EXCLUSIVE: The DOXA Documentary Film Festival – Western Canada’s largest nonfiction film showcase – today announced the lineup for its 25th anniversary edition.
The festival, running April 30-May 10 in Vancouver, will open with live cinematic performance piece Bella Sutra, directed and narrated by OK Pedersen and accompanied by musicians Eden Glasman and Jakob Tokarczyk. It’s described as “a personal essay about life as an innkeeper in Bella Coola, BC. With honesty and levity, the piece reflects on our current communication crisis, the rural/urban philosophical divide, and the myth of progress.”
The festival’s Mid-Week Gala presentation will be the BC Premiere of Concrete Turned to Sand, directed by local filmmakers Jessica Johnson and Ryan Ermacora. The film follows oyster farmers on Cortes Island, BC, “and observes the shifting intertidal zone under the pressures of ocean warming and acidification.” The directors will also participate in an Industry Panel on May 2.
‘Time and Water’
National Geographic
The BC premiere of Time and Water, from Oscar-nominated director Sara Dosa, will serve as DOXA’s Closing Gala presentation. The National Geographic documentary, which premiered at Sundance, explores the disappearing glaciers of Iceland through the work of author and filmmaker Andri Snær Magnason.
Scroll for the full lineup.
Films holding their world premiere at DOXA 2026 include Under the Red Roof by Yushi Nagamatsu; Illustrated Legacies: Graveyard of the Pacific by Tanner Zurkoski, and The Flower and the Flood by Elisa González and Bubba by Kayli Koonar.
‘American Doctor’
Watermelon Pictures
Among other highlights, the DOXA program will feature American Doctor, directed by Poh Si Teng; Bouchra, directed by Orian Yani Barki and Meriem Bennani; Traces, from directors Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk; Nicolas Wadimoff’s Who is Still Alive; Steal This Story, Please!, directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin; Windward, directed by Sharon Lockhart; Sky Hopkina’s Powwow People; Alea Jacarandas, from director Hassen Ferhani; Life After Siham, directed by Namir Abdel Messeeh, and The Oldest Person in the World, directed by Sam Green.
Local features with filmmakers in attendance include Namesake təm kʷaθ nan, Green Valley, Touching Rocks, In Tyee Country, and The Latest News from ‘Deseret.’
DOXA
“We are excited to celebrate 25 festival editions highlighting important, entertaining and relevant documentary films,” commented Artistic Director Sarah Ouazzani. “This is an important milestone, and we are pleased to share a great program with the Vancouver film community once again this year, including a slate of innovative short films, a diverse range of International and Canadian features, and a thought-provoking and informative series of Industry events.”
DOXA’s Justice Forum returns for its 16th year, “highlighting films that showcase resistance, environmental justice and human rights.” Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom, directed by Kim Nguyen, serves as the Justice Forum Special Presentation. “The film explores the connection between two families and the famous photograph Saigon Execution.”
South Korea is DOXA’s 2026 Country of Honor, with guest curation by Byungwon Jang, head programmer of the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival. That lineup includes feature films Beyond Now, Nyein (2025) and Untold (2021), and short films The Silent Bearers (2023) and Last May in Theatres (2025).
“Returning to the festival this year is DOXA’s Rated Y for Youth–a program of films curated to foster media literacy in youths,” notes a release. “The popular paraDOXA program, which spotlights experimental and boundary-pushing documentaries, will return for its second year. In addition, DOXA’s robust industry program will feature panels and masterclasses, as well as a series of free workshops and a surprise screening held in partnership with VPL’s Central Library.”
