In the programme of the 28th edition of the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (March 5 – 15, 2026), two Slovak documentary films are included in the Open Horizons section.
Yesterday, the feature-length film We Have to Survive by Slovak director Tomáš Krupa had its world premiere in Thessaloniki. The film was made as a Slovak–French–Austrian co-production, with Krupa also serving as producer (HAILSTONE). In the section of the same name dedicated to short films, the observational poetic documentary Seablindness (dir. Tereza Smetanová) celebrated its Greek premiere. Since its simultaneous premiere last year at Doclisboa and MFDF Ji.hlava, the film has successfully continued its festival run.
At the 23rd edition of the prestigious Danish documentary film festival CPH:DOX (March 11 – 22, 2026), the feature-length documentary Becoming Ema by Patricia Drati, a director of Slovak-Ugandan origin living in Denmark, will have its world premiere. Her debut film, made as a Danish–Slovak–Spanish co-production, competes in the Next:Wave Award section dedicated to innovative films by emerging artists and filmmakers. The Slovak co-producer of the film is Marcel Pázmán (FRAME FILM).
In the Highlights section, which showcases films with strong protagonists and titles resonating on the international festival circuit, the Copenhagen audience will also see the feature film Better Go Mad in the Wild by Slovak documentary filmmaker Miro Remo. Since its premiere at Karlovy Vary IFF last year, the film has been successfully screened at numerous festivals and showcases. Remo also produced the film himself (Arsy-Versy).
| Open Horizons |
Director: Tomáš Krupa
Production: HAILSTONE (SK)
Co-production: Yuzu Productions (FR), Golden Girls Filmproduktion & Filmservices (AT), Slovak Television and Radio (SK), Arte (FR)
Slovak producer: Tomáš Krupa
Sales: Taskovski Films, Irena Taskovski, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Screnings:
March 11 | 20.00 | Frida Liappa
March 13 | 14.00 | Makedonikon
SK – FR – AT | 2026 | 102 min. | documentary film
We Have to Survive is a cinematic odyssey across our one shared home—Earth—capturing the extraordinary ways people adapt, endure, and find hope as our planet transforms. Filmed across four countries and several continents, the film invites us into different “rooms” of our global home: the fragile Outer Banks of the USA, where the ocean slowly reclaims the land; the vast Mongolian desert, where a family plants trees against the wind; the underground town of Coober Pedy in Australia, where people build their lives beneath the burning earth; and the icy shores of Greenland, where ancient fishing traditions melt into new beginnings. Through intimate, character-driven stories, We Have to Survive reveals not only the challenges of a changing world but the unbreakable spirit of those who call it home.
| Open Horizons – Shorts |
Director: Tereza Smetanová
Production: Film and Television Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts Bratislava (SK)
Co-production: CinePunkt (SK)
Slovak producer: Tereza Tokárová
Sales: Film and Television Faculty, Erika Paulinská, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Screening:
March 9 | 16.00 | Tonia Marketaki
SK | 2025 | 29 min. | documentary film
90% of everything we consume is shipped to us by boat. Seablindness explores the environment in which land meets the sea, the interstitial space of ports where capital is concentrated and distributed. On a journey along the varied edges, we intercept a radio communication between a port official and an abandoned seafarer overcome by a strange sickness. The documentary poem explores ecological anxiety. It is not, however, about the people who feel it, but for them.
| Next:Wave Award |
Director: Patricia Drati
Production: Good Company Pictures (DK)
Co-production: FRAME FILM (SK), PlayLab Films (ES)
Slovak co-producer: Marcel Pázmán
Sales: Good Company Pictures, Maria Helga Stürup, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Screnings:
March 15 | 16.30 | Grand Teatret
March 16 | 15.00 | Dagmar Teatret
March 18 | 17.00 | Dagmar Teatret
DK – SK – ES | 2026 | 83 min. | documentary film
Becoming Ema follows a young woman who defies her parents’ expectations and societal norms to ‘become someone’. Ema and her husband, Tomas, decide to step out of the hamster wheel of modern life, investing their savings in a rural plot of land to embrace a life close to nature and the transformative power of motherhood. Ema’s choice to prioritize family over having financial security and a career creates a deep rift with her parents, who struggle to accept her decisions. As Ema and Tomas navigate financial hardships and unresolved generational trauma, Ema undergoes therapy and deep self-reflection. She discovers that the validation she seeks from her parents must come from within herself. Becoming Ema is an exploration of motherhood in all its nuances, belonging and self-acceptance.
| Highlights |
Director: Miro Remo
Production: Arsy-Versy (SK), nutprodukce (CZ)
Co-production: Czech Television (CZ)
Slovak producer: Miro Remo
Sales: Filmotor, Michaela Čajková, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Screnings:
March 14 | 14.30 | Gloria Biograf
March 17 | 19.00 | Valby Kino Sal 1
March 21 | 21.15 | Dagmar Teatret
CZ – SK | 2025 | 84 min. |documentary film
Franta and Ondra, eternal children and inseparable twins, live in a quietly magical world with their beloved animals. They share every moment, every thought, every routine. Outwardly they appear identical, yet inside they are two entirely different souls. Over time, their closeness begins to suffocate. Franta yearns for freedom, for flight, for life beyond the walls they share. Ondra remains rooted, content in the familiar, closed to change. Their bond begins to fray. Can they ever truly separate? How do you escape a world that wears your face? In the end, will love endure or will only death set them apart?
