East Doc Platform will return to Prague from March 19 to 25 for its 15th edition, offering a programme that brings together industry debate, documentary craft and a selective public-facing strand at a moment of wider change for the nonfiction field.
Organised by the Institute of Documentary Film in cooperation with the One World Festival, the event will be held at the French Institute in Prague. This year’s edition is framed around several of the sector’s most pressing concerns, including audience engagement, distribution, creative practice and changing industry structures.
A key thread will focus on how documentaries reach viewers in an increasingly fragmented landscape. The opening panel, Reaching the Next Generation: Distribution Strategies for Young Audiences, will examine how filmmakers and distributors can connect with younger viewers across festivals, cinemas, digital platforms and educational contexts. Audience strategy will also be explored in lectures by Paul Rieth and Dimitra Kouzi, both focused on how outreach can be integrated into documentary development rather than treated as an afterthought.
Elsewhere, the programme balances market concerns with reflection on form. Caroline Libresco’s keynote, Languaging Documentary Film, considers how the meaning of documentary has expanded in recent years and how the form might be discussed as an art practice. Austrian editor and filmmaker Michael Palm will lead Editing as Directing, a session centred on the creative relationship between editor and director.
Two masterclasses anchor the programme’s artistic side. Croatian filmmaker Igor Bezinović will discuss his European Documentary Award-winning Fiume o morte! and its participatory production process, while Serbian director Mila Turajlić will present her long-term Non-Aligned Newsreels research project alongside reflections on Non-Aligned: Ciné-Guerillas: Scenes from the Labudović Reels. Her film Non-Aligned: Scenes from the Labudović Reels will also screen during the programme.
The industry-focused sessions also address the business side of nonfiction. International sales agent Anna Berthollet of Lightdox will present an overview of world sales and distribution strategies for creative documentaries, while producer and International Media Support adviser Henrik Underbjerg will introduce a value-based model for international co-productions that allocates rights according to partners’ contributions.
Several events will be open to the public without accreditation. From 21 to 24 March, the French Institute’s gallery will host VR screenings of 21-22 CHINA by Thierry Loa and Fresh Memories: The Look by Ondřej Moravec and Volodymyr Kolbasa. The programme also includes Czech Docs: Coming Soon, presenting five upcoming Czech documentary projects, and the East Doc Caravan Showcase, followed by a screening of In Hell with Ivo by Kristina Nikolova, winner of the Jury Award at the 2025 Sarajevo Film Festival.
The programme will conclude with a session by Marion Schmidt introducing the international #DocSafe initiative, which addresses safety, accountability and power dynamics within the documentary industry.
Find more information on the full East Doc Platform 29026 programme – HERE
