The Institute of Documentary Film has announced the nine projects selected for the first edition of its new training initiative, Docs Beyond: Audience, Impact & AI. Over the coming months, the selected teams will work with international professionals to develop either an impact campaign or an audience design and outreach strategy for their films.
The programme addresses documentary producers, directors, screenwriters, distributors and other film professionals working in the Czech Republic. Its stated purpose is to help teams identify who a film is for, which communities and partners are connected to its subject, and what a finished work can realistically achieve once it reaches the public.
Five teams join the Impact Producing module led by Khadidja Benouataf, while four take part in the Audience Design & Outreach module led by Paul Rieth. All nine then work with Dominic Lees on the uses of generative AI in documentary practice, including its limitations and the creative and ethical questions it raises. The programme runs from 6 October to 11 December 2026, combining two online blocks with a five-day residential workshop in Prague.
Selected for Impact Producing are Still Here (dir. Linda Kallistová Jablonská, prod. Alice Tabery, CINEPOINT), Portrait of Water (dir. Ondřej Sovík, prod. Linda Jandejsková, Young Water Films), Bedřiška is alive! (working title, dir. Kryštof Zvolánek, prod. Jan Čadek and Ondřej Lukeš, Beginner’s Mind), Endless Ride (dir. Johan Kolínský, prod. Karel Chvojka, moloko film) and Back into the Game (working title, dir. Jindřich Andrš and Eliška Andršová Cílková, prod. Jindřich Andrš, Gamma Pictures, co-prod. Czech Television and Studio Beep).
The Audience Design & Outreach strand comprises JENUFA (dir. Tereza Tara, prod. Karolína Dvorská Fránková, Films & Chips), Ordinary Pond (working title, dir. Jan Hošek and Prokop Pithart, prod. Radim Procházka and Žofie Strachotová, Kuli Film), My Other, Perfect Me (dir. Veronika Lišková, prod. Martina Netíková and Kristýna Michálek Květová, Cinémotif Films) and My Sister Anna (dir. Jakub Wagner, prod. Jan Strejcovský, GPO Platform, co-prod. Temps Noir).
Docs Beyond is organised by the Institute of Documentary Film with the Audiovisual Producers’ Association, supported by the Czech Audiovisual Fund and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. IDF has backed Central and Eastern European documentary across all production stages since 2001.
