Marjolein Busstra’s House of Hope Wins Best International Feature at Hot Docs

Alongside the Palestine-focused documentary, Dawood Hilmandi’s Paikar, a film connected to Afghanistan, was also among the winners at Hot Docs 2026

Among this year’s Hot Docs award winners, two films connected to the Middle East were recognized: House of Hope, directed by Marjolein Busstra, and Paikar, directed by Dawood Hilmandi.

In the same edition, several films with direct or thematic links to the Middle East and North Africa were part of the Hot Docs program. Souzian Dispatch previously published a separate overview of these films, from works about Palestine, Afghanistan and Iran to documentaries dealing with memory, exile, war, education and everyday life in the region. The report listed 17 films connected to Iran, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Türkiye, Morocco and Afghanistan.

Hot Docs 2026: A Look at Middle Eastern and North African Films

House of Hope wins at Hot Docs 2026

House of Hope, Directed by Marjolein Busstra

House of Hope is a Netherlands-Palestine production set in the West Bank. The film follows an elementary school run by a Palestinian couple who try to create a space for education, care and non-violent resistance for children living amid insecurity, occupation and daily pressure.

The film won the Hot Docs Best International Feature Documentary Award, supported by the Donner Canadian Foundation. The award comes with a $10,000 cash prize, and as Hot Docs is an Academy Awards-qualifying festival for feature documentaries, House of Hope will also qualify for consideration in the Best Documentary Feature category, provided it meets Academy rules.

In an earlier interview with Souzian Dispatch, Busstra said the film grew out of her long connection with Manar, whom she first met more than 15 years ago. She explained that the school uses Waldorf education and that, for the children, it offers rhythm, structure and space for expression. Busstra said the film follows Manar and Milad as they continue running the school in the West Bank under difficult daily conditions.

Busstra also spoke about the process of making the film with a Palestinian crew and producer. She said it was important for her to stay close to Manar’s personal experience while also showing the wider reality around the school. In the interview, she described the film as a story about education, family, responsibility and daily life in the occupied West Bank.

Paikar, Directed by Dawood Hilmandi

Paikar, directed by Dawood Hilmandi, won the Emerging International Filmmaker Award at Hot Docs 2026. The award comes with a $3,000 cash prize.

The film is a Netherlands production connected to Afghanistan and Iran. It follows Hilmandi’s personal search through family memory, migration and the long effects of war, moving between his life in exile and the history carried by his father and community.

I watched Paikar during the festival and had planned to follow the film through an interview with Dawood Hilmandi for Souzian Dispatch. Due to unexpected circumstances, the conversation could not take place during Hot Docs, but I hope to speak with him on another occasion.

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The presence of House of Hope and Paikar among this year’s Hot Docs winners also highlights the continued role of the Netherlands in international documentary cinema. House of Hope is a Netherlands-Palestine production, while Paikar is also produced in the Netherlands.

For many years, the Netherlands has been one of the active centres of documentary culture, most visibly through IDFA in Amsterdam, one of the world’s key platforms for non-fiction cinema. In this wider context, the recognition of these two films at Hot Docs 2026 also reflects the country’s long-standing attention to social documentary, international collaboration and stories that move across borders.

I warmly congratulate the filmmakers and teams behind House of Hope and Paikar on their recognition at Hot Docs 2026. I hope these films continue to find new audiences beyond the festival.

- Abbas Souzian, Istanbul