IDFA Bertha Fund selects six projects for IBF Europe 2026

The IBF Europe scheme supports collaborations between European producers and filmmakers from across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania, contributing to independent documentary ecosystems and long-term fair and international partnerships.

This year's selection brings together six cinematic documentary projects that explore themes including memory, family, grief, and the lasting impact of political change, while demonstrating a wide range of artistic approaches. 

Across this year's selection, several projects explore how personal and collective histories continue to shape the present. From a father and daughter navigating a race against time due to an Alzheimer's diagnosis, to lives unfolding beside Havana’s oldest cemetery, several films trace the ways memory is carried across generations. 

One of the selected projects remains anonymous to ensure the safety of their team. In some production contexts, limiting public visibility remains an important condition for filmmakers to continue developing their work safely. Please read more about the five available projects below. 

• Captain by Laura Otálora
• GORBEJ by Iheb Abidi
• The Grave and the Kite by Aileen Reyes Herrera, Frank Ernesto Fernández
• Oh Heart, Don't Be Afraid by Ana Kvichidze
• Land of Evanescence by Trang Thi Xuan Nguyen

"This year’s selection follows a record number of applications, with entries to IBF Europe doubling over the past three years. It’s very encouraging to see that meaningful collaborations and fair co-production practices are becoming the preferred standard for international documentary co-financing and distribution strategies. As finding funding is becoming increasingly difficult for creative documentary filmmaking teams, fair co-production practices provide a more transparent, balanced, and equal framework for a sustainable global documentary ecosystem." – Selin Murat, Executive Director IDFA Bertha Fund 

The IDFA Bertha Fund also welcomed co-produced by Parabellum Film (Germany) as part of the IBF Europe 2025 cohort, following the withdrawal of another selected project—ensuring that the available support could continue reaching independent documentary production. 

Renko Douze, Fabien Greenberg , Gugi Gumilang, Laura Horwitz, Selin Murat, Bianca Oana, Mohamed Ouma, Melanie de Vocht.

The IDFA Bertha Fund (IBF) is dedicated to strengthening independent, author-driven documentary filmmaking in regions and communities where access to funding and distribution for independent creative documentary film is structurally challenging—across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Oceania. The Fund supports filmmakers working in contexts without robust public–private funding structures or where censorship restricts creative independence. 

The next IBF Europe entry deadline is January 15, 2027. Entries are open to projects from mid-production to post-production stage. Visit the IDFA Bertha Fund to find more information on the Fund’s activities and deadlines. 

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IBF Europe is supported by the Creative Europe – MEDIA programme of the European Union.

[Film still: Land of Evanescence by Trang Thi Xuan Nguyen]