Antenna Documentary Film Festival 2026 Promises To Open Hearts & Minds
Image: With Hasan In Gaza/Supplied
Back for its 14th year next month, the Antenna Documentary Film Festival has today released its 2026 program, promising to surprise audiences and spark their imaginations.
The festival kicks off with the Australian premiere of The Last Guest of the Holloway Motel, Ramiel Petros and Nicholas Freemn’s character-driven portrait of former football star Tony Powell, who vanished from public life in 1970s Britain before re-emerging decades later as the manager and sole resident of a crumbling Hollywood motel. Integrating and crossing between LGBTQ+ history and sports-themed genre modes the film brings together a documentary portrait that is deeply empathetic and unflinchingly investigative.
Antenna is also premiering Sentient the debut feature documentary of respected Australian journalist Tony Jones, taking audiences inside animal laboratory research, and exposing a hidden world in which it’s not just the animals who are getting hurt. Drawing on firsthand testimony and investigative research, the film questions long-held assumptions about scientific necessity and moral responsibility.
“Each film is imaginative, cinematic, and has a unique point of view about the world we live in,” said Festival Director Dudi Rokach of this year’s program. “Together, they show documentary cinema at its most rigorous, cinematic and alive.”
Filmmakers and doco subjects in conversation
Other program highlights include The Clown of Gaza, a celebration of humanity and love in pitch-dark times profiling performer Alaa Meqdad; Trade Secret, a multi-award-winning exposé by cinematographer-turned-director Abraham Joffe, investigating the global wildlife trade; and Elon Musk Unveiled – The Tesla Experiment, pulling back the curtain on Musk’s empire, as close confidants, whistleblowers, victims, and former high-ranking Tesla employees speak out
Antenna will be welcoming renowned filmmaker Kirsten Johnson, who will take part an in-depth In Conversation event and curate a special sidebar, presenting films that have shaped her creative practice. The festival will also mark the 10th anniversary of her acclaimed documentary Cameraperson with a special screening.
The festival will also present a special retrospective, Gillian Armstrong & The Adelaide Three: 50 Years Later. Often described as the Australian 7 Up, Gillian Armstrong’s landmark longitudinal project traces more than three decades in the lives of three Adelaide “Girls” — Kerry, Josie and Diana — and reflects on the evolution of the women’s lives on screen. The rare screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Gillian Armstrong, joined by Kerry and Josie, alongside additional members of the Adelaide family.
The Antenna Documentary Film Festival opens Thursday 5 February and runs until Sunday 15 February 2026. Full program details and tickets are available at www.antennafestival.org
