IDFA DocLab 2026: Shared Realities

IDFA DocLab celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2026 under the theme Shared Realities. As the festival program of IDFA devoted to interactive and immersive documentary art, it gathers works in which visitors do not just watch a story but step into it, question it and share it with others.

The 2026 edition runs from 12 to 22 November in Amsterdam, during IDFA. DocLab returns to its familiar venues: de Brakke Grond as the main DocLab venue, together with the ARTIS-Planetarium, Droog and the Tobacco Theatre. The theme Shared Realities frames two decades of documentary art that examines how technology shapes what we perceive as real.

A visit to DocLab feels different from an evening at the cinema. At de Brakke Grond, the main venue, the works are experienced on site: visitors move through them at their own pace, take part in interactive narratives and encounter documentary perspectives that respond to their presence.

A special role belongs to the ARTIS-Planetarium, where dome presentations surround the audience with image and sound. In this way the festival links four Amsterdam locations into one route through the current state of immersive documentary art.