DOXA Documentary Film Festival Unveils 2026 Lineup With More Than 75 Films, Multiple World Premieres

EXCLUSIVE: The DOXA Documentary Film Festival – Western Canada’s largest nonfiction film showcase – today announced the lineup for its 25^th anniversary edition.

The festival, running April 30-May 10 in Vancouver, will open with live cinematic performance piece Bella Sutra, directed and narrated by OK Pedersen and accompanied by musicians Eden Glasman and Jakob Tokarczyk. It’s described as “a personal essay about life as an innkeeper in Bella Coola, BC. With honesty and levity, the piece reflects on our current communication crisis, the rural/urban philosophical divide, and the myth of progress.”

The festival’s Mid-Week Gala presentation will be the BC Premiere of Concrete Turned to Sand, directed by local filmmakers Jessica Johnson and Ryan Ermacora. The film follows oyster farmers on Cortes Island, BC, “and observes the shifting intertidal zone under the pressures of ocean warming and acidification.” The directors will also participate in an Industry Panel on May 2.

The BC premiere of Time and Water, from Oscar-nominated director Sara Dosa, will serve as DOXA’s Closing Gala presentation. The National Geographic documentary, which premiered at Sundance, explores the disappearing glaciers of Iceland through the work of author and filmmaker Andri Snær Magnason.

Scroll for the full lineup.

Films holding their world premiere at DOXA 2026 include Under the Red Roof by Yushi Nagamatsu; Illustrated Legacies: Graveyard of the Pacific by Tanner Zurkoski, and The Flower and the Flood by Elisa González and Bubba by Kayli Koonar.

Among other highlights, the DOXA program will feature American Doctor, directed by Poh Si Teng; Bouchra, directed by Orian Yani Barki and Meriem Bennani; Traces, from directors Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk; Nicolas Wadimoff’s Who is Still Alive; Steal This Story, Please!, directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin; Windward, directed by Sharon Lockhart; Sky Hopkina’s Powwow People; Alea Jacarandas, from director Hassen Ferhani; Life After Siham, directed by Namir Abdel Messeeh, and The Oldest Person in the World, directed by Sam Green.

Local features with filmmakers in attendance include Namesake təm kʷaθ nan, Green Valley, Touching Rocks, In Tyee Country, and The Latest News from ‘Deseret.’

“We are excited to celebrate 25 festival editions highlighting important, entertaining and relevant documentary films,” commented Artistic Director Sarah Ouazzani. “This is an important milestone, and we are pleased to share a great program with the Vancouver film community once again this year, including a slate of innovative short films, a diverse range of International and Canadian features, and a thought-provoking and informative series of Industry events.”

DOXA’s Justice Forum returns for its 16th year, “highlighting films that showcase resistance, environmental justice and human rights.” Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom, directed by Kim Nguyen, serves as the Justice Forum Special Presentation. “The film explores the connection between two families and the famous photograph Saigon Execution.”

South Korea is DOXA’s 2026 Country of Honor, with guest curation by Byungwon Jang, head programmer of the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival. That lineup includes feature films Beyond Now, Nyein (2025) and Untold (2021), and short films The Silent Bearers (2023) and Last May in Theatres (2025).

“Returning to the festival this year is DOXA’s Rated Y for Youth–a program of films curated to foster media literacy in youths,” notes a release. “The popular paraDOXA program, which spotlights experimental and boundary-pushing documentaries, will return for its second year. In addition, DOXA’s robust industry program will feature panels and masterclasses, as well as a series of free workshops and a surprise screening held in partnership with VPL’s Central Library.”

The entire DOXA Documentary Film Festival Lineup Includes:

FEATURE FILMS:

Bella Sutra (Canada) *film performance

Director: OK Pedersen

Green Valley (Canada)

Director: Morgan Tams

The Latest News from ‘Deseret’ (Canada)

Director: Christopher Pavsek

Illustrated Legacies: Graveyard of the Pacific (Canada)

Director: Tanner Zurkoski

təm kʷaθ nan – Namesake (Canada)

Director: Evan Adams & Eileen Francis

Concrete Turned to Sand (Canada)

Director: Jessica Johnson, Ryan Ermacora

In Tyee Country (Canada)

Director: Jevan Crittenden & Nate Slaco

Soul of the Foot (Turkey/Canada)

Director: Mustafa Uzuner

致亞歷珊卓 To Alexandra (Canada/USA/China)

Director: Yi Cui

Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom (Canada)

Director: Kim Nguyen

There Are No Words (Canada)

