At the close of the 28th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, the 2026 awards painted a vivid picture of a field preoccupied with war, memory, and embodiment. Across the festival’s main competition strands, the top prizes went to films that approached documentary as a way of rendering absence, testimony, and historical fracture perceptible.
In the International Competition, Michał Marczak’s Closure took the Golden Alexander, securing the festival’s top distinction and automatic eligibility to submit for Academy Awards consideration in the Documentary Feature category. The jury described the film as one that mobilises cinema «to the fullest degree,» immersing viewers in the inner life of a father confronting an impossible emotional state. The Silver Alexander went to Birds of War by Janay Boulos and Abd Alkader Habak, a title that emerged as one of the event’s defining films, praised for its portrait of love, democratic resistance, and civic courage amid violence.
In the Newcomers Competition, Mary Bouli’s At No Cost won the Golden Alexander «Dimitri Eipides» for its intimate account of bodily autonomy and systemic medical indifference. In the Film Forward section, Christiana Cheiranagnostaki’s Dear Future took the top prize for its exploration of archives as colonial structures, signalling the continued institutional appetite for formally adventurous work engaging with image politics and historiography.
Birds of War extended its strong showing with the Human Rights in Motion Award, the FIPRESCI prize for the International Competition, and the WIFT GR Award, confirming its cross-sectional resonance with juries focused on criticism, rights discourse, and women’s authorship. Meanwhile, Poh Si Teng’s American Doctor, centred on U.S. physicians working in Gaza, won the Amnesty International Award and the audience prize for an international feature over 50 minutes.
Greek productions also maintained a strong presence throughout the awards landscape. EXILE(S), Tales From an Island by Yorgos Iliopoulos collected multiple distinctions, while Lucas Paleocrassas’s Bugboy won both the Municipality of Thessaloniki’s City Stories award and the Greek critics’ prize. In the Agora, meanwhile, projects such as NAVA MAMǍ, Unwanted Past, and Who We Are stood out among industry award recipients.
