The 23rd Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival will bring more than 80 films to Budapest and eight cities across Hungary from November 16 to 25. The festival will open with the Hungarian documentary Papa. This year’s programme explores what it means to watch documentary films in an age when artificial intelligence, deepfakes and manipulated content increasingly challenge our ability to trust what we see.
“Do I believe it when I see it?” asks this year’s Verzió slogan. The question points both to growing uncertainty about the authenticity of images and to documentary film itself—a genre whose role is becoming increasingly significant as it becomes harder to determine what is real in the images we encounter on screen. This year, the question also has a historical dimension: in 1926, exactly one hundred years ago, the term “documentary value” was first used.
“In an age of information overload, deepfakes and manipulated images, it is becoming increasingly important to consider how we look at and interpret the world around us. Verzió’s films encourage us to engage critically, while remaining open to what we see,” says Enikő Gyureskó, Festival Director.
Verzió opens with the Hungarian Film Week’s Best Documentary Award winner
The festival will open on the evening of November 16 at Trafó with the Hungarian documentary Papa. Set in Budapest’s District VIII, this intimate film received the Best Documentary Award at this year’s Hungarian Film Week. The film also connects to one of the key focuses of the 23rd Verzió: this year, particular attention is given to films portraying the diversity of Roma communities and to works by Roma filmmakers.
Alongside the Hungarian and international competition programmes, the festival will put the spotlight on issues that are shaping public discourse around the world today: colonial legacies, the ecological crisis, the war in Ukraine, social taboos, and efforts to combat violence against women. The programme also features films that push the formal boundaries of documentary filmmaking.
In Amazomania, directed by award-winning filmmaker Nathan Grossman, a reunion between a community in the Brazilian rainforest and the Western photographer who documented them in the past raises questions about who has the right to tell a community’s story—and how a decolonial perspective can transform the meaning of the original images.
Meanwhile in Namibia moves between tourists, local communities and memories of the colonial past, exploring how the social consequences of former German colonial rule continue to shape everyday life. The film’s director, Jonas Spriestersbach, will attend the festival.
Soldiers of Light, by German filmmakers Johannes Büttner and Julian Vogel, offers a particularly timely look at political polarisation in Germany. Through the world of a far-right community, the film also examines the role that wellness influencers, lifestyle gurus and online communities can play in the radicalisation of young people searching for a sense of belonging and direction.
In My Word Against Mine, Dutch director Maasja Ooms follows five people who hear voices—one person hears a single voice, another hears nineteen. As part of an unusual therapeutic process, a psychiatrist enters into dialogue not only with his patients, but directly with the voices they hear. The film becomes a moving and unexpectedly intimate portrait of the human mind and the process of working through trauma. At Verzió, audiences will also have the opportunity to meet psychiatrist Dirk Corstens, who appears in the film only through his voice from behind the camera.
A new city joins Verzió
In Budapest, screenings will take place at Toldi and Művész cinemas, as well as at additional festival venues. This year, Szolnok joins the festival’s regional locations, alongside Pécs, Szeged, Szombathely, Veszprém, Miskolc, Debrecen and Kecskemét.
Screenings will be accompanied by discussions and audience Q&As with filmmakers, participants and experts, helping audiences engage with often complex topics from multiple perspectives. The festival will also offer afternoon programmes, cultural and music events, and a larger student programme than in previous years. In addition to the cinemas, events will take place at the Centrális Gallery and on the Central European University Budapest, with a particular focus this year on community building.
For the first time in 23 years, Verzió receives support from the NFI
For the first time in the festival’s history, Verzió is receiving support from the National Film Institute (NFI) for the organisation of the festival. The HUF 50 million grant marks an important milestone: since its launch in 2004, Verzió has not previously received this kind of central state film funding.
“We consider this support an important professional recognition. For more than two decades, Verzió has provided a platform for international documentary films while also creating a meeting point where Hungarian filmmakers can connect with audiences and the professional community,” says Enikő Gyureskó.
The 23rd Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival will take place from November 16 to 25, 2026, in Budapest and eight cities across Hungary. The full festival programme will be available from mid-October.
23rd Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival
November 16–25, 2026
Website / Facebook / Instagram / Verziótéka
Since 2004, the Verzió International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival has presented some of the world’s most important creative documentaries addressing social issues. It is one of Central Europe’s leading documentary film platforms and has reached more than 275,000 viewers since its launch. Every November, it welcomes audiences in Budapest, cities across Hungary and online. Screenings are accompanied by audience Q&As and panel discussions, while its educational programmes (Student Verzió, UniVerzió and Cinemocracy) engage young people and educators. Its professional programmes (DocPro, DocLab, Young Critics and Decolonising Curation) build international connections across the documentary field.
Verzió is organised by the Verzió Film Foundation in cooperation with the Blinken OSA Archivum. Its main supporters are the National Film Institute and the Creative Europe MEDIA programme. The festival is also supported by the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme. Verzió is a member of the Human Rights Film Network and the Doc Around Europe festival network.