Artdocfest announces the finalists of the 2026 pitching session. The pitching of documentary projects this year is held with the support of New Generation Europe Foundation.
Ten projects have made it to the final — diverse in tone, language, and experience, yet united by a precise view of reality and a commitment to speaking about what matters with honesty and a personal voice.
- “Cargo 500” (director Polina Prokofyeva)
- “Motherland, Mother” (director Vladimir Sevrinovsky)
- “Olga” (director Slava Unreal)
- “Assembly Point” (director Yulia Guskova)
- “Seasons” (director Filipp Sotnichenko)
- “Kalmyk Road” (director Valeria Nokhaeva)
- “Nikita Tsitsagi. Wind of Time” (director Ruslan Mulyukov)
- “Invisible Traces” (director Sultan Usuvaliev)
- “Motherland in the Womb” (director Alexandra Strelyanaya)
- “Rap for My Son” (director Yana Isaenko)
We would like to thank all filmmakers who submitted their projects. This year’s selection was strong and diverse, and choosing the finalists was not an easy task.
Congratulations to the selected participants — we look forward to discovering these projects at the pitching.
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, 10 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>>>