dok.incubator has announced the selection of eight documentary projects for its 2025 regional programme, spotlighting voices from #Czechia, #Slovakia, #Poland, #and Hungary. These films, currently in development, span a spectrum of pressing global and personal themes—from climate adaptation and animal rights to journalistic freedom, beauty standards, and intimate family stories. Each of the selected projects will undergo an intensive several-month-long workshop guided by top international experts in editing, dramaturgy, marketing, and distribution.
Among the selected titles is We Have to Survive by Tomáš Krupa, an urgent globe-spanning exploration of humanity’s early attempts to adapt to the irreversible effects of #climate change#. In Light it Before it Burns, Czech director Markéta Ekrt Valková portrays an ecologist’s unconventional use of fire as a regenerative tool in ecological preservation. Animals of the East by Anna Durisikova, set in rural Slovakia, follows a sanctuary for abused «farmed» animals, highlighting the intersection of #activism, legislation, and community.
The regional selection also includes 80 Angry Journalists by Hungarian director András Földes, which chronicles the mass resignation of Index.hu journalists and their turbulent effort to launch an independent news platform in an increasingly authoritarian media landscape.
More personal in scope, Candidates of Death by Maciej Cuske offers a poignant coming-of-age narrative born from a decade-long amateur horror film project. Kamila Serwicka’s Blossoming tracks a mother’s journey through domestic abuse, legal trials, and migration, all while nurturing resilience with her daughters. Martin Páv’s Glowing investigates the transnational phenomenon of skin-lightening practices in New Delhi, Nairobi, and Seoul, unpacking complex narratives around beauty, identity, and aspiration.
Finally, Milota by Jana Bučka Kovalčíková is a portrait of Slovak art icon Milota Havránková—an avant-garde photographer and multimedia artist who has consistently defied convention through her radical creative freedom.
