On May 28, the final meeting of the international jury of the Artdocfest-2026 Pitching took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, with the support of the New Generation Europe Foundation.
This year's jury consisted of:
- reporter and documentary filmmaker Anna Artemyeva (Russia),
- producer and director Marianna Kaat (Estonia),
- director and television producer Alina Rudnitskaya (Czech Republic),
- film critic Gulbara Tolomushova (Kyrgyzstan),
- producer Guntis Trekteris (Latvia).
Following presentations of 11 projects held both in person and online, the jury decided to support nine of them.
The winner of the pitching was «Beats for a Son», directed by Yana Isaenko.
Projects selected for support:
- «Beats for a Son» — dir. Yana Isaenko
- «Stitch by Stitch» — dir. Alina Baitokova
- «How I Spent My Summer» — dir. Anton Zharov
- «Seasons» — dir. Philip Sotnichenko
- «Cargo 500» — dir. Polina Prokofieva
- «Motherland in the Belly» — dir. Alexandra Strelyanaya
Projects granted support under special conditions:
- «Olga» — dir. Slava Unreal
- «Invisible Traces» — dir. Sultan Usuvaliev
- «Kalmyk Road» — dir. Baine Choros
The support will be project-specific and targeted. Selected projects will receive either direct production funding or financing and provision of services required for their development and production. Individual support arrangements will be agreed upon with the filmmakers in June 2026.
Projects that did not receive support at this stage will continue working with experts. Subject to meeting the required conditions, they may also become eligible for support until May 1, 2027.
History of pitching Artdocfest/Riga
In 2023, the Artdocfest/Riga festival transformed its traditional pitching for finding industrial partners for documentary projects into a competition for the distribution of direct assistance in the creation of documentaries by independent authors from the countries of the former Soviet bloc and Eastern Europe.
In 2024, 119 applications were sent to the competition. Of these, 12 applications were selected for the final session. In 2025, there were 105 applications and 11 projects reached the final. In 2026, 11 projects have been selected for the final round
Based on the results of the presentation, by decision of the expert group, the finalist projects will provided with grant support.
Funds for support are allocated by the Artdocfest Foundation, specially created for these purposes.
Some of the contestants took advantage of the right to speak under pseudonyms and release only limited information about their project into the public domain.
For the full list of finalists, click here>>>