“I have always found convention annoying,” once said the director Věra Chytilová in an interview. This “first lady of Czech film” found a permanent place for herself in the history of world cinema thanks to her original and uncompromising – yet still playful – creativity.

What films are winning at the French documentary festival FIDMarseille? In the next two weeks, we will take you to the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and present the films that appealed to last year’s jury the most and won the main awards and special mentions. Join us on a trip to the French Riviera and watch the best of the prestigious FIDMarseille festival!

The renowned Ukrainian documentary filmmaker has been mapping the phenomenon of contemporary Russia in an original way for several decades. In his films, he meets his protagonists in big cities and remote territories, following politicians as well as the everyday lives of common people. Mansky’s latest film Putin’s Witnesses will be premiered in the documentary competition at the upcoming Karlovy Vary IFF. The director’s current retrospective at DAFilms includes an exclusive preview from the film.

The Syrian Civil War started more than 7 years ago, lasting already 2645 days (June 11, 2018). Since it started, approximately half a million people died and over six million were forced to flee their homes. There are four sides involved in the conflict that are supported by various countries and fractions. However, the numbers fail to describe the complex situation, as they cannot tell individual human stories. That is why we present a selection of documentaries dealing with the war in Syria from various points of view.

The Vietnamese are the third most numerous national group in the Czech Republic. The first wave of immigration came already before the revolutionary year of 1989; since then, more Vietnamese have been coming to the Czech Republic, with the youngest generation already being born here. What was it really like for the Vietnamese to live in the Czech Republic ten years ago and what is it like today? Do young Vietnamese deem the Czech Republic their home or do they long to return to their “homeland“? These and other themes are reflected in a serious and fun way in the films by Czech and Vietnamese directors in our current Curated Program.

Love, desire and passion can have various forms. Watch our selection of films reflecting LGBT and queer themes in various styles and genres...

Getting a regular income without work? That is utopia to most of us. However, it may soon become reality. In his montage film Free Lunch Society – Come Come Basic Income, Austrian economist and director Christian Tod addresses one of the crucial issues of our time – unconditional basic income.

Unsolved criminal cases, war crimes, touching life stories of young petty thieves as well as the portrait of a hitman in the services of the Italian drug mafia… Why has crime attracted both filmmakers and viewers since time immemorial? Watch various forms of evil captured by renowned filmmakers.

East Doc Platform is an annual event organized by the Institute of Documentary Film where documentary filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe meet and consult their projects with experts from around the world. EDP bridges the East and the West, bringing together filmmakers across countries and continents.