CHANGE Co-Production Training Programme: Selection Announcement for 2026/2027

CHANGE is a collaboration between CPH:DOX, the world’s leading documentary film festival supporting independent and innovative filmmaking, EAVE, one of Europe’s leading training, development, and networking organisations for producers, IMS (International Media Support), a non-profit organisation working to promote journalism and documentary film to reduce conflict, strengthen democracy and facilitate dialogue. For the first time, the programme is also carried out in partnership with Docudays UA and The Documentary Film Association of Ukraine.

The CHANGE programme seeks to increase equality and access in the international film market by fostering inter-regional co-productions. It connects filmmakers, producers, and projects from the Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries with global film professionals at CPH:DOX, creating opportunities for collaboration and elevating diverse voices on the international stage.

The programme aims to improve the participants’ skills in refining their projects’ content, core themes and goals. It also focuses on strengthening their abilities in regional and international collaboration and co-production, and navigating the financing structures and the production environment. By the end of the programme, participants are ready to encounter the international market and present their projects on a global platform during CPH:DOX 2027.

The selected projects in the sixth round explore compelling new stories from the region, ranging from large-scale political narratives to intimate and personal stories. The projects offer nuanced perspectives and diverse artistic approaches, showcasing the talent of this new cohort of filmmakers who are confronting some of the most pressing challenges of our time with creativity and courage.

The CHANGE co-production training course will begin in Chisinau, Moldova in November 2026 and will combine masterclasses and group work sessions, as well as individual meetings for the eight selected producer-director teams. The same participants will continue to work together in the second workshop in January 2027, again in Chisinau, Moldova. The programme will culminate in Copenhagen, Denmark in March 2027 with a third workshop and the presentation of the projects to the international industry as part of CPH:FORUM during CPH:DOX.*

“437” Black Work White Gloves, prod. Naira Sargsyan, dir. Harutyun Melkonyan, Armenia
Carnation: From happiness to Sadness, prod. Alemdar Faig Dadashov, dir. Matlab Muktharov, Azerbaijan
Close Distant Voice, prod. Ivanna Khitsinska, dir. Anna Sorokolit, Ukraine
Sunrises of Adulthood, prod. Galina Vasilieva, dir. Marina Shupac, Moldova
The Johnny Cosmic Effect, dir. Maksim Shved and Co, Belarus
The Last Messenger, prod. & dir. Anton Shtuka, Ukraine
There’s No Place, prod. Daniela Hulbytska, dir. Bohdana Smyrnova, Ukraine
Tutarchela, prod. Natali Chkhartishvili, dir. Lela Jobava, Georgia

THE PARTNERSHIP BEHIND CHANGE

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

IMS is a non-profit organisation working to promote 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 organisations with public interest content they can trust and use. We work in more than 40 countries across four continents with a staff of about 170 people.

EAVE is a professional training, project development and networking organisation 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.

CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, is a world leading documentary film festival supporting independent and innovative filmmaking and presenting the best and brightest in contemporary non-fiction film. The festival is known and widely respected for radically changing the documentary landscape with a focus on challenging the genre with cross over to other art forms, and for advancing art as an active voice in civil society. Annually presenting approx. 200 films, the annual festival’s audience has grown to more than 150.000, and our industry platform, championing high-end cinematic and hybrid filmmaking welcomes annually nearly 2,000 industry professionals from a wide variety of sectors across creative documentary, hybrid non-fiction, visual arts, journalism and science. CPH:INDUSTRY includes a pitch platform CPH:FORUM, CPH:MARKET services for finished films, a talent development programme for immersive media CPH:LAB, and a programme for emerging filmmakers INTRO:DOX.

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.

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.

Promotional partners for the CHANGE call are Golden Apricot and ArmDoc (Armenia), DokuBaku (Azerbaijan), Northern Lights (Belarus), DOCA (Georgia), Moldox (Moldova).

Find more information about CHANGE HERE.

*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.