DOK.fest München 2026 Highlights Films From MENA And Nearby Regions

Festival Coverage | Munich, 6-25 May 2026 | Films connected to MENA, Afghanistan, Armenia and Georgia

The 41st DOK.fest München takes place from 6 to 25 May 2026, with cinema screenings in Munich and online access through dok@home. The festival brings together a wide international programme of documentary films, with stories moving through family memory, migration, exile, identity, rural life and political history.

At this festival, my coverage focuses on films connected to the Middle East, North Africa, Afghanistan, Armenia and Georgia. Based on the official DOK.fest München 2026 programme, several titles are linked to these regions through their production background, subject matter, language or cultural context.

This first report gathers these films in one place as an opening overview of their presence at DOK.fest München 2026. In the coming days, I will continue following the programme and hope to publish interviews with some of the filmmakers, along with further coverage on Souzian Dispatch.

Souzian Dispatch Covers MENA Films at the Munich International Documentary Film Festival

Iran

The Last Girl 

Director: Daryoush Gharibzadeh
Production: Iran
Story: Maryam has Down syndrome and lives in the mountains of southern Iran with her parents. Over 14 years, the film follows her daily life with animals, family and landscape, as her siblings gradually move to the city and she remains close to the world she knows.
Screenings: Thursday, May 7, 4:00 PM; Sunday, May 10, 6:00 PM; Wednesday, May 13, 6:00 PM; Friday, May 15, 6:30 PM
Venue: Atelier 1; Bellevue di Monaco; Gasteig HP8 Projektor; HFF - Kino 1

A Fox Under A Pink Moon

Directors: Mehrdad Oskouei, Soraya Akhalaghi
Production: Denmark, France, Iran, United Kingdom, United States
Story: Sixteen-year-old Soraya leaves Iran for Europe in search of her mother. Through pictures, songs and sculptures, she records the things that give her strength, turning a journey of loneliness and displacement into a self-narrated search for connection.
Screenings: Saturday, May 9, 3:30 PM; Monday, May 11, 3:30 PM; Thursday, May 14, 8:30 PM; Friday, May 15, 6:00 PM
Venue: Neues Rottmann; HFF - Audimax; HFF - Kino 1; Neues Rottmann

Singing Wings

Director: Hemen Khaledi
Production: Belgium, Georgia, Iran
Story: Mrs. Khaje, an elderly Kurdish woman, cares for an injured stork whose needs reshape her daily life. While she fishes for the bird with handmade tools, her daughter prepares to move to the UK, creating a quiet story of attachment, migration and the cycle of life.
Screenings: Thursday, May 7, 6:00 PM; Saturday, May 9, 6:00 PM; Thursday, May 14, 6:00 PM; Friday, May 15, 9:00 PM
Venue: HFF - Kino 2; Pasinger Fabrik; Liliom Kino Augsburg; HFF - Audimax

Afghanistan

Paikar

Director: Dawood Hilmandi
Production: Afghanistan, Iran, Netherlands
Story: After the sudden death of his brother, filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi travels from exile in Iran back to Afghanistan. Through this journey, he confronts his relationship with his authoritarian father, a strict cleric who slowly begins to open up.
Screenings: Sunday, May 10, 11:00 AM; Tuesday, May 12, 8:00 PM; Saturday, May 16, 6:00 PM
Venue: Atelier 1; Neues Rottmann; Theatiner Kino

Morocco

Out Of School

Director: Hind Bensari
Production: Denmark, Morocco
Story: Mokari lives in the Moroccan village of Oulghazi, caught between school, work and family pressure. His family cannot afford secondary education for the younger children, while he feels drawn toward earning money in the mountains around him.
Screenings: Saturday, May 9, 3:00 PM; Sunday, May 10, 8:30 PM; Tuesday, May 12, 6:30 PM; Thursday, May 14, 4:00 PM
Venue: Atelier 2; Bellevue di Monaco; Staatliches Museum Ägyptischer Kunst; Neues Maxim

