Big Sky Documentary Film Festival

Now entering its 23rd year, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival is the premier venue for non-fiction film in the American West. The upcoming festival will take place February 13-22, 2026. Big Sky offers an ideal setting for filmmakers to premiere new work and develop lasting relationships with fellow filmmakers and industry. The festival draws an audience of 20,000 and film entries from every corner of the globe to a uniquely intimate mountain town setting with local Montana flavor. A hybrid festival, audiences can enjoy the festival program live in unique exhibition spaces across downtown Missoula and in Big Sky's virtual cinema from nearly anywhere in the world. Selected for 9 years running by MovieMaker Magazine's 50 Festivals Worth the Entry Fee, BSDFF is a top-100 rated festival on FilmFreeway and is an Academy Award-qualifying festival for short documentaries.

The annual 10-day event takes place each February in downtown Missoula, Montana.

The festival hosts over 200 visiting artists, presents an average of 150 non-fiction films, and offers a variety of exciting events at the historic theater The Wilma and neighboring downtown Missoula venues. In addition to screenings, the Big Sky DocShop is a five-day industry event that includes panels, master classes, workshops, and the Big Sky Pitch session. DocShop’s participants have included: HBO Documentary Films, Showtime Documentary Films, Tribeca Film Institute, Sundance Doc Fund, The New York Times Op-Docs, ESPN Films, Participant Media, BBC Storyville, CNN Films, ITVS, POV, PBS, America ReFramed, American Experience, Al Jazeera, Nia Tero, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Field of Vision, Film Independent, Ford Foundation and Catapult Film Fund.