EAST DOC PLATFORM

EAST DOC MARKET

East Doc Market 2025: Projects Revealed

28. 1. 2025

Author: Anna Jurková

Introducing the selected projects for this year’s East Doc Market – a prestigious platform where, on March 18–19, talented filmmakers from Central and Eastern Europe will connect with over 70 international funders, broadcasters, distributors, sales agents, and festival representatives. 

Held as part of the East Doc Platform 2025, the East Doc Market will host more than 400 tailored one-on-one meetings, offering a unique opportunity to showcase feature-length projects, series, and shorts in development, production, and post-production or rough cut stage.

East Doc Market titles at the East Doc Platform:

Making Friends with the Idea of a Father (dir. Nikolay Stefanov, prod. Ralitsa Golemanova  (Smarty Pants Shooter), BG, premiere: February 2026)
As his third child is born, director Nikolay Stefanov reopens the cold case of his father’s killing from 1994 in post-totalitarian BG. Facing the crime investigation’s dead-end, the only way forward is inward: making peace with his alcoholic father and his own dark past, while trying to improve the relationship with his children. Nikolay’s journey becomes a universal exploration of being a father, a son, and a man in this day and time.

A satellite for Burulaï (dir. Suium Sulaimanova, Antonin Lechat, prod. Emmanuel Gétaz (Dreampixies), CH, premiere: January 2027)
Zhibek and her colleagues from the Kyrgyz Space Program (KSP) travel the country to recruit members, to build and launch the first Kyrgyz satellite. They aim to change the mentalities about the status of women in Kyrgyzstan. Facing struggles to finance the satellite's construction, Zhibek continues to believe in her incredible dream. But souvenirs of her own experience of violence and the social opposition she’s facing doesn’t make her way easy.

Confessions of a Female Gamer (dir. Dolya Gavanski, prod. Dolya Gavanski (Thea Films), Martichka Bozhilova (AGITPROP), co-prod. Alex Tondowski (Tondowski Films), BG,  DE, UK, premiere: February 2026)
I’m the slightly sceptical star of one of the biggest online games on the planet. As the voice of Zarya, the mighty avatar in Overwatch, I reach 35 million players. At home, I grapple with my son’s gaming obsession. But an invitation to join a campaign against misogyny in gaming challenges my perceptions. I find a space where young women express their identities empowered by their gaming characters. Through Zarya, I discover their complex struggles. 

Glowing (dir. Martin Páv, prod. Zuzana Kučerová (Frame Films), CZ, premiere: January 2026)
In this world, to glow means many things: to achieve success in life, to meet someone who truly loves you, to perform well on social media, to look perfect, or to have a lighter skin than others. Taking place in New Delhi, Nairobi, and Seoul, the film tells stories of six protagonists from different cultural, as well as socio-economic backgrounds, who share one thing in common – in order to glow, they apply various skin-lightening products.

My Other Perfect Me (dir. Veronika Lišková, prod. Martina Netíková (Cinémotif Films), Kristýna Michálek Květová (Cinémotif Films), co-prod. Anna Mach Rumanová (filmsomnia), Sebastiano Luca Insinga (Jump Cut), CZ, SK, IT, premiere: February 2027)
Tereza is an award-winning young actress and talented musician. But besides her artistic career, she has another life. She has been living with an eating disorder for ten years. She has already become accustomed to her "bad neighbor", as she sometimes calls her bulimia. When the disease threatens to permanently damage her voice, she decides to start a new fight for recovery and engages in a journey that explores her desire for the perfect self.

Wave (dir. Mariam Chachia, prod. Mariam Chachia (Kino Elva), co-prod. Monica Lazurean-Gorgan, Ineke Smits, GE, RO, premiere: June 2026)
In June 2023, competitors and sometimes rivals from the film industry united to stand against censorship in film and began marching on the streets of GE. During a tumultuous year their wave or resistance grow of widespread protest to preserve democracy and freedom in the country.  Wave is a diary of four filmmaker-activists united by a common goal but divided by their differing approaches.

Dekonstrukt (dir. Mateusz Góra, Kamil Wilk, prod. Piotr Śmiechowski (Telemark), PL, premiere: May 2026)
”Dekonstrukt” is a coming-of-age story combining different film genres. Stefa, Mac and Karo, three non-binary young artists, founded an art and party collective called “Dekonstrukt” (Deconstruct). The initiative, operating on the Polish club scene, is run by and aimed at transgender people. Unexpectedly granted with supernatural powers, protagonists embark on a journey, facing their past problems and overcoming traumas.

Phantom Limb (dir. Catherine Norman Tahirovic, prod. Dženan Medanović, BA, premiere: March 2026)
When the right arm of the Woman Fighter monument in Sarajevo was sawn off, most assumed it was just another case of vandals picking apart forgotten places for scrap metal. But then, three years later, the missing arm unexpectedly shows up on the steps of the Historic Museum. This documentary plunges viewers into over 100 years of regional history as they follow one woman’s search to discover why that arm is worth more than its weight in bronze.

I See No Death (dir. Jevhen Titarenko, prod. Guntis Trekteris (Ego Media), co-prod. Natalia Khaza (Braha Production Company), LV, UA, premiere: January 2026)
Warfare in the 21st century has transformed with new battlefield technologies. Ukrainian director Yevhen Titarenko ("War for Peace," 2017; "Eastern Front," 2023) joins elite drone operators, immersing viewers in a war fought behind screens. This virtual conflict prompts reflection on how technological advances and the mediated imagery of violence reshape our humanity.

Not so far away places (dir. Renato Borrayo Serrano, Yulia Vishnevets, prod. Vlad Ketkovich (Ana Film), Milana Christitch (Ana Film), co-prod. Filip Remunda (Hypermarket Film), FR, CZ, premiere: October 2026)
Through the life story of human rights activist Anya Karetnikova, and using 400 hours of footage from the chest camcorder documenting her four-year work inside Russian prisons until her exile, this film confronts audiences with the banality of evil, resistance in a totalitarian environment, and the moral dilemmas of challenging the system from within.

Shut the Fuck Up! (dir. Taisiia Kutuzova, prod. Alona Savchuk (Crimean Waves), UA, premiere: November 2025)
Serhiy, a young activist, confronts corruption and embodies the courage of UA's new generation of leadership. His fight for justice mirrors the freedom Ukrainians long for. Shut the Fuck Up! portrays Serhiy’s pursuit of harmony within himself and society, capturing the resilience and determination of a nation striving for change.

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