About CIRCLE
CIRCLE is an exclusive international training initiative dedicated to women & gender-expansive filmmakers.
The programme consists of the following formats and workshops:
CIRCLE Doc Accelerator,
CIRCLE Showcase @Cannes Docs,
CIRCLE Fiction Orbit,
CIRCLE Expanded Orbite, and
CIRCLE Digital Empowerment Online Sessions.
CIRCLE arose from the need to support women and gender-expansive filmmakers and to create a safer space for them to consult, collaborate, share ideas and improve their skills with the support of leading experts in the film industry.
CIRCLE Doc Accelerator
CIRCLE Doc Accelerator is an annual training programme founded in 2018, open to up to 10 women and gender-expansive directors and producers who are developing documentary projects with strong international appeal.
The initiative consists of three modules, based on group work and exchange among a carefully-curated constellation of participants and mentors. The group sessions are combined with individual consultations.
Furthermore, the CIRCLE methodology includes case studies and film screenings, Q&A sessions, introducing successful directors and their recent works. Within each module, chosen mentors hold masterclasses which are open to the wider professional community where the onsite modules take place, as well as online.
In just eight years, CIRCLE has supported over 200 directors and producers hailing from 50 different countries. We often work with participants with projects in very early development, bringing them to the attention of the international industry, production companies and other training programs.
Out of all the projects developed through CIRCLE, 95% have either received international funding or premiered at some of the most prestigious film festivals around the world.
Some notable examples include: SOMETHING FAMILIAR by Rachel Taparjan (Chicken & Egg Award - Cannes Docs 2025, World premiere at CPH:DOX 2026), WHITE LIES by Alba Zari (IFFR 2026, Thessaloniki FF, Trieste FF - Direzione Donna Award), TRUCK MAMMA by Zipporah Nyaruri (IDFA 2025, HotDocs 2026), RIVER DREAMS by Kristina Mikhailova (Berlinale Forum 2026 - Ecumenical Jury Award), BECOMING EMA by Patricia Drati (CPH:DOX 2026), IN BETWEEN, A PLACE by Faezeh Nikozaad (Visions du Réel 2026), EVER SINCE I KNEW MYSELF by Maka Gogaladze (support from IDFA Bertha Fund, World premiere at Vision du Reél 2024), XiXi by Fan Wu (world premiere at Hot Docs 2024, International Competition, receiving the Emerging International Filmmaker Award), TWICE COLONIZED by Lin Alluna (world premiere at Sundance 2023, opening film HotDocs and CPH:DOX 2023, Sheffield Docs 2023), LA SINGLA by Paloma Zapata (Opening film Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival 2023, Audience Award and jury special mention at Docs Barcelona 2023), LIGHT FALLS VERTICAL by Efthymia Zymvragaki (World Premiere IDFA 2022, nominated for IDFA Best First Feature Award) and THE ECLIPSE by Nataša Urban (World Premiere at CPH:DOX 2022, main DOX:AWARD for Best International Feature Documentary, Special Mention International Competition - DokuFest Prizren, MakeDox Onion Award for Best Film, nominated for the European Film Award).
CIRCLE Showcase @ Cannes Docs
In 2020, CIRCLE Doc Accelerator entered into a partnership with Cannes Docs - Marché du Film. This was the beginning of the CIRCLE Showcase @ Cannes Docs. Since then, each year we carefully select four CIRCLE alumni participants, who have the opportunity to pitch their docs-in-progress during Cannes Docs to festival programmers, sales agents, and other decision-makers.
The selected projects consult with CIRCLE mentors so as to be well prepared for their participation in Cannes Docs. We work together on video excerpts and presentations while inviting professional editors to assist them on this important occasion, as well as support them in making the most out of the networking opportunities of this event, according to the needs of each project.
CIRCLE projects showcased in Cannes have gone on to achieve great success after the Marché, becoming strong presences on the international festival circuit. CIRCLE projects won the top awards at the Showcase in 2025, 2022, 2021 and 2020.
Previous winners include SOMETHING FAMILIAR by Rachel Taparjan (Chicken & Egg Vision Award at Cannes Docs 2025, world premiere at CPH:DOX 2026), TWICE COLONIZED by Lin Alluna, which won the Docs-In-Progress award in Cannes in 2022 before premiering in Sundance and opening both CPH:DOX and Hot Docs; Ágnes Horváth-Szabó's and Anna Nemet’s BEAUTY OF THE BEAST (Nordisk Panorama Award 2020) and CENT’ANNI by Maja Prelog (IEFTA Docs-In-Progress Award 2021).
CIRCLE Fiction Orbit
With the success of the five previous editions of CIRCLE Doc Accelerator, for the first time in 2023 we offered the pilot CIRCLE Fiction Orbit programme.
CIRCLE Fiction Orbit is a one-off retreat for mid-career teams developing second to fourth narrative features, concentrating on development, production strategies, and collaboration within existing film power structures.
A carefully-selected group works with leading experts in order to identify their needs when developing their projects.
All participants receive feedback on their script, legal aspects and production options, including the best strategic choices as well as psychological support during their creative process. CIRCLE Fiction Orbit builds on the methodology and philosophy of CIRCLE Doc Accelerator.
CIRCLE Fiction Orbit's first completion, PERLA by Alexandra Makárová debuted at IFFR 2025 (LIFF Best Film Award, Viennale Best Austrian Film Award).
CIRCLE Expanded Orbit
Since 2018, CIRCLE training initiative has worked to shift who gets to tell stories and how, championing women and gender-expansive filmmakers. In 2026, CIRCLE opened a new space dedicated to immersive storytelling and XR-based practices.
CIRCLE Expanded Orbit is a new workshop open to filmmakers, artists and co-creative teams who creatively and critically explore emergent media forms (XR, MR, VR, AR, AI, games) to address gender in interactive, immersive and synthetic realms.
It brings together a selected group of creators and some of the most respected voices in immersive media today; world-leading experts across storytelling, technology, art, and design, to develop projects through a structured programme of mentorship, exchange, and development.
The programme supports both conceptual and practical development, offering space to refine ideas, test approaches, and position projects within the field of immersive and emerging media practices. Participants engage in individual mentorship, group sessions, co-creation workshops, and structured feedback, alongside access to an international network of professionals working across film, contemporary art, design, and technology.
CIRCLE Expanded Orbit supports cross-disciplinary approaches and projects situated at the intersection of cinema, contemporary art, and experimental media.
CIRCLE Digital Empowerment Online Sessions
The future of interactive, immersive, and synthetic media is at the heart of CIRCLE's new, free Digital Empowerment masterclasses, a pilot series for women and gender-expansive filmmakers.
Across eight online sessions between April 2026 and January 2027, CIRCLE alumni and members of CIRCLE's partner organisations engage with the creative practices, tools, and cultural shifts shaping the future of storytelling, building the skills to navigate and contribute to an evolving digital landscape.
CIRCLE Digital Empowerment Online Sessions bring together artistic vision and emerging technology in the spirit of CIRCLE's knowledge-sharing ethos while featuring leading voices, world-class creators and curators in the field of emergent technologies.
Our Mission
Our main mission is to empower women and gender-expansive filmmakers in the film industry and increase their visibility in broader Europe and general.
Our goal is to provide our participants with tools for quick professional advancement, with a special focus on the development of the artistic potential of their projects.
Our Vision
To create a long-lasting network of women and gender-expansive directors and producers from all over the world, which will help and support them in their future artisitic work.
