60 Films, 250 Screenings: The 12th Budapest International Documentary Film Festival is Coming up

“The film of your future is already shooting” – with a pregnant woman standing out from the crowd on the poster, the Budapest International Documentary Film Festival starts with 60 films on January 24.

The 12th Budapest International Documentary Film Festival (BIDF) will be held between January 24 and February 1, 2026. The program includes 60 films and 250 screenings in the capital and 12 rural locations. Many creators, directors, and actors will also personally participate in the largest documentary film festival in Hungary and talk about the creation of the film.

This year's program is as colorful in terms of its themes as our world. For example, one film introduces a Chinese dating guru, while the other is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist who is trying to survive on two fronts: in the family and in war. Ukrainian students who go to school under bomb threats, eyewitnesses to the Israeli terrorist act, and we can also see the brutal days of a surgeon operating in Gaza.

The film will be presented, which follows the last year of the outgoing NATO Secretary General, Jens Stoltenberg, with exclusive footage. There will also be a talk about Kenyan essay writers who write their papers for students at elite universities. In addition, dementia, the drama of generational gaps within the family, and the power of love in old age will be on the screen.

From January 24, 2026, the audience will be able to watch sixty festival films for a week, including 33 competition films competing for the recognition of the international jury. A total of 250 screenings will be held at BIDF, and in addition to the Budapest Cinema City Mammut, the productions will also be presented in 12 rural cities (Békéscsaba, Debrecen, Eger, Győr, Jászberény, Kecskemét, Pécs, Sopron, Szeged, Székesfehérvár, Szombathely, Veszprém). The audience will be able to see documentaries by Oscar-, Karlovy Vary-, Locarno, Toronto IFF and IDFA grand prize winners, most of whom will travel to Hungary in person.

“At the Budapest International Documentary Film Festival, the works speak of what our poster suggests: the film of your future is already shooting! A confident, pregnant woman smiles in the picture, holding her hand on her belly. The future of your family is in your hands, the world, knowledge, truth or the future of your relationships are in your hands - the films are organized around these ideas, the protagonists of which want to be active participants in their own future,” said Ágnes Sós, documentary director, co-founder and festival director of BIDF.

Tickets for the week-long festival are already available. 

BIDF 2026 | Official competition program

In your hands – the future of knowledge

•    Connected / Megszakadt kapcsolat
•    Mr. Nobody Against Putin / Senki tanár úr Putyin ellen
•    Writing Hawa / Hawa asszony és a talibán
•    The Shadow Scholars / Árnyék tudósok
•    Agatha’s Almanac / Agatha virágzó almanachja
•    Change My Mind / Megáll az ész
•    Timestamp / Időbélyeg

In your hands – the future of justice

•    Natchez / Natchez, a rabszolgatartók fellegvára
•    The Bibi Files / A Bibi akták 
•    The Town that Drove Away / A víz alá merült falu
•    I, Poppy / Mákvirág
•    Love+War / Család vagy háború
•    The Promise / Megszegett ígéret
•    80 Angry Journalists / 80 dühös újságíró

In your hands – the future of your family

•    We, the Inheritors / Az örökség és Mi, az örökösök
•    Child of Dust / Az apokalipszis gyermeke
•    Welded Together / Összeolvadva
•    To the West, in Zapata / A Zapata-mocsár meséi
•    Nansie / Drága Nansie nagyink
•    I Saw a ‘Suno’ / Álmot láttam

In your hands – the future of your relationship

•    The Dating Game / Randi-piac
•    Better Go Mad in the Wild / Bolonduljunk meg inkább együtt!
•    Reward for the Rain / Jutalom az Esőért
•    North South Man Woman / Észak-dél férfi-nő 
•    Orna and Ella / À la Orna és Ella
•    Love Hurts / Megsebzett szívek
•    Double Trouble / Huncut barátnék

In your hands – the future of the world

•    The Day Iceland Stood Still / Dermedt csend Izlandon
•    Facing War / Az utolsó küldetés
•    Girls & Gods / Isten - nők
•    The Eukrainian / Az Eukrán
•    The Road Between Us / Végeláthatatlan út
•    The Mission / A misszió

Source: bidf.hu