Alternative Endings. MDAG Industry
MDAG Industry (May 7–11, 2026) is the event of the year for the documentary film industry. As many as 11 projects have been selected for the Progress Pitching Session, and seven for the Short Pitch Program. We warmly congratulate those who will present their projects this year.
The 23rd MDAG will take place from May 8 to 17, 2026, in cinemas across seven cities (Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Łódź, and Bydgoszcz), and online from May 19 to June 1 at mdag.pl!
The participants of this year's MDAG Industry have been revealed!
As many as five pitchings, creators and representatives of festivals, distributors, TV stations, and streaming platforms from all over the world. MDAG Industry has been rapidly growing over the past few years, becoming a birthplace for ambitious documentary films. In previous years, MDAG Industry has showcased projects that have gone on to achieve significant international success, including “Closure” (dir. Michał Marczak; world premiere at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, USA; Polish premiere – Millennium Docs Against Gravity), “My Dear Theo” directed by Alisa Kovalenko (world premiere: CPH:DOX 2025, Polish premiere: Millennium Docs Against Gravity 2025) and “Forest”, directed by Lidia Duda (world premiere: Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival 2024, Polish premiere: Millennium Docs Against Gravity 2024).
The projects to be presented to the international jury during three pitchings have already been selected. The event will take place from May 7 to 11 at the State Ethnographic Museum as part of the 23rd edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity.
PROGRESS PITCHING SESSION
A total of 11 projects have been selected for the Progress Pitching Session - ten were chosen by the festival’s selectors, and one received an MDAG award at Visioni Incontra in Milano, Italy. Among them are new films by Polish filmmakers such as Michał Bochniak, Łukasz Kowalski, and Jaśmina Wójcik, as well as international projects like the Georgian “This is Not My Sea” by Elene Mikaberidze and “Women of Peace: a journey into the war” by Keren Shayo, selected as part of a collaboration with DOCA – Documentary Association Georgia.
THE LAWYER, dir. Maciej Bochniak, prod. Klaudia Śmieja-Rostworowska, Kinga Tasarek (Madants)
NO MOTHERS LAND, dir. Wiktoria Davis, prod. Monika Braid (Braidmade Films), Wiktoria Davis, Sonja Henrici
THE ALGORITHM OF LIFE, dir. Piotr Stasik, prod. Daria Maślona (Silver Frame)
THIS IS NOT MY SEA, dir. Elene Mikaberidze, prod. Tatia Gurgenidze (Nushi Film)
NANGA DREAM, dir. Jarosław Wszędybył, prod. Karolina Śmigiel (Unisolo)
THE DIARY OF EXPERIENCES, dir. Dorota Roś, prod. Zofia Kujawska (Telemark)
A/TYPICAL (SHE/THEY), dir. Jaśmina Wójcik, prod. Marta Dużbabel (ATM grupa)
AFTER ROLL CALL. LEGIO PATRIA NOSTRA, dir. Sylwia Witowska, Piotr Wacowski, prod. Vicky Witowska, Sylwia Witowska
WOMEN OF PEACE: A JOURNEY INTO THE WAR, dir. Keren Shayo, prod. Sylvie Brenet (Les Films du Sillage)
CHILDREN OF THE BLACK GARDEN, dir. Łukasz Kowalski, prod. Anna Mazerant, Łukasz Kowalski (4.30 STUDIO)
LETTERS, dir. Andrei Kutsila, prod. Mirosław Dembiński (Doc Edu Foundation)
Qualified participants will receive training sessions with renowned industry experts, who will help them refine their presentations to make them more appealing to international decision-makers. This year, the tutors will be Kim Christiansen (DR Sales) and Martijn te Pas, who will prepare the participants for the pitching, as well as Tracie Holder, with whom they will refine their catalog texts. Following the pitching session, participants will take part in closed workshops covering: a case study of the Oscar campaign for “Mr Nobody Konta Putin” with Helle Faber (Made in Copenhagen) and Joanna Solecka; consultations on project dramaturgy with Atelier Scenariuszowe; table-based consultations on the festival circuit and working with a sales agent (Stephanie Fuchs, Autlook Filmsales) and a workshop on Social Sustainability in the Film Industry (Fatih Abay).
Tutors:
Tracie Holder – Film scholar, consultant, producer, and film funding specialist. She is a 2016 Sundance Creative Producers Fellow, teaches at the New York Film Academy, and serves on the jury of international competitions.
Kim Christiansen – Executive producer, and co-producer of the Oscar®-winning film “Mr Nobody against Putin”. He specializes in documentary films and co-productions at DR Sales. With over 20 years of experience in the documentary film industry (sales and acquisition of rights, commissioning, co-production), he has also served as Sales Director at TV 2 WORLD and Industry Director at CPH:DOX (in 2012 and 2013).
Martijn te Pas – Film programmer & Festival advisor. Martijn te Pas studied psychology, English literature, and film and television studies at the University of Amsterdam. From 2000 to 2019, he was part of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) as a senior programmer. He also served as an advisor for the IDFA Bertha Fund and IDFA Forum.
SHORT PITCH PROGRAM
For the fourth time, in collaboration with the Czech Institute of Documentary Film, we are organizing the Short Pitch Program – a pitching session for short documentary films from the Central and Eastern European region.
