The selection of films competing for this year's Doc Alliance Award has been revealed. Each of the seven European documentary film festivals that form the Doc Alliance network, along with this year‘s guest festival Punto de Vista, has nominated one short and one feature-length documentary film from their past programmes.

Scheduled for 20 May in Cannes, the Doc Alliance Award will be presented during the Doc Day Lunch, held at the Marché du Film. A jury of three distinguished film professionals—film critic Fernando Ganzo (Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Cahiers du Cinéma), Gerald Weber (Deputy Managing Director at sixpackfilm), and producer Caroline Kirberg (CEO of pong film)—will determine the winning films. Endowed with 5,000 EUR for Best Feature and 3,000 EUR for Best Short, the award provides financial support for the filmmakers' future projects.

As part of their presence in Cannes, representatives of the Doc Alliance network will also present their research packages at the Marché du Film. In a long-term research project, the network has been collecting information about all of the member festivals, focusing on the key areas new technologies, inclusive programming, sustainability, emerging talents and educational practices. The Doc Alliance presentation will take place on Monday, 19 May at 3 pm at The Viewpoint.

The Doc Alliance network of documentary film festivals supports emerging talents in European documentary film. Each of the seven festivals (CPH:DOX, Doclisboa, DOK Leipzig, FIDMarseille, Ji.hlava IDFF, Millennium Docs Against Gravity and Visions du Réel) as well as this year’s guest festival Punto de Vista have nominated one short and one feature-length documentary film from its past programme. Only debut or second feature-length films by directors qualify for the Best Feature Film category. Each festival in the network commits to screening at least three films from the selection at its next edition.

Best Feature Nominees:
 

• “An Oscillating Shadow” (Una sombra oscilante), Argentina/ Chile/ France, director: Celeste Rojas Mugica, nominated by FIDMarseille

• “Aurora”, Brazil/ Portugal/ France, director: João Vieira Torres, nominated by Visions du Réel

• “A Want in Her”, Ireland/ UK/ Netherlands, director: Myrid Carten, nominated by Millennium Docs Against Gravity

• “Flophouse America”, Norway, director: Monica Strømdahl, nominated by CPH:DOX

• “Grey Zone” (Šedá Zóna), Slovakia, director: Daniela Meressa Rusnoková, nominated by Ji.hlava IDFF

• “Moria Six”, Germany, director: Jennifer Mallmann, nominated by DOK Leipzig

• “The Shards” (Oskolky), Georgia/ Germany, director: Masha Chernaya, nominated by Doclisboa

• “Volver a casa tan tarde”, Spain, director: Celia Viada Caso, nominated by Punto de Vista

Best Short Nominees:
 

• “23:23” (Život jedna báseň, není peříčko), Czech Republic, director: Kateřina Dudová, nominated by Ji.hlava IDFF

• “Bamssi”, Belgium/ Tunisia, director: Mourad Ben Amor, nominated by Punto de Vista

• “Can you hear me?” (Czy Ty mnie słyszysz?), Poland, director: Anastazja Naumenko, nominated by Millennium Docs Against Gravity

• “Fear Fokol”, Sweden, director: Tuva Björk, nominated by CPH:DOX

• “Shuruuk”, France/ Germany, director: Amie Barouh, nominated by FIDMarseille

• “Sixty-Seven Milliseconds” (Soixante-sept millisecondes), France, director: Fleuryfontaine, nominated by Visions du Réel

• “Unstable Rocks” (Pedras Instáveis), Portugal/ Germany, directors: Ewelina Rosińska and Nuno Barroso, nominated by Doclisboa 

• “We Had Fun Yesterday”, Belgium, director: Marion Guillard, nominated by DOK Leipzig

Synopses of nominees & biographies of the jury members: Synopses & Jury Bios

More information about the Doc Alliance Award: docalliance.org

More information about the guest festival 2025: Punto de Vista