2026 | 5–25 October

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Konkursinės programos

AWARDS OF INTERNATIONAL JURY

This year the main award goes to!.. as many as four of the best films from the festival’s competition programmes. They are chosen by an international jury of film industry professionals and members of the film community, cultural figures and specialists in their respective fields. Each of them brings a unique perspective and breadth of experience to the jury. Nominating the specific jury members is something we entrust each year to that year’s festival programmers and the festival director.

The festival competitions are dedicated to discovering emerging directors working on their first or second film – works that stand out for their innovative visual language, reflect on pollution and sustainability, reveal silenced truths and dive deeper than the surface, towards change.

New for the 20th festival: for the first time in the festival’s history, a national competition programme of student short films. The award is established by AVAKA, the Audiovisual Works Copyright Association.

Emerging Filmmakers Competition

The Emerging Filmmakers Competition programme is dedicated exclusively to aspiring filmmakers who made their first or second feature documentary. Films were selected based on their artistic value, filmmaking skills and revelation of human rights issues. These films showcase a strong belief in cinema as a means of reflecting and reacting to the numerous global issues.

Jukka Kärkkäinen

Jukka Kärkkäinen has been making documentary films since 2003. He is the co-founder of the production company Mouka Filmi. His previous titles include the National Film Award-winning documentaries The Living Room of the Nation (2009) and The Punk Syndrome (2012). Jukka’s documentaries have screened at major festivals such as Hot Docs, SXSW, CPH:DOX, and Sheffield Doc/Fest, and have been shown on all continents — including Antarctica. The Living Room of the Nation was also screened at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

 

We are extremely glad to see him returning to the program of INCONVENIENT FILMS for the 4th time, this time with his latest film “Beauty of Errors”.

Gayatri Parameswaran

Gayatri Parameswaran is an Emmy® nominated and Peabody winning writer, director and producer of immersive works. She was born and raised in India and is currently based in Berlin, where she co-founded NowHere Media — a storytelling studio that views contemporary issues through a critical lens. Gayatri’s artistic practice lies at the intersection of storytelling, technology and societal impact. Her work has been exhibited at the Venice International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, SXSW, IDFA, Festival de Cannes, United Nations and beyond. Gayatri is Head of Studies at the European Social Documentary program (ESoDoc).

 

Mantė Valiūnaitė

Mantė Valiūnaitė our dear former colleague, who has been in charge for the programme of INCONVENIENT FILMS in the past, later moving on to head the Vilnius International Film Festival (biggest film in event in Lithuania) as an artistic director of the festival. After her engagements with film festivals Mantė focussed on academical interests and her PhD. Aside from lecturing at Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre she is also involved in various projects as film critic, curator and researcher.

Green Competition

The Earth is becoming increasingly resistant to the control of civilization. And civilization is trying ever harder to reshape the world according to its own desires. Is positive change even possible in a conflict of this magnitude? The films in the Green Competition program tell us about phenomena, places, people, and other beings whose stories allow us to see ecological challenges and their possible solutions in a new light.

Harri Grace

Harri Grace is an Executive Producer at two-time Oscar, Emmy and Peabody-winning Grain Media. He is two-time Emmy-nominated, Grierson-nominated, and winner of two Foreign Press Association Awards (nominated four times), a SIMA Award, and a One World Media Award.

 

We are proud and glad to present most recent documentary “Cycle of Love” at the programme of INCONENIENT FILMS this year.

Tomas Narkevičius

Tomas Narkevičius is better known by his stage name Free Finga, is a singer, songwriter and composer. As one of the most successful musicians in Lithuania, with plentiful awards, nominations and thousands of fans, Tomas also uses culture and arts to inspire his audiences to reflect on current state of environmental affairs and is actively engaged in various awareness raising initiatives.

Lina Paškevičiūtė

Lina Paškevičiūtė is one of the initiators of the “Forest Swarm” (Girių spiečius) movement and the head of the non-governmental organization the Environmental Coalition. Lina’s advocacy of environmental interests and her work in developing policy proposals encourage institutions, decision-makers, and civil society to take action for the benefit of nature protection. Lina, among other achievements and recognitions, is also a winner of a President Valdas Adamkus Prize, highlighting her impactful environmental work.

Impact Competition

The Impact Competition is dedicated to documentaries that explore crucial political issues through compelling films. They invite us to go beyond the surface, uncover hidden realities, and highlight critical topics that are uncomfortable but ignite the change through revelations.

Tadeusz Strączek

Director of the WATCH DOCS Film Festival organized in Warsaw and across Poland by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. Expert in social impact documentaries. A graduate of the American Studies Center, University of Warsaw. He also studied at the School of the Association of Polish Art Photographers.

Anastasiia Bahalika

Anastasiia Bahalika leads the human rights programme Rights NOW! at DocuDays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Kyiv, Ukraine, one of the core documentary film events in the country. For the last 15 years Anastasiia has been working as communications and human rights professional at the intersection of media, civil society, and international development in Ukraine, supporting human rights initiatives in complex and conflict-affected environments.

Charlie Phillips

Kathleen Fournier is Emmy award-winning documentary producer with extensive experience in access-led feature documentaries. Her work focuses on politically charged, environmentally focused and socially engaged stories, and the films she has produced have been recognised with a Peabody Award, a Sundance Grand Jury Prize, a Grierson Award and a BAFTA nomination. Most recently, she produced “The Six Billion Dollar Man” which is a part of the our festival programme.

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