The entire DOXA Documentary Film Festival Lineup Includes:
FEATURE FILMS:
Bella Sutra (Canada) *film performance
Director: OK Pedersen
Green Valley (Canada)
Director: Morgan Tams
The Latest News from ‘Deseret’ (Canada)
Director: Christopher Pavsek
Illustrated Legacies: Graveyard of the Pacific (Canada)
Director: Tanner Zurkoski
təm kʷaθ nan – Namesake (Canada)
Director: Evan Adams & Eileen Francis
Concrete Turned to Sand (Canada)
Director: Jessica Johnson, Ryan Ermacora
In Tyee Country (Canada)
Director: Jevan Crittenden & Nate Slaco
Soul of the Foot (Turkey/Canada)
Director: Mustafa Uzuner
致亞歷珊卓 To Alexandra (Canada/USA/China)
Director: Yi Cui
Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom (Canada)
Director: Kim Nguyen
There Are No Words (Canada)
Director: Min Sook Lee
Partition / تقسیم (Canada/Lebanon/Palestine)
Director: Diana Allan
Kindergarten (Canada)
Director: Jean-François Caissy
The Sandbox (Canada)
Director: Kenya-Jade Pinto
Puntos de fuga (Vanishing Points) (Canada, Colombia)
Director: Lina Rodriguez
Untold (South Korea)
Director: Bora Lee-Kil
Bouchra (Italy, Morocco, United States)
Director: Orian Barki, Meriem Bennani
Time and Water (USA, Iceland)
Director: Sara Dosa
Powwow People (USA)
Director: Sky Hopinka
Beyond Now, Nyein (South Korea)
Director: Lim Daecheong
Life After Siham (France, Egypt)
Director: Namir Abdel Messeeh
Under the Red Roof (Japan)
Director: Yushi Nagamatsu
Enough is Enough (France & Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Director: Elisé Sawasawa
Remake (USA)
Director: Ross McElwee
AND THE FISH FLY ABOVE OUR HEADS (Lebanon/France/Saudi-Arabia
Director: Dima El-Horr
WINDWARD (USA/Canada)
Director: Sharon Lockhart
Replica (Australia/France)
Director: Chouwa Liang
The Life that Will Come/ La vida que Vendrá (Chile/Colombia)
Director: Karin Cuyul
Numakage Public Pool (Japan)
Director: Shingo Ota
What Comes from Sitting in Silence? (France, South Korea, Switzerland, USA)
Director: Sophie Schrago
Alea Jacarandas (Algeria, France)
Director: Hassen Ferhani
Amílcar (Spain/France/Portugal/Cabo Verde/Sweden)
Director: Miguel Eek
AMERICAN DOCTOR (United States/State of Palestine/Malaysia/Qatar)
Director: Poh Si Teng
Ça reste entre nous (Iran)
Director: Maryam Shapoorian
Frío Metal (México)
Director: Clemente Castor
Who is Still Alive (Switzerland, Palestine, France)
Director: Nicolas Wadimoff
Traces (Ukraine/Poland)
Director: Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk
Steal This Story, Please! (USA, East Timor, Nigeria)
Director: Carl Deal & Tia Lessin
Stories of a Lie (Greece/France)
Director: Olia Verriopoulou
The Oldest Person in the World (USA)
Director: Sam Green
SHORTS & MID-LENGTH
Au Hasard (Canada)
Director: Darren Dominique Heroux
Tuktuit : Caribou (Canada)
Director: Lindsay McIntyre
Mirrorpond (Canada)
Director: Christopher Pavsek
The Flower and the Flood (Canada)
Director: Elisa González
BAEA (USA)
Director: Terra Long
Living Containers (Canada, USA)
Director: Kara Hansen
Bubba (Canada)
Director: Kayli Koonar
Touching Rocks (Canada)
Director: Laurence Olivier
Last Evenings on Earth (Canada)
Director: Ralitsa Doncheva
Morning Circle (Canada, United Arab Emirates)
Director: Basma al-Sharif
Momentum (Canada)
Director: Nada El-Omari
TIGERS CAN BE SEEN IN THE RAIN (Colombia, Canada)
Director: Oscar Ruiz Navia
FELT (USA, Spain, Canada)
Director: Blake Williams
Last May in Theaters (Indonesia/South Korea)
Director: Arief Budiman
The Silent Bearers 조용한 선박들 (South Korea)
Director: Yeoreum Jeong
Ndjimu (USA/DRC)
Director: Petna Ndaliko Katondolo
IS GANG STALKING REAL (USA)
Director: Theodore Collatos
Niña Chilapa – Chilapa Girl (Colombia)
Director: Juana Lotero López
Filme-Copacabana (Brazil)
Director: Sofia Leão
Le Meilleur Spectateur de la pièce historique qui se joue sur terre (France)
Director: taleb lachheb
Their Eyes (France)
Director: Nicolas Gourault
As Far As We Imagine (Belgium, Netherlands)
Director: Raouf Moussa
Intersecting Memory (Palestine, France)
Director: Shayma’ Awawdeh
Okay Keskidee! Let Me See Inside (UK)
Director: Rhea Storr
Shelly’s Leg (USA)
Director: Wes Hurley
Words Fly Back to the Black Earth (USA/China)
Director: Xiao Zhang
an open field (South Africa/ France/ Germany/Ethiopia)
Director: Teboho Edkins
The Phalanx (USA)
Director: Ben Balcom
Buckskin (USA)
Director: Mars Verrone
