THREE POLISH DOCUMENTARIES ON THE EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS SHORTLIST
Michał Marczak’s “Closure”, Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk’s “Traces”, and Andrei Kutsila’s “Letters from the Silenced Country” have been selected for the documentary shortlist of the 39th European Film Awards. The three Polish productions and co-productions are among just 15 documentaries still in the running for a nomination for one of Europe’s most prestigious film honours. The nominations will be announced on 14 November, while the 39th European Film Awards ceremony will take place in Athens on 16 January 2027.
This year’s European Film Awards Shortlist comprises 68 feature-length films from 40 European countries: 45 fiction films, 15 documentaries and eight animated films. Its announcement marks the first stage of the process leading to the nominations and, ultimately, the selection of the winners. In the coming weeks, around 5,700 members of the European Film Academy will watch the shortlisted films and vote for the nominations in the relevant categories. Being shortlisted therefore places the films directly before a broad community of European filmmakers and industry professionals with voting rights in the European Film Awards.
Among the 15 selected documentaries is Michał Marczak’s “Closure”, a Polish-French production by Braidmade Films. The film follows Daniel, the father of missing teenager Krzysztof, whose search for his son along the Vistula River gradually becomes the centre of his everyday life. As the months pass without answers, Daniel also begins helping other families searching for their missing loved ones.
“Closure” has already built a strong international festival profile. The film has screened at major events including Sundance, True/False and ZagrebDox, and won the Golden Alexander in the International Competition at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival. Its selection for the European Film Awards shortlist now marks another important step in its international journey.
The second Polish title on the shortlist is “Traces” by Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk, a Ukrainian-Polish co-production by 2Brave Productions and Message Film. The documentary gives voice to Ukrainian women who survived conflict-related sexual violence and torture during Russia’s war and who now refuse to remain silent in the face of stigma and impunity. Their individual experiences form a collective portrait of trauma, solidarity, resilience and the struggle to reclaim agency and seek justice. The official international title is “Traces”.
The film began its international festival journey at the Berlinale, where it received the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary, before travelling to festivals including CPH:DOX, Movies That Matter, Thessaloniki, Hot Docs and Millennium Docs Against Gravity. “Traces” was also selected as Ukraine’s official submission for the Academy Award® for Best International Feature Film.
The third film is Andrei Kutsila’s “Letters from the Silenced Country”, a Polish-German-Lithuanian co-production by DocEdu Foundation, inselfilm produktion and Moonmakers. Through the stories of people who have experienced imprisonment, repression and exile, the film creates a portrait of contemporary Belarus. Kutsila combines observational footage, archival and found materials, personal testimonies and animation based on drawings made in confinement, transforming private experiences into a broader reflection on the human cost of resisting an authoritarian system.
“Letters from the Silenced Country” premiered at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival, where it was presented in Venice Open – Out of Competition and received The Impact Golden Globes Prize for Documentary presented by Artemis Rising Foundation. The film has since continued its international festival journey. Its official English title, “Letters from the Silenced Country”, is used both by La Biennale di Venezia and the European Film Academy.
The presence of three Polish productions and co-productions on the documentary shortlist is particularly significant because the European Film Awards are one of the key milestones of the European awards season. The ceremony’s move to January places it closer to other major international awards events and is intended to strengthen the visibility of European films during the period leading up to the BAFTAs, Golden Globes and Academy Awards®.
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