The 6th International Documentary Film Festival IDFF Artdocfest/Riga took place in Riga, Latvia from 28 February to 8 March 2026. There were two programmes of competition at the festival – Baltic focus and Artdocfest Open.
In total, the jury evaluated 28 documentaries from the Baltic Focus and Artdocfest Open competition programs.

6 IDFF Artdocfest/Riga prizes were awarded to:

BALTIC FOCUS
Grand Prix — "Laguna"
Director: Sharunas Bartas
Lithuania, France, 2025, 101 min.

Best Director — Natalia Koniarz
Film: “Silver”
Poland, Norway, Finland, 2025, 79 min.

Special Award — “Mr. Nobody Against Putin”
Directors: David Borenstein and Pavel Talankin
Denmark, Czech Republic, 2025, 90 min.

ARTDOCFEST OPEN
Grand Prix — “Memory”
Director: Vladlena Sandu
France, 2025, 98 min.
Best Director — Aliman Toktogulova, Karash Zhanishov
Film: “The Dogs”
Kyrgyzstan, 2025, 61 min.

Special Award — “2000 Meters to Andriivka”
Director: Ukraine
Ukraine, 2025, 111 min.

Special Mention — “Winter in March”,
Director: Natalia Mirzoyan
Estonia, Armenia, France, Belgium, 2025, 16 min.

Special Mention — “Welded Together”
Director: Anastasiya Miroshnichenko
France, Netherlands, Belgium, 2025, 96 min.

The 7th Festival will take place from 1 to 8 March 2027.

The founder of the IDFF Artdocfest/Riga is a non-governmental association “Artdoc Fest & Media”. The partners of the festival are national and international institutions and foundations and media from around the world.

Within the framework of the festival a symposium – a creative meeting of documentary filmmakers and theoreticians was held with the aim to create a temporary, inspirational space of thought - transferring the knowledge, highlighting the tendencies and discussing the developments and significant trends in documentary. Every year a prominent guest – important in the World of Documentary is invited to take part in symposium.

Awards & Prizes

Baltic Focus:
Grand Prix HERZ (1,000 EURO cash prize)
Special Jury Prize
Best Directing

Artdocfest Competition:
Grand Prize (1,000 EURO cash prize)
Best Director
Special Jury

Additionally
* The Juries of both competition programmes may also award Special Jury Mentions
* The Festival’s Board announces the prize amounts to the winners on a yearly basis.
* The Festival’s Board has the right to award special awards sponsored by Festival partners or public organizations.
* The directorate has the right to make a decision regarding the increase in the prize money, which will be announced separately.

Rules & Terms

IDFF ARTDOCFEST/RIGA

‘Artdocfest Open’ programme is open to submissions from all over the world, with an accent on documentary cinema and processes in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Films in the premiere status for Latvia are allowed to participate in the competition. The selection committee may make an exception to this rule, but not more than one film per year. When forming the program, preference is given to films in the status of "world premiere" and those that have not previously been shown in the Baltic countries.

‘Baltic Focus’ – for this competition section, the Festival considers films produced in the countries of the Baltic Sea Region (Estonia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden) or co-produced with any of these countries.
A Latvian premiere status at the Festival is a mandatory condition. During the film selection process, preference is given to films having Baltic or World premiere status.

* The Festival does not accept films financed by the Russian government or its related companies

The completed form and a link to the film must be available to the Festival’s Board by December 15, 2025.

If one submitter is submitting several films, an online form must be filled out separately for each film.

The submitter should provide a link to an online screener. There must be only one film placed on the link specified in the application form. Films submitted otherwise will not be considered. If a link to Vimeo or YouTube has been provided, the option to download it must be available. If the specified link to the website does not work, or the submission application contains false/erroneous information, the Festival’s Board reserves the right to reject the submission.

Films may be submitted to the Festival by production companies, independent producers, sales agents and distributors, or other copyright holders.

Details - in regulations IDFF ARTDOCFEST / RIGA https://artdocfest.com/en/content/reglament-artdocfest-riga/

NB! Please read the technical requirements for submitting copies of films to be considered for programme inclusion.

6 Reviews
Overall Rating
Quality
Value
Communication
Hospitality
Networking
  • kito kato

    Very friendly and professional people, it was a real sense of home that was established with the people participating and people who organised the event Xx

    March 2026
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  • Judith Montague

    An incredible opportunity for me to be included in this outstanding and thoughtful, important programme of films. I wish I could have stayed longer and intend to return to enjoy next year's festival.

    March 2026
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  • Anna Beeck

    I had a wonderful experience at this festival, where my film “SABAT – The Disappearance of a Diplomat” was invited to screen. The team was incredibly welcoming, professional, and clearly passionate about supporting filmmakers. The beautiful Splendid Cinema is a fantastic venue and gives the screenings a very special atmosphere. It’s an important festival that brings together filmmakers and audiences from all over the world in the Baltic region. I’m very grateful to have been part of it and highly recommend it to other filmmakers.

    March 2026
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  • Mojtaba Bahadori

    Fantastic festival featuring a well-curated program and film choices, along with excellent hospitality. I was thrilled to experience the festival in person with "On Melting Snow". I enjoyed every aspect of this event!

    March 2025
    Helpful
  • Maros Pulscak

    Thank you for having me. I truly enjoyed my stay, met nice people and most importantly inspired.

    April 2024
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