Doc.Berlin Documentary Film Festival

Doc.Berlin is a documentary film festival held over four days at the Babylon, the 1920s cinema by architect Hans Poelzig on Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz in Berlin-Mitte. Its programme of around 30 short and feature-length documentaries from around the world favours up-and-coming independent filmmakers and films on current social issues. The festival accepts documentaries in any form – expository, observational, essayistic, poetic, animated or hybrid – up to 120 minutes, and its award categories reflect that range, from cinéma vérité, essay and found-footage films to animated, experimental and LGBTQ+ documentaries, with a separate award for German documentaries.

Doc.Berlin is a partner of The Bigger Screen: every selected filmmaker receives the Tarkovski Grant, a package of submission-fee waivers for other partner festivals, and filmmakers from the countries chosen each year for the Connecting Cultures programme can submit free of charge. The dates of the 2026 edition are 7–10 December 2026.