producer: Martichka Bozhilova
World Divided – Soňa Nôtová, Štefan Straka (Slovakia)
Producer: Richard Chudý
When the Wind Blows – Anna Savchenko (Croatia/Belgium/Poland/France/Spain)
Producers: Iva Tkalec, Valentin Gregoire
East Doc Market
For rough cuts and finished films:
Animals of the East – Anna Ďurišíková, Andrej Kolenčík (Slovakia)
Producer: Andrej Kolenčík
80 Angry Journalists – András Földes, Anna Kis (Germany/Hungary/Czech Republic/Denmark/Norway)
Producer: Lorand Balazs Imre
Co-producer: Vít Janeček
Letters – Andrei Kutsila (Poland/Germany/Lithuania)
Producer: Mirosław Dembiński
Co-producers: Gregor Streiber, Friedemann Hottenbacher, Giedrė Žickytė
Raid – Kristina Leidenfrostova (Austria/Slovakia)
Producer: Jürgen Karasek
Co-producer: Matej Sotník
Beautiful Stupid Thing – Carlos Eduardo Lesmes López (Estonia/Colombia)
Producer: Merili Laur
Co-producer: Diego Alejandro Barajas Riano
No Offence – Lucija Marčec (Croatia)
Producers: Ema Mikolaci, Ida Barac
Co-producer: Michal Sikora
Hide Me in the Light – Markiian Miroshnychenko, Nataliia Kovalyova (Ukraine/Germany)
Producers: Tetiana Dorodnitsyna, Kateryna Ptashka, Alexander Krasenkov
Co-producer: Charlotte Krüger
Inside – Dorota Vlnová (Slovakia/Croatia)
Producer: Roman Pivovarník
Co-producer: Katarina Prpić
For films in development and production:
Kind of Adults – Rita Balogh, Peter Akar (Hungary)
Producer: Rita Balogh
Caretakers – Ambrus Hernádi (Hungary/USA/Germany)
Producer: Rita Balogh
Berliner – Anna Khazaradze (Georgia/Germany)
Producer: Anna Khazaradze
Co-producers: Heino Deckert, Elene Margvelashvili
Good Night, Princesses – Iga Łapińska (Poland)
Producers: Barbara Welbel-Vaknin, Karolina Śmigiel
EL DORADO – Rati Oneli (Georgia/France/Estonia)
Producer: Rati Oneli
Co-producers: Valérianne Boué, Marianna Kaat
nava mama – Ana Vijdea (Romania/France)
Producers: Ana Gheorghe, Ana Vijdea
Co-producer: Louis Beaudemont
Czech Docs: Coming Soon
La Mona – Nadja Drost, Bruno Federico (Czech Republic/Canada/Poland)
Producer: Michal Sikora
Co-producer: Weronika Mliczewska
PLAYTOPIA – Bara Jichova Tyson (Czech Republic/Romania)
Producer: Kristina Husová
This House Is Undamaged – Anna Kryvenko (Czech Republic/France/Ukraine/Slovakia/Germany)
Producer: Matej Sotník
Co-producers: Christian Popp, Guillaume Cailleau, Darya Bassel
Valley of the Heart – Theodora Remundová (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Producer: Jiří Konečný
Co-producer: Robert Kirchhoff
Silence on the Path – Olga Srstková (Czech Republic)
Producer: Lenka Medová
