DOCUCONNECT BALKANS 2026 ANNOUNCES SELECTED PROJECTS 

As part of this year’s Interaction, the first edition of Interaction: DocuConnect Balkans – Regional Documentary Co-production Lab will take place from 21 to 25 August, supporting the development of creative documentary projects by emerging filmmakers from the Western Balkans.

The open call for the programme attracted a large number of high-quality projects from across the region. The selection committee chose six projects and 12 participants – directors and producers – who will develop their projects during the five-day programme in Požega with the support of experienced mentors and experts from Europe and the region. The selected projects and their authors come from Montenegro, North Macedonia, Albania and Serbia, while some of the projects already involve international co-production partnerships.

The projects selected for the first edition of the programme are It Still Grows Here, directed by Aleksa Bujišić and produced by Milan Radulović, Abyssinian Cat, directed by Filip Martinović and Asha Broenn, also produced by Efthymia Zymvragaki, Hole, directed by Danilo Stanimirović and produced by Nikola Spasić, Do You Want War?, directed by Filip Lafazanovski and produced by Lea Maneva, After the Curtain, directed by Enriko Hamzaj and produced by Elisabeta Rama, and Silence of the Classroom, directed by Isidora Bulatović and produced by Jasmina Karajlović.

During the programme, the selected director-producer teams will work in parallel on the creative and production aspects of their projects. Through individual consultations, directors will develop the theme, structure, artistic approach and other creative elements of their documentaries, while producers will work on production strategy, financing, opportunities for regional and international co-production, distribution and project positioning.

The mentoring team brings together filmmakers and producers from across the Western Balkans – Kumjana Novakova, Ilija Trickovski, Zoran Galić, Nevena Milašinović, Iris Elezi, Iva Plemić Divjak and Ivan Marković – while lectures will be given by Rada Šešić, Corina Schwingruber Ilić and Wouter Jansen.

In addition to mentoring sessions and lectures, the programme includes project presentations, a public panel discussion dedicated to regional documentary co-production, networking through the Speed Meetings programme, as well as a final pitching session.

Interaction: DocuConnect Balkans takes place alongside Interaction’s other programmes – the Short Docs Festival, Student Film Camp, Doc Workshop, Teen Doc Workshop and Meet2Talk programme.

The Interaction: DocuConnect Balkans programme is co-funded by the Western Balkans Fund and the European Union within the framework of the WBF–EU Joint Action, and is implemented by NFC Filmart in partnership with FusionACT Centre (Albania), Association for Visual Culture VIZART (Bosnia and Herzegovina), KINEMATIKA Skopje (North Macedonia) and NGO Montenegro Film Festival / Underhill Festival (Montenegro).

Learn more about the selected projects of the Interaction: DocuConnect Balkans 2026 programme.