List of selected projects:
NAPLES, FLORIDA, dir. Modesta Žemgulytė, prod. Akvilė Žilionytė-Khan (Artišokai)
EVENT HORIZON, dir. Jakub Gomółka, prod. Korek Bojanowski (Studio Munka)
LEFEK, dir. Tomasz Misiukiewicz, prod. Tomasz Misiukiewicz (Wajda School)
KYIV UNDER MY WHEELS, dir. Marina Baibarza, prod. Marina Baibarza (Process Films)
THE BELL BOY, dir. Akseli Leppänen, prod. Akseli Leppänen (Baltic Film and Media School)
WE HAD AN OATH, dir. Barbora Venclová, prod. Jitka Kotrlová
VICTORY DAY, dir. Wojciech Węglarz, prod. Jakub Orłoś (Fala Film)
The tutor and moderator of the pitching session will be Emilia Mazik.:
Emilia Mazik is the Head of Industry at Go Short – International Short Film Festival in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. She is also a member of the selection committee at Film Fest Gent (Belgium), curates the Industry Forum at Cinekid Festival (the Netherlands), and sits on the strategic board of Talking Shorts, an online magazine dedicated to the short film medium. Her previous roles include Festival Director at Short Waves Festival (Poland), Head of Industry at Kaboom Animation Festival (the Netherlands), and preselector at Glasgow Short Film Festival (Scotland).
MDAG CO-PRO
As part of this year's edition of MDAG Industry, for the first time, we are organizing MDAG CO-PRO - a new meeting platform aimed at developing international documentary co-productions. Each edition of the event will focus on Poland's cooperation with a selected European country, and our first partner is Sweden. The event connects film industry professionals from both countries. We invite both producers looking for foreign partners for their films and those looking for new projects to join as co-producers to participate in the presentations and meetings.
Partners: Polish Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute, Embassy of Sweden in Poland
Producers presenting projects:
Justyna Kluczewska, Małgorzata Prociak (Raban), BECOMING CHRISTINE GRANVILLE (dir. Sylwia Rosak), Poland
Mónica Hernández Rejón (PRÅMFILM), BOUNDARIES (dir. Victoria Verseau), Sweden
Setareh Lundgren (Meritis Film AB), ONE DAY WE’LL GO HOME (dir. Maryam Ebrahimi), Sweden
Marcin Wierzchowski / Dorothea Braun (Milk and Water), CITY OF PROPHETS (dir. Marcin Wierzchowski), Germany, Poland, Brazil
Krzysztof Woźniak (Transfer of Science), KRAINA CISZY / LAND OF SILENCE (dir. Szymon Kuriata), Poland
Melissa Lindgren (Story AB), MY FATHERS FACE (dir. Malin Ingrid Johansson), Sweden
Viktor Nordenskiöld (FreetownFilms), RENAISSANCE RISING (dir. Viktor Nordenskiöld), Sweden
Hanna Jewsiewicka (Durian Production House), RETIREMENT: NOT ON THE SETLIST (dir. Katarzyna Piórek), Poland
Paweł Jóźwiak-Rodan (UNSIN STUDIO), THE THIRD ONE (dir. Adela Kaczmarek), Poland
Daniéla Frykstrand / Elin Kamlert (Gunilla Film), THE FEMALE TRUCK DRIVERS OF UKRAINE (dir. Daniéla Frykstrand) / ANYWHERE BUT HERE (dir. Emilio Di Stefano), Sweden
Observing producers:
Adrianna Rędzia (Lumisenta), Poland
Aleksandra Szczęsna (Hasko Film), Poland
Weronika Mliczewska (YA MAN STUDIO), Poland
On April 21, we will publish the full program of industry events.
MDAG Industry is organized in collaboration with CANAL+ Polska. The section is co-financed by the Polish Film Institute. The partners of MDAG Industry are: Polish Filmmakers Association, Polish Producers Alliance, Andrzej Wajda Centre For Film Culture, CPH:DOX, Institute of Documentary Film, EAVE, Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Visioni dal Mondo, SoundMind, SMAKJAM, DOCA, Doc Alliance, Doc Alliance Network of Markets, Jacob Burns Film Center, Culture Without Barriers Foundation, Katarynka Foundation, Forum Without Barriers, Screenplay Atelier, State Ethnographic Museum, Arthouse Cinemas Association.
MDAG Industry. A Space for the Development of the Documentary Film Industry
MDAG Industry is a unique film industry event that connects Polish filmmakers with international festival representatives, distributors, producers, sales agents, and renowned stars of contemporary cinema. We started in 2021 with a single event, and since 2022 we have been developing an extensive industry program under the MDAG Industry banner. The MDAG Industry program responds to the current needs of the audiovisual market, keeping up with trends, anticipating changes, and embracing innovation.
VISIONI DAL MONDO 2026 CALL FOR ENTRIES
Our partner, the 12th International Documentary Festival Visioni dal Mondo, has officially opened its 2026 Call for Entries. The festival will be held in Milan from September 16th to 20th, 2026. This is a great opportunity to strengthen the synergy between Italy and Poland and to help promote high-quality Polish productions.
Among the open calls, we highlight the following competitive sections:
International Contest: Dedicated to international documentary films with a duration of over 65 minutes. The Contest is open to feature films that depict our globalized world, highlighting exceptional characters, fascinating collective actions, non-violent rebellions, and stories of hope. Both universal and personal narratives are welcome, spanning various genres and tones, from drama to comedy.
Visioni Incontra Contest (Industry Section): Aimed at industry professionals, this contest is open to documentary projects seeking funding. It features two categories: Final Development (for projects in pre-production or early production) and Work in Progress (for projects already in production or post-production).
The deadline for submissions is May 31st. Full regulations and entry procedures for each contest are available on the website: www.visionidalmondo.it
The MDAG Vision and MDAG Industry events will take place at the State Ethnographic Museum on May 8–17 and May 7–11, 2026, respectively. The 23rd MDAG will be held from May 8 to 17, 2026, in cinemas in Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Bydgoszcz, and Łódź, and online from May 19 to June 1 at mdag.pl. The title sponsor of the event is Bank Millennium ([https://www.bankmillennium.pl/](https://www.bankmillennium.pl/)).
