ESoDoc - European Social Documentary

08/10/2026

An artificial voice. A familiar authority. A blurred line between fact and fiction.

Meet Piotr Winiewicz, a Polish artist, filmmaker and scenographer based in Copenhagen, whose work explores the boundaries between reality and fiction.
His debut feature, About a Hero, uses AI trained on Werner Herzog’s work and a synthetic version of his voice to challenge ideas of originality, authenticity and the stories we trust. The film opened IDFA 2024.

👉Join us on 19 October at 20:20 at Cinema Skalvija, Vilnius, for a screening open to the public, followed by an online Q&A with Piotr Winiewicz.

Part of RE/FRAMED, the ESoDoc Industry Days at Inconvenient Films.

30/09/2026

Some memories refuse to stay in the past.

Meet Tomas Tamošaitis, the Lithuanian filmmaker behind Eyes of Shame. In this VR film, 14-year-old Eyeless is in a hospital for troubled teenagers when familiar sounds and ordinary moments begin to bring unfinished memories into the present.

After its presentation in the Venice Immersive competition, Eyes of Shame comes to Vilnius as part of the NK-INTERACTIVE exhibition. Tomas will also join the creators’ conversation at RE/FRAMED on 19 October, sharing insights into the making of the work.

📍 Vilnius · RE/FRAMED, the ESoDoc Industry Days at Inconvenient Films

30/09/2026

Some stories are meant to go beyond the screen.

Applications are open for Impact Zone, the Outreach & Impact Inspirational Lab presented by ESoDoc at WEMW 2027.

Designed for producers working on fiction or documentary projects, the lab offers a practical introduction to impact: defining the change you hope your story can contribute to, identifying audiences, and exploring ways to engage them.

Impact Zone takes place in Trieste, 17–19 January 2027, as part of When East Meets West. Producers from anywhere in the world can apply.

📌 Apply by 30 October 2026, 23:59 CET

Find the full details and application form on the WEMW website

28/09/2026

Q***r joy, difficult moments, and a world you can step into.

Meet Lillian Souwer, one of the developers behind Le***an Simulator, an interactive VR experience created by Iris van der Meule. Players create an avatar, meet people, go on dates and encounter moments of discrimination, all within a world that approaches its subject with humour and a touch of glitter.

On 19 October, Lillian will join the creators’ discussion at RE/FRAMED to talk about the process of developing an interactive experience and its possibilities for social impact.

📍 Vilnius · RE/FRAMED, the ESoDoc Industry Days at Inconvenient Films

More programme details coming soon.


Nepatogus Kinas / Inconvenient Films

01/09/2026

“Something gets to my heart and stays there. I need to admire the people I want to portray.”

In a new interview with Pure Nonfiction, filmmaker Manu Gerosa talks about the making of Low Lies the Land, ahead of its world premiere in the TIFF Docs programme.

Manu took part in ESoDoc in 2016. Ten years later, it is a pleasure to hear him reflect on the uncertainties, choices and discoveries behind his filmmaking.

Read the full interview:
purenonfiction.substack.com/p/monday-motivation-shooting-a-doc

29/08/2026

Thomas Righetti and Emanuele Vernillo are heading to Venice for the 83rd Venice International Film Festival.

If you’re there too and would like to meet, talk documentary, training, projects or possible collaborations, send us a DM or email us at [email protected]

See you in Venice!

17/08/2026

Two ESoDoc projects are heading to the Sarajevo Film Festival!

🎬 Electing Ms Santa, directed by Raisa Răzmeriță and developed at ESoDoc with producer Ion Gnatiuc (ESoDoc 2019), will have its regional premiere in the Documentary Competition.

🎬 All We Have Is Us, by Aline Juárez and Juan Francisco Donoso (ESoDoc 2025), will celebrate its world premiere as this year’s Human Rights Day film.

From projects developed around the ESoDoc table to films on the screens of Sarajevo , we’re very happy to see them there!

14/08/2026

“ALL WE HAVE IS US”, by Juan Donoso (ESoDoc 2025) and Aline Juarez, will premiere at the Sarajevo Film Festival on August 19. Be there!

12/02/2026

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

18/01/2026

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.