Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival

Overview

Millennium Docs Against Gravity (MDAG) is Poland's largest documentary film festival and the second-largest documentary festival in Europe. Founded in 2004 by Artur Liebhart, who continues to serve as Festival Director, MDAG operates as a multi-city event held simultaneously across seven Polish cities: Warsaw, Wroclaw, Gdynia, Poznan, Katowice, Lodz, and Bydgoszcz. The 22nd edition in 2025 (May 9 to 18 in cinemas, May 20 to June 2 online) attracted a record 181,542 attendees, an increase of more than 16,000 over 2024's 165,255. The 23rd edition is scheduled for May 8 to 17, 2026 in cinemas, with the online segment running May 19 to June 1.

MDAG was officially recognized as an Oscar-qualifying festival in 2024 in the Best Feature Documentary category. The winner of the Grand Prix, the Bank Millennium Award, becomes eligible for Academy Award submission. In 2025, the Grand Prix went to Yintah, which also won the Online Audience Award. In 2026, the Grand Prix was awarded to To Hold a Mountain (dir. Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazic, Serbia/Montenegro), which had previously won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.

The festival is also admitted by the European Film Academy to the group of major European film festivals, giving it the right to recommend films for the European Film Awards. In 2026, MDAG introduced the FIPRESCI Documentary Grand Prix, a new annual award presented at the opening gala to the best documentary of the previous year as selected by international film critics.

Key Sections

• International Competition (Main Competition) - feature documentaries over 45 minutes competing for the Grand Prix, the Bank Millennium Award. Films must have their Polish premiere at the festival.
• Polish Documentary Competition - new Polish nonfiction films
• Special Programs - thematic sections and retrospectives
• Online Program - festival films available online for two weeks following the in-cinema edition
• Local City Awards - awards presented by juries in each festival city outside Warsaw

Submission Details

Submissions are made through Eventival at vp.eventival.com/mdagff/2026. The festival does not use FilmFreeway.

Submission Deadline (2026 Edition):

• January 9, 2026

Entry Fee:

• EUR 20 per film (for the 23rd edition in 2026)
• EUR 15 per film (for the 22nd edition in 2025)
• Fee waivers are available through partnerships. For example, Italian films submitted through Cinecitta are exempt from the admission fee, though the Entry Form must still be completed.

Eligibility:

• Films must have their Polish premiere at the festival
• Films must be over 45 minutes in duration
• Only feature-length documentaries are accepted for competition sections
• Submissions must include an online screener with English subtitles

Contact: submission@againstgravity.pl

What Filmmakers Should Know

Oscar-qualifying status: MDAG became an Oscar-qualifying festival in 2024 for the Best Feature Documentary category. The Grand Prix winner (Bank Millennium Award) becomes eligible for Academy Award submission. This makes MDAG one of a limited number of documentary festivals worldwide with this status, significantly increasing its strategic value for documentary filmmakers aiming for awards recognition.

Multi-city reach: The festival's touring model screens selected films in seven Polish cities simultaneously, providing national reach that most festivals cannot match. In 2025, the in-cinema portion attracted 108,427 attendees across the seven cities, with an additional 73,115 estimated online viewers (43,009 e-tickets sold, multiplied by 1.7 per international standards). This gives selected films exposure to one of Europe's most engaged documentary audiences.

European Film Academy membership: MDAG is admitted to the group of major European film festivals by the European Film Academy, giving it the right to recommend films for the European Film Awards. This provides an additional pathway to awards recognition for selected films.

FIPRESCI Documentary Grand Prix: Starting in 2026, MDAG hosts a new annual FIPRESCI award presented at the opening gala to the best documentary of the previous year, selected by international film critics. A separate three-person FIPRESCI jury also awards a critics' prize in the Main Competition.

Local city awards: In addition to the main Grand Prix, local juries in each festival city present their own awards: the Lower Silesia Grand Prix (Wroclaw), the Silesian Audience Award (Katowice), the Mayor of Gdynia Award, the City of Poznan Freedom Award, and the Bydgoszcz Art.Doc Award. This means a single film can win multiple awards across different cities.

2026 competition jury: The 2026 Main Competition jury was composed of Oscar-nominated filmmaker Talal Derki (Of Fathers and Sons), Oscar-shortlisted filmmaker Lea Glob (Apolonia, Apolonia), and Oscar-nominated producer Jessica Hargrave (Come See Me in the Good Light). The jury awards the Grand Prix as well as prizes for Best Cinematography and Best Editing.

Online component: The festival's online segment extends the reach of selected films for two weeks after the in-cinema edition. In 2025, 43,009 e-tickets were sold for the online program, reaching audiences outside the seven festival cities and those who cannot attend in person.

Major Awards

• Grand Prix, Bank Millennium Award - top prize in the Main Competition, Oscar-qualifying for Best Feature Documentary
• Special Mention (Main Competition) - jury commendation
• Best Cinematography Award - for outstanding cinematography in a competition film
• Best Editing Award - for outstanding editing in a competition film
• FIPRESCI Award - international critics' prize in the Main Competition
• FIPRESCI Documentary Grand Prix - annual award for the best documentary of the previous year, presented at the opening gala
• Best Polish Film Award - for the best Polish documentary
• Maciej Szumikowski Award for Best Cinematography in a Polish Film - craft award for Polish films
• Audience Award (Warsaw Documentary Award) - voted by Warsaw audiences
• Online Audience Award - voted by online viewers
• Amnesty International Poland Award - for a film addressing human rights
• Green Warsaw Award - for a film addressing environmental issues
• Arthouse Cinema Association Award - in the Polish Competition
• Lower Silesia Grand Prix (Wroclaw) - local jury award
• Silesian Audience Award (Katowice) - local audience award
• Mayor of Gdynia Award - local jury award
• City of Poznan Freedom Award - local jury award
• Bydgoszcz Art.Doc Award - local jury award

Festival History

MDAG was founded in 2004 by Artur Liebhart, who continues to serve as Festival Director. The festival's multi-city model was established early and has remained central to its identity and audience reach. The festival was the first in Poland to introduce a competition for the Best Feature-Length Documentary, sponsored by Bank Millennium, which has been the titular partner for over 20 years.

The festival has grown from a small documentary event into the largest film festival in Poland by attendance. The 20th edition in 2023 was the most popular film event held in Poland, with 138,000 attendees. By 2025, attendance had grown to 181,542, a record for the festival. The festival's touring model, which brings documentary cinema to seven Polish cities simultaneously, has built an unusually broad national audience for documentary film in Poland.

In 2024, MDAG was officially recognized as an Oscar-qualifying festival in the Best Feature Documentary category. In 2022, the festival was admitted by the European Film Academy to the group of major European film festivals. In 2026, MDAG introduced the FIPRESCI Documentary Grand Prix, a new annual award for the best documentary of the previous year.

The festival is sponsored by Bank Millennium and supported by the Polish Film Institute and partner institutions across the seven host cities.

See Also

For documentary filmmaking guidance, see Documentary Filmmaking Guide. For Central European film markets, see International Film Markets. To calculate whether festival submission fees are worth it for your budget, use the Festival Entry Fee ROI Calculator.