Chile will have a notably strong presence at CPH:DOX 2026, with support from ChileDoc, the international promotion agency for Chilean documentary cinema. At one of Europe’s most significant nonfiction film festivals, the Chilean delegation arrives with a world premiere, a major screening by one of its best-known filmmakers, a project selected for the industry platform, and a place in a talent-training initiative.

Leading that presence is the world premiere of Where the Silence is Heard, a Chilean-Spanish feature by Gabriela Pena and Picho García, selected for the Next:Wave section, which highlights new voices and contemporary approaches. Set in Valparaíso, the film follows a young filmmaker who returns to recover her family’s abandoned home after her parents’ exile during the 1970s dictatorship.

Chile is also represented in the festival selection by A Child of My Own, the latest work by Oscar-nominated director Maite Alberdi. The film centres on a young Mexican woman, Alejandra, who, unable to conceive and pressed by family and social expectations, stages a pregnancy after secretly adopting another woman’s unborn child.

In the industry section, Artifacts of War, directed by Jorge Caballero and produced by Anna Giralt and Diego Pino Anguita, has been selected for the CPH:FORUM, where documentary projects seek co-production partners and international support. The Chilean-Spanish co-production explores the politics and aesthetics of so-called non-lethal weapons through a hybrid framework that moves between reality and fiction.

The Chilean presence extends to the next generation as well, with 18-year-old filmmaker Ismael Valdeavellano selected for DOX:Academy+, underlining the country’s investment in new voices.