Syria

One In A Million

Directors: Itab Azzam, Jack MacInnes
Production: United Kingdom, United States
Story: In 2015, 11-year-old Israa and her family flee Syria for Germany, hoping to build a safer life. Filmed over 10 years, the documentary follows the family in exile as their bonds are tested and their identities begin to change.
Screenings: Saturday, May 9, 8:00 PM; Sunday, May 10, 5:30 PM; Monday, May 11, 6:00 PM; Thursday, May 14, 3:00 PM
Venue: HFF - Audimax; Monopol 1; Rio 2; Atelier 2

Armenia

Outliving Shakespeare

Directors: Inna Sahakyan, Ruben Ghazaryan
Production: Armenia, Netherlands
Story: In an Armenian retirement home, residents take part in a Shakespeare project that becomes more than theatre. Between rehearsals and everyday life, they speak through love, loss, displacement and exile, turning performance into a space of memory.
Screenings: Thursday, May 7, 3:30 PM; Sunday, May 10, 11:00 AM; Tuesday, May 12, 6:00 PM; Saturday, May 16, 8:30 PM
Venue: Neues Rottmann; Pinakothek der Moderne; Filmmuseum; HFF - Kino 2

Georgia

A Song Without Home

Director: Rati Tsiteladze
Production: Denmark, Georgia, United States
Story: Adelina, a trans woman from Georgia, leaves her village for Vienna to start a new life. Between fear, dreams and self-assertion, she tries to claim space for herself while carrying the weight of exclusion and the need for freedom.
Screenings: Saturday, May 9, 6:00 PM; Sunday, May 10, 4:00 PM; Thursday, May 14, 6:00 PM; Saturday, May 16, 6:30 PM
Venue: Atelier 1; City 2; Bellevue di Monaco; HFF - Kino 2

The Kartli Kingdom

Directors: Tamar Kalandadze, Julien Pebrel
Production: France, Georgia, Qatar
Story: After the Abkhazian War in the early 1990s, refugees were housed in a former sanatorium in Tbilisi. What was meant to be temporary has continued for decades, forming a fragile community shaped by memory, displacement and everyday care.
Screenings: Friday, May 8, 6:30 PM; Saturday, May 9, 6:00 PM; Monday, May 11, 8:30 PM; Wednesday, May 13, 6:30 PM
Venue: Neues Rottmann; Filmmuseum; Rio 2; Atelier 1

Israel

Shalom

Director: Meital Zvieli
Production: Israel
Story: Shalom, a 45-year-old rhinoceros at the Jerusalem Bible Zoo, has grown old and tired. As his caretakers discuss euthanasia, war unfolds beyond the zoo’s walls, creating a quiet reflection on captivity, care and coexistence.
Screenings: Thursday, May 7, 8:30 PM; Friday, May 8, 4:00 PM; Thursday, May 14, 6:00 PM; Saturday, May 16, 6:00 PM
Venue: Filmmuseum; Neues Maxim; Theatiner Kino; Gasteig HP8 Projektor

Out At Six

Director: Livi Kessel
Production: Israel
Story: At 17, Livi enters a relationship with a man ten years older than her, which becomes abusive. Years later, as a filmmaker, she revisits the experience and examines violence, survival and how close she came to femicide.
Screenings: Thursday, May 7, 8:00 PM; Thursday, May 14, 6:00 PM; Saturday, May 16, 11:00 AM
Venue: Gasteig HP8 Projektor; Atelier 1; HFF - Kino 2

Additional Regional Connection

One additional title also carries a regional connection through its Qatari co-production and the presence of languages such as Arabic and Farsi. While the story is set in Brussels, the film focuses on grief, memory and community in a multi-faith cemetery.

Those Who Watch Over

Director: Karima Saïdi
Production: Belgium, France, Qatar
Story: In a multi-faith cemetery in Brussels, families gather to remember their dead. They share food, memories, music and quiet conversations with those they have lost. The film offers an intimate look at grief, community and the different ways people keep bonds alive after death.
Screenings: Thursday, May 7, 6:00 PM; Sunday, May 10, 8:00 PM; Monday, May 11, 3:30 PM; Saturday, May 16, 6:00 PM
Venue: Bellevue di Monaco; Monopol Kino; HFF - Kino 2; Atelier 1

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Tickets for DOK.fest München screenings are available through the festival’s official website and box office.

Cinema screenings will take place in Munich from 6 to 18 May 2026. Online access through dok@home will be available from 11 to 25 May 2026, allowing audiences to follow selected films remotely during the festival period.