For 2026, Central Scotland Documentary Festival is offering a unique workshop for all emerging or aspiring filmmakers currently at further and higher education, providing them with the key insights they need to produce their first professional documentaries and survive in the industry. The workshop will be hosted by OTOXO Productions.

OTOXO Productions is an award-winning documentary production company based in Barcelona, making films for Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Filmin, The Guardian and TV3, while winning selections and prizes at some of the world’s top documentary festivals, including DocsBarcelona, FIPADOC, REFRAME, MakeDox and, of course, CSDF.

They create character-focused documentaries for cinema, TV, festival and online audiences, and are ideally placed to host this workshop because, in parallel with their productions, they run The INto INdustry Programme - one-month and one-year programmes combining rigorous training and professional experience, which specialise in giving young people the creative, technical and professional skills they need to become directors and industry professionals.

The workshop will include a combination of presentation, viewing, discussion and group activities, focusing on crucial aspects of the industry such as:

• Finding inspiring characters and constructing great narratives
• Directing in a real-life documentary environment
• The key skills behind shooting broadcast-standard visual material
• Getting through the edit
• Building contacts and collaborating
• Surviving financially as an independent filmmaker

And, if you have any ideas that you’d like to develop for your own film, OTOXO would love to hear about them too, so that you can get some professional workshopping to push your own documentary visions forward. Just drop a couple of lines (or more if you like!) to John@otoxoproductions.com before the event, or share it on the day!

This will be an inspiring and insightful event for anyone who hopes to make their own industry-standard documentaries.