ESoDoc - European Social Documentary

Next week in Bolzano!

Some films stay with you for professional reasons and others for very personal ones.
9-Month Contract by Ketevan Vashagashvili is both.
We’re especially attached to this film at ZeLIG: it passed through ESoDoc and more than that, it comes from Georgia, a place whose documentary scene feels like family to us. A place we think about often, especially now, while filmmakers there are working under increasingly harsh and worrying conditions.
9-Month Contract looks at bodies, labour, motherhood and power.

On Thursday 19.2 at 20 at Filmclub
Screening as part of Doc Day – film program organised by FAS - Film Association South Tyrol

And the conversation follows on the morning after: Ketevan Vashagashvili will be at ZeLIG for a masterclass from 9:00–11:00.

Filmclub Capitol FAS - Film Association of South Tyrol DOCA · Documentary Association Georgia

This year again, ZeLIG & ESoDoc will be in Trieste at When East Meets West, organising the Impact Zone – Inspirational Lab with Vivian Schröder of The Good Media Network.

It’s a closed workshop and the participants have already been selected, but that’s not really what this post is about.

What matters to us is the idea behind it: impact. Not as a slogan or a checkbox, but as a slow, sometimes fragile process. Impact often starts small, with a question that stays with you longer than expected, a conversation that gently shifts your perspective, a film that may not change the world but changes someone, and then quietly keeps moving.

We believe that meaningful change rarely comes from one big, heroic gesture. It grows through many people doing their part, carefully and consistently, each in their own way. When these small movements connect, something larger begins to take shape.

This is what we try to work on with films.
See you in Trieste.

Over the past years, the documentary ecosystem has changed profoundly -economically, politically and technologically.
Training cannot pretend to be untouched by this shift.
Building on more than twenty years of ESoDoc, and on what this journey has made possible for filmmakers, communities and partners, we have taken a conscious decision.
Following the outcome of the Creative Europe funding process, 2026 will be dedicated to rethinking ESoDoc: listening carefully to the industry and to our community, and questioning how training, collaboration and impact can evolve in a meaningful way.
This means opening space for research, dialogue and experimentation, while staying true to ESoDoc’s core values of socially engaged storytelling, collaborative learning and meaningful impact.
As part of this process, there will be no “classic” ESoDoc workshop edition next year. At the same time, for 2026 we are exploring the possibility of organising selected, more focused activities, which are still under evaluation.
ESoDoc was never meant to be static.
Redesigning it is part of our responsibility to filmmakers, partners and to the field we work in.
We’ll share more as this process unfolds.

ESoDoc concluded its onsite session in Vilnius!

After several days of workshops, discussions, and creative exchanges, the final part of the session was all about pitching, screenings and connecting with the local industry.

The Pitch Rehearsal prepared participants for two intense Pitching Days, where they presented their projects to a panel of international experts and a professional audience.

We also joined Inconvenient Film Festival for the ESoDoc screening of Bright Future produced by Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan (Manifest Film, RO), followed by a Q&A moderated by our Head of Studies, Sabine Bubeck-Paaz.

The Industry Event “Dilemmas and Opportunities of Documentary Storytelling” brought together outstanding voices: Gayatri Parameswaran, Charlie Phillips, Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan, Vivian Schröder and Caroline Mutz for a deep dive into the ethics, challenges, and innovations shaping today’s documentary landscape.

We wrapped up the week with the Award Ceremony:
🏆 WEMW Award: Going Underground by Armands Začs
🏆 Movies That Matter Award: She Holds The Line by Insa Onken

Huge thanks to our partners at Inconvenient Film Festival, to all speakers, panelists, and participants and to Vilnius for the inspiration, warmth, and creative spark!

Nepatogus Kinas / Inconvenient Films When East Meets West

Now, in the Presentation Phase, it’s time to bring the research, development, and story into the best possible form to pitch to the international panel.
Our participants will be well prepared by our experienced team of Pitching Experts: Gitte Hansen and Katrin Nandelstädt. Thank you, Gitte and Katrin, for joining us in this journey! Gitte Hansen will focus on your story and the structure of your pitch.
Katrin Nandelstädt will focus on body, mind and emotion.

We are delighted that ESoDoc is back in Vilnius and at the Human Rights Film Festival, “Inconvenient Films”. It is fantastic to continue and intensify our collaboration with the Festival team, which began in 2017. Thank you especially to the Festival Director Gediminas Andriukaitis, and Justė Michailinaitė (our local manager in Vilnius) for the very productive collaboration.


Nepatogus Kinas / Inconvenient Films

The next phase of ESoDoc 2025 takes place from August 28 to October 4 (online) and from October 10 to 17 in Vilnius, in partnership with the Human Rights Film Festival and Inconvenient Films.

Thanks to our partnership, we have selected 2 filmmakers who will join the whole phase, culminating with the public pitch that will take place in Vilnius on October 15 and 16. Find out more about the two selected professionals and their projects on esodoc.eu.


Nepatogus Kinas / Inconvenient Films

Don’t miss Dieter Wieczorek’s take on Flowers of Ukrain by Adelina Borets (ESoDoc 22) in the latest Modern Times Review newsletter.

👉 bit.ly/MTR_FlowersOfUkraine

Are you a Ukrainian or Lithuanian filmmaker with a social doc project in the works?
ESoDoc – European Social Documentary, in partnership with Kinas / Inconvenient Films , is offering 2 spots for filmmakers from Lithuania and Ukraine to join our full training session this fall!

👉What’s in it for you?
🔹 Online training with international tutors
🔹 One-on-one mentorship to fine-tune your project & trailer
🔹A residential week in Vilnius (Oct 10–17) with screenings, Q&As, and an industry talk
🔹Final public pitch in front of a panel of international experts

If you’re working on a socially engaged project and want to bring it to the next level – don’t miss this opportunity!

Apply by August 1, 2025
Visit www.esodoc.eu

Goodbye Sommarøy!
We're heading home with full notebooks, open questions, strong connections – and more than a few things to think about.
This week at ESoDoc 2025 has been a deep dive into the art and craft of documentary storytelling. Here's a quick recap of the incredible sessions and speakers who guided us:
👉 A huge thank you for everything to Arktisk Film Norge with Terje André Nymark (CEO), Herdis Levang (Administration Officer) & Rachel Andersen Gomez (Film Consultant).
👉Inga von Staden kicked things off with an online workshop on building immersive storyworlds, setting the stage for our projects.
👉Heidi Gronauer, Sabine Bubeck-Paaz, Thomas Righetti, and Veronica Rungger welcomed us to Sommarøy, introducing the week's structure and goals.
👉Our mentors – Simon Jon Andreasen, Mark Atkin, Sebastian Baurmann, Raimo Lång, and Lena Thiele – led us through intensive group sessions, challenging us to rethink our narratives from multiple perspectives.
👉Sibylle Kurz offered invaluable one-on-one coaching, offering a guide through the creative chaos sparked by the mentors.
👉Joëlle Alexis shared her expertise in editing, emphasizing the importance of envisioning the final cut even before shooting begins.
👉Mark Atkin guided us in crafting compelling posters, pushing us to distill our stories into powerful visual representations.

From exploring thematic depths to honing our presentation skills, this week has been transformative.

Thank you to all the mentors, speakers, and fellow participants for making this experience unforgettable.