The SCAD Savannah Film Festival and The Hollywood Reporter have selected 10 documentaries for the 2026 “Docs to Watch” panel, an event regarded as an important stage in the Oscar campaign for nonfiction films. Their directors will discuss the films in Savannah on 28 October, continuing a panel’s strong record of highlighting future Academy Award contenders.

The selections cover subjects including Gaza’s war, photographer Richard Avedon, Girl Scouts, extreme mountaineering, Russian journalists, the Harlem Renaissance and a Syrian refugee family. Over the panel’s previous 12 years, 27 featured films received best documentary Oscar nominations and eight won, including *Free Solo*, *American Factory* and *20 Days in Mariupol*.