Documentary
Documentary
Documentary
Saturday 26th September 4.40pm
This year’s Documentary programme finds unforgettable true stories hiding in plain sight. Featuring daredevil divers, superstar show jumpers, and a family facing the past through the present, these films reveal captivating worlds and extraordinary characters. Spanning cultures and generations, expect to look again at the people, places and creatures we think we know.
Official Selection 2026
PLONGEURS
Dir: Hector Aponysus
In Marseille, young men known as Plongeurs leap from extreme heights into the Mediterranean Sea. Beyond the adrenaline, this romanticised yet dangerous ritual becomes a way for them to navigate modern friendship, masculinity, and the uneasy transition from boyhood to adulthood.
ABORTION PARTY
Dir: Julia Mellen
After managing to scrape together money to pay for an abortion after her Polish exchange student boyfriend gets her pregnant, the director decides to celebrate with a party. In attendance are her geriatric ska musician neighbour, semi-retired gang affiliates, her dirty gay roommate, and ever present bedbugs.
WE WERE THE SCENERY
Dir: Christopher Radcliff
After fleeing Vietnam in 1975, a newly married couple are recruited from their refugee camp to reenact the war as background extras in Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now. Through their daughter's voice, the film reflects on family history, conflict, and cinematic representation.
LAST RESORT
Dir: Bren Cukier
One week after being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, a father and his three daughters go on a family vacation to the same resort they visited 25 years ago. Archival and present-day footage is intertwined in a tender portrait of grief through the lens of memory and nostalgia.
A POCKET GUIDE TO PIGEON WATCHING
Dir: Adam Elliott
A glimpse into New York City's enduring relationship with pigeons, and what our closest avian neighbours reveal about us. Often dismissed as "flying rats," the birds emerge as resilient survivalists, inviting us to look again and recognise that coexistence is an act of choice.
NEIL ARMSTRONG AND THE LANGHOLMITES
Dir: Duncan Cowles
Neil Armstrong came back from the Moon in 1969, but it wasn’t until three years later when the people of a tiny Scottish town stepped in, that he finally got home.
AIR HORSE ONE
Dir: Lasse Linder
Training, Take-Off, Grand Prix. Legacy is one of the most valuable and celebrated horses in show jumping. In pursuit of victories, she is flown between competition venues across the globe in the business class of equine air travel: Air Horse One.
Discover this year’s programme
Animation 1 Animation 2 Change Comedy Documentary Drama Music Video Student Film