When is it time to let go of a film project? Every documentary filmmaker has faced the painful realization that some projects—no matter how compelling—simply can’t be made. Whether due to lack of access, funding shortfalls, dwindling interest, or creative burnout, the decision to abandon a project can be as defining as finishing one. This panel explores the difficult moments and reasons we decide to stop, and what that means for our creative lives and mental health.

Featuring filmmakers and industry experts from across Europe who will share candid “negative case studies” of films that never reached completion, we’ll discuss what they learned from the process—and even screen short clips from projects that didn’t fly.