On this page, you will find specific data regarding the structure and audience development, events, awards, year-round film cycles, the number of publications, and the festival's reach and media value. Thus, MDAG aims to meet the highest standards of transparency.
Our Mission
Millennium Docs Against Gravity sparked the interest in documentaries in Poland and has continued to captivate audiences thanks to its consistently engaging and thoughtfully curated program. MDAG is on the list of Oscar®-qualifying festivals in the category of Best Feature Documentary and it also recommends films for the European Film Awards. Starting in 2026, the new, prestigious FIPRESCI Documentary Grand Prix will be awarded annually during the MDAG opening gala. Members of the International Federation of Film Critics from around the world vote to recognize the best documentary film of the past year. The inaugural winner was the film Fiume o Morte!
The 23rd edition of the festival in 2026 attracted an audience of neraly 180,000 people. MDAG is the only film festival in Europe to take place simultaneously in seven cities: Warsaw, Wrocław, Gdynia, Poznań, Katowice, Bydgoszcz, and Łódź.
In May 2026, we will once again invite audiences on a cinematic journey around the world—and deep within themselves. The 23rd edition of MDAG will take place in cinemas from May 7–16 and online from May 18 to 31, 2027.
Our festival grows nomadically, in a way that reflects the spirit of the 21st century—seeking out audiences across the country. We believe this is the future of film festivals.
A Space for the Growth of Cinema: 5. MDAG INDUSTRY!
The fifth edition of MDAG Industry looks as follows in numbers: 5 days, 5 pitchings, 50 projects, over 350 1-on-1 meetings, 9 educational events, 3 masterclasses, 13 awards. It is a project of a unique event for the film industry, which connects Polish creators with foreign representatives of festivals, distributors, producers, sales agents and famous stars of contemporary cinema.
Warsaw and MDAG are becoming a place where the best projects from Poland, Eastern and Central Europe are presented, and participants are excellently prepared for talks and presentations before buyers, festivals and producers from the West. A total of 1745 people took part in the events (an increase of 12.4% compared to the previous year).
"This year, MDAG Industry clearly developed as a space for international co-productions: for the first time we launched MDAG CO-PRO, expanded the program with a larger number of foreign guests and significantly strengthened the educational offer for pitching participants - from additional tutors and individual consultations with sales agents to closed workshops that helped projects enter the next stage. This shows that today MDAG is not only a festival, but also a real place for industry meetings, cooperation and opening new doors for documentary film" - says Anna Szczypińska, head of MDAG Industry.
Our reach and festival goers
MDAG is second largest documentary film festival in Europe, the most significant celebration of documentary art in Poland, and one of the largest film events worldwide.
Total amount of festival goers in 2026: 179 627 participants
Total amount of films in the 2026 programme: Over 190
Media presence
Amount of publications/appearances in 2026: 7531
AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent) in 2026: 42 658 856 PLN
Partners
Total amount of media patrons: 25
Total amount of festival partners: 62
Winners 2025
Accompanying Events
In 2026, a total of 130 Q&A sessions and 37 events (including 7 music and 7 educational events) took place in Warsaw, encompassing discussions, workshops, and special events. Across all festival cities, there was an impressive total of 158 Q&A sessions and over 100 special events!
MDAG Guests
The 23rd edition of MDAG was an opportunity to meet many outstanding figures from the world of documentary cinema. The festival hosted filmmakers and film protagonists from all corners of the globe, creating a unique chance for personal conversations and the exchange of ideas.
In total, the festival cities were visited by:
110 international filmmakers and protagonists
48 Polish filmmakers and protagonists
94 international industry guests
The total number of guests at the 23rd MDAG reached a record-breaking 252 people! This represents a 20.5% increase in attendance compared to the previous year and is an overall record.
This proves that the festival not only screens films but, above all, builds a space for conversation and reflection!
Feedback from festival guests
”MDAG is easily my new favorite festival. I loved the films I saw, my interactions with your audiences, and will cherish the new friendships I have made. It is such a thoughtfully designed festival that really holds both community and the love of cinema at its core.”
— Sara Dosa, the Oscar®-nominated director of Time and Water
"I felt like I was in wonderful hands even before I arrived in Warsaw! And even warmer hands once I arrived (...) As someone who has been to many, many film festivals over the years, I can honestly say that the 'guest department' at MDAG is one of the VERY BEST!”
—Alan Berliner, director of Benita
XR Exhibition:
MDAG VISION
"In 2026, the XR section as part of MDAG Vision (May 8-17, 2026) took place at the National Ethnographic Museum. The MDAG Vision exhibition invited visitors into a world where visions of the future became a tangible reality, under the title: 'Experience What Is to Come.'
The five presented works examined the need to search for identity and security in an era of rapid change. By stimulating the imagination, the creators offered new survival scenarios, utilizing a broad spectrum of media: from artificial intelligence and augmented reality to collective performance. It was an invitation for an active and sensory entry into a world that has just caught up with us."
The festival is on all year round
A look at the Against Gravity film cycles
May is particularly important for us because that is when we get to meet you during our festival screenings. However we continue to work throughout the year, organizing film cycles to promote education and important social issues. They appear in various cities, giving a wide audience the opportunity to see festival (and not just festival) hits.
VOD.MDAG.PL!
Everything started with Millennium Docs Against Gravity, the biggest film festival in Poland. In 2020, a memorable year, the festival introduced a hybrid formula: over 100 films were presented online after the cinema edition. Its tremendous success served as further proof that it was time to create a new place on the Web for the most interesting documentaries and feature films—a place where anyone could broaden their knowledge of our reality, look upon other people with tenderness, and discover the most pressing problems of the modern world.
We favor diversity of subjects, which is why our catalogue features plenty of movies about politics, the society, psychology, science, sport, art, architecture, and fashion. Feature films available on our platform are mainly art-house pictures that push the boundaries of contemporary cinematic language.
In addition to promoting film culture and delivering powerful experiences to our viewers, sparking curiosity is a major part of our mission. This is why we introduced a separate section of our platform devoted to broadly defined modern education.