Posted: May 5
With festival season well underway, Spring 2026 is certainly one to remember for Java Films, with our documentary catalogue earning widespread acclaim, awards, and official selections at some of the world’s most prestigious documentary festivals. Here are a few of our Spring 2026 standouts:
Several of our newest titles have been making waves on the international stage. Ten years after the landmark original film introduced the world to ten Palestinian children struggling for survival, director Hernán Zin returns in Born in Gaza: We Are Still Here to find them – now adults – still determinedly pressing on. Still fighting to exist, to dream, and to hold onto their humanity amid the ongoing devastation in Gaza. The film has been nominated for the Goya Award for Best Documentary at the Goya Awards 2026 in Spain – a fitting recognition of its extraordinary emotional and political force.
Daniel Abma’s The Family Approach follows three dedicated youth workers at a residential home in Germany doing the near-impossible: working to give five children without a family warmth, safety, and stability, whilst navigating a system that too often works against them. Following an already remarkable awards run, this film also won the Grand Prize for the German Documentary Film Award at the Internationales Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg 2025, and earned itself a nomination among the finalists for Best Documentary at the German Film Awards 2026 (Deutschen Filmpreis): the Deutschen Filmpreis ceremony will take place in May. Additionally, Abma’s film was selected for Festival International Filmer le Travail in France, a festival dedicated to the world of work and those who document it, where it won the Student Jury Award.
Arne Focketyn’s Eat More Trees follows a handful of visionary farmers and scientists racing to prove that regenerative agriculture can turn the tide against land depletion – one field at a time. For its World Premiere, the resonant power of this film was recognised with the Audience Award at Belgium’s Film Festival Oostende 2026.
We are also delighted to celebrate a strong start for Solidarity, one of our most recently signed titles. Following selections at DOK.fest Munich and Solothurn Film Festival, the film earned a well-deserved place in the programme at FIFDH Geneva in March – one of the leading human rights film festivals in the world.
Zelensky continues to travel the world’s festival circuit. Building on its previous 2025 selections at Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival, Ji-hlava International Documentary Film Festival, DOC NYC and MOLDOX International Documentary Film Festival, the film has gone on to screen in 2026 at the Seattle Jewish Film Festival, the Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF), and DocLands Documentary Film Festival – and most recently took home the Special Jury Award at the Master of Art Film Festival in Bulgaria.
Across the wider catalogue, it has equally been a season to celebrate. So far in 2026, Cuba & Alaska has accumulated another impressive 15 selections following its award-winning run last year. 2026 selections include: Göteborg Film Festival (Sweden), Salem Film Fest (USA), One World International Human Rights Festival (Czech Republic), Sofia International Film Festival (Bulgaria), FIPADOC (France), Santa Barbara International Film Festival (USA), and Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (Greece).
Finally, the environmental strand of our catalogue remains as vital as ever: Cape Verde: The Reality Beyond the Tourism Resorts, Climate Refugees: A Global Challenge, and Planet Killers: The Tiger Cartel were selected for Festival du Film Vert 2026, a renowned itinerant environmental film festival in Switzerland.
We are incredibly proud of the filmmakers we represent and the impact their powerful stories continue to have around the globe. A huge thank you to everyone involved in bringing these documentaries to life, and to the audiences, juries, and festival programmers who champion them season after season. Here’s to another exciting year ahead.