Director: Min Sook Lee

Partition / تقسیم (Canada/Lebanon/Palestine)

Director: Diana Allan

Kindergarten (Canada)

Director: Jean-François Caissy

The Sandbox (Canada)

Director: Kenya-Jade Pinto

Puntos de fuga (Vanishing Points) (Canada, Colombia)

Director: Lina Rodriguez

Untold (South Korea)

Director: Bora Lee-Kil

Bouchra (Italy, Morocco, United States)

Director: Orian Barki, Meriem Bennani

Time and Water (USA, Iceland)

Director: Sara Dosa

Powwow People (USA)

Director: Sky Hopinka

Beyond Now, Nyein (South Korea)

Director: Lim Daecheong

Life After Siham (France, Egypt)

Director: Namir Abdel Messeeh

Under the Red Roof (Japan)

Director: Yushi Nagamatsu

Enough is Enough (France & Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Director: Elisé Sawasawa

Remake (USA)

Director: Ross McElwee

AND THE FISH FLY ABOVE OUR HEADS (Lebanon/France/Saudi-Arabia

Director: Dima El-Horr

WINDWARD (USA/Canada)

Director: Sharon Lockhart

Replica (Australia/France)

Director: Chouwa Liang

The Life that Will Come/ La vida que Vendrá (Chile/Colombia)

Director: Karin Cuyul

Numakage Public Pool (Japan)

Director: Shingo Ota

What Comes from Sitting in Silence? (France, South Korea, Switzerland, USA)

Director: Sophie Schrago

Alea Jacarandas (Algeria, France)

Director: Hassen Ferhani

Amílcar (Spain/France/Portugal/Cabo Verde/Sweden)

Director: Miguel Eek

AMERICAN DOCTOR (United States/State of Palestine/Malaysia/Qatar)

Director: Poh Si Teng

Ça reste entre nous (Iran)

Director: Maryam Shapoorian

Frío Metal (México)

Director: Clemente Castor

Who is Still Alive (Switzerland, Palestine, France)

Director: Nicolas Wadimoff

Traces (Ukraine/Poland)

Director: Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk

Steal This Story, Please! (USA, East Timor, Nigeria)

Director: Carl Deal & Tia Lessin

Stories of a Lie (Greece/France)

Director: Olia Verriopoulou

The Oldest Person in the World (USA)

Director: Sam Green

SHORTS & MID-LENGTH

Au Hasard (Canada)

Director: Darren Dominique Heroux

Tuktuit : Caribou (Canada)

Director: Lindsay McIntyre

Mirrorpond (Canada)

Director: Christopher Pavsek

The Flower and the Flood (Canada)

Director: Elisa González

BAEA (USA)

Director: Terra Long

Living Containers (Canada, USA)

Director: Kara Hansen

Bubba (Canada)

Director: Kayli Koonar

Touching Rocks (Canada)

Director: Laurence Olivier

Last Evenings on Earth (Canada)

Director: Ralitsa Doncheva

Morning Circle (Canada, United Arab Emirates)

Director: Basma al-Sharif

Momentum (Canada)

Director: Nada El-Omari

TIGERS CAN BE SEEN IN THE RAIN (Colombia, Canada)

Director: Oscar Ruiz Navia

FELT (USA, Spain, Canada)

Director: Blake Williams

Last May in Theaters (Indonesia/South Korea)

Director: Arief Budiman

The Silent Bearers 조용한 선박들 (South Korea)

Director: Yeoreum Jeong

Ndjimu (USA/DRC)

Director: Petna Ndaliko Katondolo

IS GANG STALKING REAL (USA)

Director: Theodore Collatos

Niña Chilapa – Chilapa Girl (Colombia)

Director: Juana Lotero López

Filme-Copacabana (Brazil)

Director: Sofia Leão

Le Meilleur Spectateur de la pièce historique qui se joue sur terre (France)

Director: taleb lachheb

Their Eyes (France)

Director: Nicolas Gourault

As Far As We Imagine (Belgium, Netherlands)

Director: Raouf Moussa

Intersecting Memory (Palestine, France)

Director: Shayma’ Awawdeh

Okay Keskidee! Let Me See Inside (UK)

Director: Rhea Storr

Shelly’s Leg (USA)

Director: Wes Hurley

Words Fly Back to the Black Earth (USA/China)

Director: Xiao Zhang

an open field (South Africa/ France/ Germany/Ethiopia)

Director: Teboho Edkins

The Phalanx (USA)

Director: Ben Balcom

Buckskin (USA)

Director: Mars Verrone