Introducing BWiFFdocs
In 2026, the Blue Whiskey Independent Film Festival will be taking a break from hosting its traditional festival to focus on exhibiting a collection of short and feature-length documentary films with BWiFFdocs. Following the festival's mission, the programming team for this special event will continue to seek out entries from filmmakers that utilize story elements in a new and exciting way, presenting character-driven independent cinema that is fueled by the filmmaker’s passion for the art of visual storytelling.
"It's time to take a beat and focus on characters that drive real-life stories," according to Executive Director Michael Noens. "While the festival has always sought out and accepted documentary films, they represent less than 25% of entries each year. Our goal with BWiFFdocs is to demonstrate our commitment to and hunger for documentary film programming."
The event will be held in the Spring of 2026 following a call for entries period beginning Monday, September 8, 2025 and closing Friday, January 30, 2026. Selected documentaries will be exhibited at the Palatine Public Library (located in the organization's hometown of Palatine, Illinois) at the end of April 2026 and compete for a variety of BWiFFdocs Awards.
"We held three free screenings at the Palatine Library during our 2025 festival," said Noens. "The reception of the event by the community was wonderful and the Library staff were all very supportive." While Noens recognizes that movie theaters are the best way to experience most movies, he says "I do feel that libraries can really be ideal environments for some films – both documentaries and narratives alike – especially when there is a strong literary, historical, or educational element to the story."
Submission categories for this event are restricted to Documentary Features with a runtime of 45 minutes or more and Documentary Shorts with a runtime of 44 minutes or less. Entries can be submitted online via FilmFreeway. Specific screening dates and times in April 2026 will be finalized by the end of February with the announcement of the complete program lineup to follow on Sunday, March 15, 2026. All screenings will be free to attend.
"Yes, we go to the movies to be entertained," said Noens. "But many of us also want to be enlightened, inspired, or even changed for the better because we learned something that we can carry with us." While he said the Wicked reference was not intentional, it conveniently supported his point. "I believe that BWiFFdocs may have the opportunity to give attendees that kind of experience."