About the festival
The International Documentary Film Festival ArtDocFest originated in Russia, where it was held from 2007 to 2019. Organized by the Directorate of the Laurel Branch National Documentary Film Award, the festival was directed by renowned documentary filmmaker Vitaly Mansky. ArtDocFest was initially created to support and promote films competing in the professional categories of the Laurel Branch, particularly Best Documentary and Best Debut Work.
The festival quickly gained popularity, attracting approximately 10,000 viewers annually. For many, it offered a rare chance to explore not only Russian auteur documentaries but also some of the finest films from international festivals. In its early years, the non-competition programs featured winners from IDFA and DOK Leipzig and highlighted the national cinemas of countries such as Germany and the Czech Republic.
As the festival grew, it began attracting audiences drawn by its spirit of freedom and resistance. Similar to the first Cinema Days in Latvia in August 1986, ArtDocFest became a platform for audiences to view their country and the world through the lens of documentary cinema, piercing the thickening Iron Curtain. The festival’s scope expanded rapidly, with an increasing number of films, premieres, and attendees. By 2014, it had become Russia’s largest documentary film festival in terms of the number of films, global and Russian premieres, screenings, and program scale.
Since 2014, when Russia began its aggressive actions against Ukraine, Russian state structures intensified pressure on the ArtDocFest festival and its director. That same year, Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky announced a ban on state support for any projects associated with the festival.
In subsequent years, this pressure extended to the festival’s partners. The Ministry of Culture, senior Russian officials, and parliamentarians filed lawsuits against the festival under formal pretexts. State media, including major national television channels, launched discreditation campaigns. The festival faced aggressive protests, with venues attacked, resulting in injuries to attendees.
In 2014, the festival's president, Vitaly Mansky, was forced to relocate to Latvia. That same year, in collaboration with the Riga International Film Festival (Riga IFF), ArtDocFest premiered its documentary program in Riga.
In 2017, the Latvian festival team launched Artdoc.Media, the world’s largest online platform for legally accessing documentary films from the former USSR. Artdoc.Media offers a catalog with thousands of films, a comprehensive search system, and uncensored content accessible to Russian audiences despite government restrictions.
As pressure, censorship, and administrative barriers in Russia continued to escalate, the Riga branch of ArtDocFest expanded:
2018: The entire festival competition and jury activities were relocated to Riga.
2019: Festival winners were announced in Riga.
2020: ArtDocFest/Riga separated from Riga IFF to become the independent IDFF ArtDocFest/Riga.
2022: After government-backed organizations disrupted the festival in Moscow, ArtDocFest announced a full cessation of all in-person events in Russia.