The 55th “Molodist” Kyiv International Film Festival’s Documentary Competition features nine films from around the world. They tell stories of family history, displacement, art, and the search for freedom. Several have already won awards at international festivals.
Documentary Competition
- The End Date, Noé Reutenauer, Belgium, 2025, 70 min
- Days of Wonder, Karin Pennanen, Finland, Denmark, Norway, 2025, 87 min
- As Light as Air, Umair Bilal, Pakistan, 2026, 65 min
- Even If We Are Islands, Cristina Rodríguez Paz, Spain, 2025, 79 min
- Watch You Rise, Isabella Grace Cohn, United States, 2026, 84 min
- Paikar, Dawood Hilmandi, Netherlands, Afghanistan, 2025, 97 min
- A Song Without Home, Rati Tsiteladze, Austria, Denmark, Sakartvelo, United States, 2026, 75 min
- Yastay, Paula Gaetano Adi, Argentina, 2026, 69 min
- War Has No Children, Dmytro Todoriuk, Ukraine, 2026, 97 min
Dmytro Todoriuk’s War Has No Children will have its world premiere in the Documentary Competition. The film tells four stories of childhood during wartime. The children’s familiar world falls apart too soon, and they face adult decisions before they are ready. War becomes part of daily life, leaving childhood fragile and uncertain.
Karin Pennanen’s Days of Wonder is about her uncle’s artistic legacy. After his death, she finds a large archive of his work in his home and learns more about his life through it. In 2025, the film won Best Film in the documentary competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF). In 2026, it won the National Competition at DocPoint, the Helsinki Documentary Film Festival, and received a Special Award at the Tampere Film Festival.
Dawood Hilmandi’s Paikar won three awards at the 2025 International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA): the IDFA Award for Best First Feature, the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) Prize, and a Special Mention for the Best Dutch Film Award. In the film, Hilmandi returns to his family’s story, shaped by war and displacement, and tries to repair his relationship with his father.
Cristina Rodríguez Paz’s Even If We Are Islands won several festival awards in 2026, including the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Portobello Film Festival.
Rati Tsiteladze’s A Song Without Home follows a young transgender woman who escapes from a village in Sakartvelo to Vienna after eleven years in isolation. She tries to start a new life and find freedom. The film screened at CPH, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, and the Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, where it received an honorable mention from the jury.
Festival of Festivals
The non-competitive Festival of Festivals program features five films that have screened at international festivals.
- Coward, Lukas Dhont, Belgium, 2026, 120 min
- Nobody’s Violence, Denis Côté, Canada, 2026, 118 min
- Shame and Money, Visar Morina, Germany, Kosovo, Slovenia, Albania, North Macedonia, Belgium, 2026, 130 min
- Closure, Michał Marczak, Poland, France, 2026, 105 min
- NAZA, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, United States, United Kingdom, 2026, 77 min
Lukas Dhont’s Coward won the Best Actor award at Cannes. The award was shared by Emmanuel Macchia and Valentin Campagne, who play two soldiers during World War I. In the story, the men put on a show behind the front lines to lift their comrades’ spirits and give them a brief escape from the war.
Visar Morina’s Shame and Money won the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. A farming family from Kosovo loses its farm and moves to the capital to look for work. The father tries to provide for his family but has to accept help from wealthier relatives.
Michał Marczak’s documentary Closure was one of the standout films at Sundance. It later won the Golden Alexander, the top prize in the International Competition at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival. The film follows Daniel as he searches for his missing 16-year-old son, Chris. As he retraces the route his son may have taken, Daniel tries to understand what happened. The film stays with the family as they live with the pain and uncertainty of not knowing.
Quebec filmmaker Denis Côté returns to Molodist with Nobody’s Violence. The film received a Special Mention and the Youth Jury Prize in the International Competition at the 2026 Locarno Film Festival. Set in a dystopian world, it follows a young woman who travels from place to place offering euthanasia services.
Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor’s NAZA was one of the most talked-about films at the Venice Film Festival. It addresses civilian deaths in Gaza and won the festival’s Special Jury Prize in 2026. Israeli military and intelligence personnel describe the systems used to select targets for strikes in Gaza. The film was shot at night on rooftops in Tel Aviv. Its title refers to a military term for the expected number of civilian casualties in an airstrike.
The festival is supported by the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine, the Ukrainian State Film Agency, and the State Agency of Ukraine for Arts and Art Education.
Embassies and Government Institutions
Embassy of the Italian Republic in Ukraine
Italian Cultural Institute in Kyiv
Goethe-Institut Ukraine
Embassy of Spain in Ukraine
Embassy of France in Ukraine
French Institute in Ukraine
Embassy of Belgium in Ukraine
Embassy of Spain in Ukraine
Embassy of Poland in Ukraine
Polish Institute in Kyiv
Embassy of the Czech Republic in Ukraine
Embassy of Mexico in Ukraine
Embassy of Argentina in Ukraine
German Films
Creative Europe Desk Ukraine
Sponsors and Partners
M.S.L., the state lottery operator, Loto-Zabava
Main media partner: 1+1 media
Film and television platform: Kyivstar TV
Creative partner: McCANN Kyiv advertising agency
ILTA Automotive Center in Pechersk
Crimean Tatar restaurant bringing a taste of Crimea to the capital: Musafir
Festival hotel partner: Radisson Blu Hotel, Kyiv Podil, City Centre
House of Cinema
Cinecitta Restaurant
Media Partners
Suspilne
Suspilne Culture
NV.ua
hromadske
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