Cinepolitical: a monthly brief on documentary film
January's essential docs & dialogues
A new year starts, but unfortunately, it seems like the same old world. For MTR, we spent a productive week at the Trieste Film Festival, while also curating film reviews, industry news, and a report on the annual FIFDH filmmaking for social change webinar. Stay tuned for a very busy Spring season with MTR all over the continent, and keep an eye out for our updated brand rollout.
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News
Docu Rough Cut Boutique opens 2026 call for advanced-edit documentary projects
goEast 2026 outlines dates, new director and Revolution-themed programming
Sunny Side of the Doc to take place in 2026 in partnership with Documentary Campus
One World CZ launches 2026 trailer, announces first titles, and marks a decade of accessibility
Doc Alliance taps Armenia’s Golden Apricot Festival as 2026 guest partner
Thessaloniki 2026 Announces first titles spanning Faithfull, Novak, Welsh, and Brookner restorations
FIFDH 2026 announces opening and closing films and new media partnerships
Reports
From affect to effect, impact producing as practice at FIFDH Impact Days 2026 webinar
Geneva’s FIFDH 2026 Impact Days webinar explores impact producing for social justice, with insights on turning audience affect into measurable effect through strategy, community accountability, and the right team.
Films
Active Vocabulary
Director: Yulia Lokshina
A Russian teacher flees to Berlin after questioning the war. Her story exposes ritualised school propaganda, then throws an uncomfortable mirror at Western «neutrality» and the new glamour of military service.
An Open Field
Director: Teboho Edkins
Processions, prayer, and stillness frame a community preserving the dead’s memory after a tragedy linked to institutional negligence.
Cover-Up
Director: Laura Poitras, Mark Obenhaus
‘Cover-Up’ traces the shift from secret policy to reality-making, using Hersh’s career to show how propaganda, access, and fear reshape journalism.
Forget Me Not
Director: Anja Medved
Visual essays that probe memory and denial, arguing that oblivion may comfort the vulnerable but doesn’t avert violence.
Life After
Director: Reid Davenport
A wheelchair-mounted camera meets a chilling reality when Canada’s MAID eligibility rules come into view.
Orwell: 2+2=5
Director: Raoul Peck
The rat cage gone from metaphor to reality: Orwell’s systopia realised and then some.
Outliving Shakespeare
Director: Inna Sahakyan, Ruben Ghazaryan
In a remote Armenian retirement home, the clocks are no longer standing still.