UmutDoc is an international documentary film festival held in the city of Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic.

The festival is a natural extension of the cultural environment created by the Umut Youth Film Forum and is dedicated to the development and promotion of auteur documentary cinema.

The festival’s strategic goal is to foster the development and institutionalization of documentary filmmaking in Central Asia, as well as to support directors who explore social reality, collective and personal memory, identity, and new forms of visual expression.

Festival Programs
1. Competitive Programs
Feature-Length Documentary Competition
Short Documentary Competition
2. Non-Competitive Programs
Special Screenings
Retrospective Program

Awards & Prizes

Feature-Length Documentary Competition
-Best Feature-Length Documentary
-Best Director
-Special Jury Prize
-Audience Award

Short Documentary Competition
-Best Short Documentary
-Best Director
-Special Jury Prize
-Audience Award

Prizes include statuettes, diplomas, and symbolic cash awards. The amount of the cash prize is determined annually.

Rules & Terms

UmutDoc Festival selects bold and original documentary films that express the director’s personal vision of reality through formal and aesthetic choices. The festival seeks works with a strong authorial voice and ambitious formal experimentation, intended for theatrical screening. All films must have English subtitles. There are no age, thematic, or format restrictions.

The festival does not accept: Television reports and journalistic investigations in the traditional TV format; Corporate and commercial films; Educational materials.