Category: News

  • Introducing our European project  ANOTHER STORY

    Introducing our European project  ANOTHER STORY

    Introducing our European project  ANOTHER STORY

    The HER Docs Foundation’s activities now extend beyond Poland through collaboration with five partners across Europe. Together, we aim to bring into the spotlight the work of selected women directors – creators of extraordinary documentary films who remain largely unknown to wider audiences. Thanks to the ANOTHER STORY project, viewers across Europe will have the opportunity to discover and be inspired by their remarkable films.

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    This is not the film history you know. ANOTHER STORY joins the existing feminist movement to recover women’s documentary cinema for audiences around Europe and rewrite the history in a way it should be told: with multitude of voices and women’s perspective on reality.

    Everyone Knows Who Is Behind Whom, dir. Maria Zmarz-Koczanowicz

    The mission of ANOTHER STORY is to enhance the visibility, accessibility, and circulation of overlooked works by women filmmakers, spark curiosity, encourage dialogue, and share their artistic visions and cultural contributions. By reconnecting with the legacy of pioneering women in film, the project aims to inspire future generations of documentary creators while contributing to a collective pan-European effort to reshape film history through education, participation, and rediscovery.

    Nightshift, dir. Robina Rose

    Moving between intimate domestic spaces and the structures of institutional power, the programme traces gestures of resistance, confronts social taboos, and lingers on the politics embedded in everyday life. As diverse in form as in subject, the films stretch the boundaries of documentary itself. Told in a poetic, risk-taking language—at times blurring documentary and fiction, at others embracing the experimental—they are formally inventive, politically sharp, and emotionally precise. Still urgent now.

    ANOTHER STORY is a two-year collaboration between five European partners: HER Docs Foundation (Poland), Festival dei Popoli (Italy), The Good Media Network / Doxumentale (Germany), Balkan Documentary Center / Sofia DocuMental (Bulgaria) and Cineuropa (Belgium).

    More information about the project and a full film catalog will you find on ANOTHER STORY website and social media profiles:

    Website
    Instagram
    Facebook
  • HER DOCS WARM-UP: summer screenings

    HER DOCS WARM-UP: summer screenings

    HER DOCS WARM-UP: summer screenings

    The summer film warm-up for HER Docs Film Festival 2026 is here! Join us for the second edition of HER Docs Summer Cinema.
    We’ll be spending Warsaw’s summer evenings together under the open sky—with deck chairs, beautiful sunsets, and unforgettable female protagonists whose stories stay with you long after the credits roll.

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    This July and August, HER Docs WARM-UP returns with a series of summer screenings. As a prelude to the upcoming 6th edition of HER Docs Film Festival, WARM-UP is an opportunity to revisit films from previous editions that continue to spark conversations, raise questions, and inspire discussion. These films not only explore timely issues and introduce extraordinary women protagonists, but also gain new layers of meaning and resonate even more strongly with the passage of time.

    Join us for free screenings of films from past festival editions: discover the untold story of the women who created the earliest instruments still used in electronic music today; meet a feminist journalism collective challenging the ethics of politically driven media; explore the story of the best-selling lesbian magazine in history; and follow the mysterious hotel receptionist whose visions blur the boundaries between dreams and reality.

    HER Docs WARM-UP will take place at cultural venues across Warsaw: Plac Zabaw on the Vistula River, Turnus in its new location on Emilia Plater Street, Letnie Kino Tęcza, and the Kinomuzeum at the Museum of Modern Art in Warsaw.

    PROGRAM:

    Sisters with Transistors, dir. Lisa Rovner
    22 July | 8:30 PM | Plac Zabaw by the Vistula
    This documentary uncovers the untold story of the pioneering women of electronic music. It follows visionary composers who embraced new technologies as a tool of creative freedom, transforming the way music is made and heard today.

    Writing with Fire, dir. Sushmit Ghosh & Rintu Thomas
    28 July | Tęcza Summer Cinema
    In the male-dominated world of Indian media, the country’s only newspaper run entirely by Dalit women (formerly known as “untouchables,” historically placed at the bottom of India’s caste hierarchy) challenges both social and political power structures. Armed with smartphones, chief reporter Meera and her team break barriers as they cover the nation’s biggest stories while confronting inequality within their own homes. A powerful story about courage, journalism, and redefining what strength means.

    Ahead of the Curve, dir. Rivkah Beth Medow & Jen Rainin
    Date to be announced | Turnus Café & Komuna Warszawa
    Through a fortunate chain of events and extraordinary determination, Franco Stevens founded Curve—the best-selling lesbian magazine in history. As the publication’s future becomes uncertain, Franco enters into dialogue with a new generation of queer activists, exploring the role Curve can play in a rapidly changing world.  

    Nightshift, dir. Robina Rose
    27 August | MSN Museum Cinema
    The receptionist of a small hotel begins experiencing ethereal visions while carrying out her nightly routine. Time stretches, and the liminal space of the hotel dissolves the boundaries between reality and imagination. As the night unfolds, a web of interconnected stories gradually comes to light. 

    Admission to all screenings is free.

    Partners: Komuna Warszawa, Plac Zabaw, Andrzej Wajda Centre for Film Culture, Turnus Cafe.
    The 6th HER Docs Film Festival, celebrating women’s non-fiction filmmaking, will take place 1–6 October 2026 in Warsaw.
    HER Docs Film Festival is co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage through the Culture Promotion Fund, the Polish Film Institute, the ZAiKS Authors’ Association, and Creative Europe MEDIA.

  • OPEN CALL: Polish Short Films at HER Docs Film Festival

    OPEN CALL: Polish Short Films at HER Docs Film Festival

    OPEN CALL: Polish Short Films at HER Docs Film Festival

    Submissions are now open for the showcase of Polish short films at HER Docs 2026!

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    We love short-form cinema, especially works that experiment with form, tell unconventional stories at the intersection of art and non-fiction and explore diverse filmmaking techniques such as video art and animation. The HER Docs showcase is an annual short film program accompanied by Q&A sessions with the filmmakers.

    What films are we looking for?

    • Works created within the broad field of non-fiction, including documentary films, experimental films, animations and video works;
    • Films produced in Poland, Polish co-productions or works by Polish filmmakers produced abroad;
    • Running time of up to 30 minutes;
    • Films produced in 2025 or 2026.

    We welcome submissions from women, non-binary, and gender-diverse filmmakers.

    The submission deadline is June 30, 2026.

    Detailed information about the regulations and the submission form can be found here:

    SUBMISSION FORM
  • HER Docs Film Festival coming back in October 2026!

    HER Docs Film Festival coming back in October 2026!

    HER Docs Film Festival coming back in October 2026!

    The 2026 edition of the HER Docs Film Festival will take place on October 1–6, 2026. The first program announcements are coming soon, but in the meantime – save the dates in your calendars!

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    Each year, the HER Docs Festival presents films that stay with audiences long after the screening ends and spark conversations that continue well beyond the cinema. We invite directors, as well as other women filmmakers, to meet with audiences, and above all, we strive to create a safe and welcoming space for discussion and exchange of ideas. As always, the festival will feature a showcase of the latest Polish short films that push boundaries of documentary cinema. The special ANOTHER STORY section will highlight surprising and often overlooked works by women filmmakers whose contributions are rarely found in film history textbooks.

    The festival will also host the annual HER Docs Forum, an industry event for professional women documentary filmmakers working across different fields of the non-fiction sector. More information coming soon!