Launched last year, Critics’ Choice continues in 2026. The program applies no premiere policy: a committee of three working critics and festival programmers selects around ten features and shorts from Korean documentaries released over the past year at festivals, in theaters, and on streaming platforms. This year’s selection comprises nine features and four shorts. Following last year’s “Essay Era,” the keyword drawn by this year’s committee is “Demo–.” Films recording the landscapes and faces of the December 3 insurrection, perspectives exploring coexistence between humans and nonhumans, and works rethinking one’s relationship with oneself and one’s surroundings all stood out.
“Demo–” is a layered concept encompassing demos, the people; demography, a way of thinking about populations and communities; and demonstration, meaning both proof and practice. It frames the many practices through which contemporary Korean documentary names community and world anew, bears witness to reality, and reconfigures relationships. Screenings are accompanied by talks and events—“Forum: Political Documentary Today” and “Critics' Choice Conversation: The Subject-and-Form Equation in Documentary”—surveying the dynamics that surround documentary. One film chosen by the committee will receive the Critics’ Choice Award. Through Critics’ Choice, the festival seeks to “revisit” Korean documentaries and reignite discourse around them.