MakeDox 2026 will dedicate its edition to Ilindenka Petruševa

The 17th edition of the creative documentary festival MakeDox will take place in Skopje from August 20 to 27, 2026, using several city venues including Kurshumli Han, the Museum of Macedonia, Suli An, the Educational Cultural Centre "Laboratorium" and the Albanian Theatre.

Program, guests and a dedication

The festival programme and side events were presented at a press conference on August 12, 2026, at the Laboratorium centre. Festival executive director Darko Nabakov, programme coordinator Petrula Veljanovska and head of the industry programme Sara Ferro outlined this year’s concept and invited more than a hundred international guests.

Darko Nabakov said: "We are proud that over the years MakeDox has grown into a festival where people do not come only to watch films, but to stay after the film — to talk, to meet the authors, to exchange ideas and to truly live the documentary for a few days. This year we also have one of the most extensive additional programmes to date, beyond the film screenings themselves — with masterclasses, talks, panels, workshops, the 'under the fig tree' programme and the industry segment MakeCoProDox. This is exactly what we want MakeDox to be — a meeting place. Between the film and the audience, between the domestic and the international documentary scene, but above all, between people — those dreamers who still believe that a dream can become reality."

Petrula Veljanovska explained the festival’s dedication: "This year for us does not represent only another edition of the festival. We are here to remember why we need film at all, why we need the dream. That is why 'Only the dream is reality' — for us it is not just a motto. It is something we quietly carry inside, something that pushes us forward when reality becomes too narrow, when words are not enough, when we need something more — image, sound, silence… feeling. And film has always been exactly that. A dream someone dared to share. A truth someone felt strongly enough to preserve. And maybe that is why documentary film is so close — because it is made by people who feel deeply and love. This edition is also a quiet dedication. To a love of film that does not go out. To a thought that continues to live. To Ilindenka Petruševa — our Baba — who with her infectious energy spawned generations of devoted filmmakers and cinephiles and taught us that cinema is not only a space, but a state of mind. That film is not only watching, but remembering, care and persistence. Therefore I invite you — this year not only to watch films, but to surrender to them. To allow them to move you, to unsettle you, to comfort you. And to take something with you… Maybe a question. Maybe a feeling. Maybe a new dream."

The festival opens on August 20 at Kurshumli Han with the short film "Cvekinjata stojat molkum, svedocat" by Theo Panagopoulos and the feature documentary "Kon zapad, vo Zapata" by David Bim. In total the festival will screen 71 films and will host the Macedonian premieres of new works by Milcho Manchevski and Elena Chemerska.

The programme is divided into six sections: Main Programme, New Authors, Country in Focus: Spain, Short Documentaries, Student Programme and a section for Children and Young Audiences. Five awards will be presented: Kromid, Mlad Kromid, Sechkan Kromid, Kokarche and the Award for Best Ethical Ideas; juries include 15 international documentary professionals.

Industry and educational activities run alongside the screenings. Masterclasses include "Everything that shapes documentaries" with Migel Eek and Xavier Marades, and Alessandro Stellino’s session "Farewell film critics, hello fans". A panel on film criticism in the age of algorithms brings together Marina Kostova, Marina D. Richter, Alfonso Rivera and Murtada Elfadl, moderated by Kristin Kamdesu. From August 22–25 an intensive editing workshop led by editors Kasia Boniecka and Per K. Kirkegaard will focus on the opening sequence and its dramatic role. The MakeCoProDox forum — founded in 2019 and now in its eighth edition from August 25–27 — will gather film centre directors from the Balkans, international professionals and teams from eight selected documentary projects in development for pitching sessions, producer meetings and panels on co-productions and distribution.

The festival also presents programmes in cooperation with the Slovenian Film Centre and a selection of contemporary Slovenian documentary work, plus the "Dokumentarnica" project. Afternoons will offer informal "Conversations under the fig tree" at Kurshumli Han and nightly concerts titled "Night Stories" after screenings. Partners and supporters include the Film Agency of the Republic of North Macedonia, Creative Europe's MEDIA Programme, the Yunus Emre Institute — Skopje, the embassies and cultural institutes of France, Spain and Italy, the Slovenian Film Centre and several local cultural institutions and media sponsors.

Photo: press material from the event