APPLICATION DEADLINE: AUGUST 10 2026

CHANGE RULES & REGULATIONS

CPH:DOX, Documentary Film Association of Ukraine, DOCUDAYS UA, EAVE and IMS are calling for eight teams with documentary projects in development from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Sakartvelo (Georgia), Moldova, and Ukraine.

We offer a tailor-made programme taking place over three residential workshops with the aim to stimulate and qualify inter-regional co-production and to connect documentary projects to regional and international markets. Participants are tutored by regional and international experts.

The first two workshops will consist of five full days of group work, plenaries, and individual meetings; the third workshop will take place CPH:DOX and consists of workshop days, pitching of the projects in the framework of CPH:FORUM as well as debrief of the pitching and development of strategies for the teams and projects after the workshop.

Between the workshops, participants will be working on project development with specific tasks and assignments.

THE WORKSHOPS*

DEVELOPMENT  -  November 4-10, 2026 in Chisinau

We dig deep into the core of what the teams want to tell, enforce the storytelling, and focus on the ambition for each film in terms of impact, awareness, change. 

CO-PRODUCTION  -  January 12-18, 2027  in Chisinau

We expand the participants’ knowledge of each other’s reality, production environment, and financing structures. The pros and cons of co-production are used to strengthen each project, preparing them to meet the international market.

ENCOUNTER – March 13-18 2027 during CPH:DOX in Copenhagen

The projects will be presented in the framework of the CPH:FORUM in round-table format and encounter the international market leading to the formulation of tailored strategies for each project.

*IMS is currently funding CHANGE through the New Democracy Fund, which ends in 2026. IMS expects to confirm the underlying programme framework for 2027 later in 2026. Workshop 1 is confirmed. Workshops 2 and 3 are planned and expected to take place, subject to that confirmation.

THE PARTICIPANTS

Upcoming teams – director and producer – with a documentary project in development from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Sakartvelo (Georgia), Moldova, and Ukraine can apply and we are committed to equal opportunity to all. We focus on projects set in these countries, projects that are open for co-production, and we welcome projects in the crossing field between documentary and journalism.

The working language is English, and participants should be comfortable with reading, writing, and speaking English.

The film project has to:

• Cover interesting topics in a professional way

• Want to reach the audiences and be a call for action.

• Want to impact public debate

• Have an ambition to lead to potential social, political, or cultural change.

There is no participation fee as CHANGE provides tutoring, travel, accommodation, and meals. Participants will cover local transportation themselves.

Application deadline: 10 August 2026

The application form can be downloaded here. For further information, please contact Darya Bassel, [email protected]. 

Some of the applicants might be invited for an online interview in August, to further clarify the application. Final selection will be announced in early September 2026. 

Promotional partners for this call: 

• Golden Apricot and ArmDoc - Armenia

• DokuBaku - Azerbaijan

• Northern Lights - Belarus

• DOCA - Sakartvelo (Georgia)

• Moldox - Moldova

We wish to also thank the National Film School of Denmark for their collaboration.

THE PARTNERSHIP BEHIND CHANGE

CHANGE is initiated and funded by IMS through the New Democracy Fund.

CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, is one of the biggest documentary film festivals in the world. A festival that continues to develop and expand, presenting a program that ranges from the works of major international directors to new talents, from large-scale theatrical releases to film/video works in the field between cinema and visual art. The festival’s platform for professionals, CPH:INDUSTRY, attracting 2.000+ professional delegates annually, has established itself as a fundamental European documentary marketplace, offering a wide range of activities and services connecting independent documentary film producers and filmmakers with the major international funds, broadcasters, streaming platforms, sales agents, as well as art curators, science foundations, impact bodies, traditional and alternative exhibitors, investors and philanthropists in the fields related to cinema – and beyond.

Docudays UA is Ukraine’s premier annual human rights documentary film festival. Based in Kyiv, the festival features competitive and non-competitive film programs, an interdisciplinary art showcase, panel discussions, workshops, and a dedicated industry platform. Following the main week in Kyiv, Docudays UA brings its top films to various Ukrainian regions via a traveling festival from October through December. The 23rd edition of Docudays UA took place from June 5–12, 2026, drawing at least 26,000 attendees and reaching over 3 million people through its media campaign. Following the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, Docudays UA has expanded its scope to focus extensively on cultural diplomacy. This direction centers on promoting Ukrainian culture, spreading the truth about the Russian war against Ukraine, and advocating decolonial practices within Ukrainian and Eastern European cinema. 

EAVE is a professional training, project development and networking organization for audiovisual producers. Founded in 1988, our objectives are to provide professional training opportunities and to bring producers from different regions of the world together with the aim of facilitating co-production relationships. We believe that the support of independent voices, creative imagination and culturally driven companies within the global media industries is an urgent necessity in the 21st century. Through our work we aim to contribute towards the creation of strong networks of producers and to encourage the exchange of knowledge and skills which will strengthen independent production across the world.

IMS, International Media Support, is promoting journalism and documentary film to strengthen the capacity of media to reduce conflict, strengthen democracy and facilitate dialogue. Our work is geared towards helping locally-based public interest media operating in armed conflicts, humanitarian crises and rapid political change, both positive and negative, to provide the public and “civic organizations” with public interest content they can trust and use. We work in more than 40 countries across four continents with a staff of about 150 people.

The Documentary Film Association of Ukraine is an open professional association of creators working with audiovisual art based on documentary material. It brings together more than 70 members from the Ukrainian documentary film community.

The Association strengthens the professional agency of Ukrainian documentary filmmakers, represents the industry internationally, contributes to cultural policy, and builds cooperation with public institutions. Its work is guided by responsibility, professionalism, transparency, ethics, community-building, and a human-centered approach.