DOCUMENTARY
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Among the 1,184 submissions to this year's festival, our documentary selection emerges as a profound meditation on human resilience and subjective truth-telling, where the boundaries between observer and participant dissolve into what documentary theorist Bill Nichols terms "performative consciousness." This year's selection is distinguished by its remarkable approach to character-driven narratives that transform personal struggles into universal meditations on human experience.
The raw authenticity of Simon Ratigan's "Alex Lewis Mountain" redefines conventional narratives of disability through its protagonist's audacious journey across Ethiopia's highest peaks, while Otto Baxter's groundbreaking "Not A Fucking Horror Story" shatters documentary conventions through its bold fusion of horror aesthetics and autobiographical storytelling – marking a significant moment where subject becomes auteur. Cem Adıyaman's "In the Blink of an Eye: A Coffee Documentary" transcends its subject matter to become a hypnotic exploration of obsession and cultural identity, while Michael Del Monte's devastating "His Name Is Ray" stands as a testament to documentary cinema's capacity to bear witness to both personal tragedy and systemic failure. These works represent not merely observations of reality but active interventions in how we understand and construct truth through the documentary form. |
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Best Feature Documentary
1st Place Winner · Alex Lewis Mountain (UK) · Simon Ratigan 2nd Place Nominee · Not A Fucking Horror Story (UK) · Otto Baxter 3rd Place Nominee · His Name Is Ray (Canada) · Michael Del Monte Nominee · Improvisione (Italy) · Franco Gonzalez Bertolino Nominee · In The Blink Of An Eye: A Coffee Documentary (Turkey) · Cem Adıyaman Semi-Finalist · The Carnival: 125 Years Of The Penn Relays (USA) · Justin Jarrett Semi-Finalist · Better Together: Furman's Championship Quest (USA) · Richmond Weaver Semi-Finalist · Bear Week Diaries (USA) · Antongiulio Panizzi Best Short Documentary 1st Place Winner · Reznica (Serbia) · Davor Marinković 2nd Place Nominee · Blend Ability (USA) · Valentina Gutierrez 3rd Place Nominee · El Tigre (USA) · Graciela Cassel Nominee · Americanophile (Israel) · Or Dotan Nominee · With The Himba At Epupa (Australia) · Arnold Kopff Semi-Finalist · More Than Brothers (USA) · Andrea von Siebenthal Semi-Finalist · The Dolphin Dilemma (USA) · Olivia Andrus-Drennan Semi-Finalist · Troubled (UK) · Patricia Wagner Semi-Finalist · The Other Children (Turkey) · Aslihan Kas Semi-Finalist · Retrocity (Canada) · Jude Dauphin Best Film Essay 1st Place Winner · Written With A Finger On A Steamed-Up Window (Australia) · Guy Morgan 2nd Place Nominee · Grunt (USA) · Sean James Spencer 3rd Place Nominee · Digging Deep: Biking Down Mera Peak (Czech Republic) · Matěj Pichler Nominee · Anacostia Portraits (USA) · Yevgeniy K'banchik Semi-Finalist · Voyages: A Tale Of Culture, History And Awakening (USA) · Alex Chacon Semi-Finalist · The Way Of Mizoguchi (Italy) · Danilo Del Tufo Semi-Finalist · Qassem Haddad: The Last Door's Hour (Bahrain) · Khalid Alrowaie Semi-Finalist · Enfield Is Prayer: Mystery Of The Palm Leaf Library (Austria) · Pavi Lustig Semi-Finalist · Men And Gods, The Sea And The Sacred (Italy) · Massimo D'Alessandro Semi-Finalist · Americans In Israel (USA) · Johnny Vonneumann Semi-Finalist · A Peek Inside (USA) · Bryan Hamilton Chadwick Semi-Finalist · Aurora, The Light Of Trascendence (Spain) · Martin Zalba Best Character-Driven Documentary 1st Place Winner · Not A Fucking Horror Story (UK) · Otto Baxter 2nd Place Nominee · Alex Lewis Mountain (UK) · Simon Ratigan 3rd Place Nominee · His Name Is Ray (Canada) · Michael Del Monte Nominee · Lia: Body Of Work (USA) · Susan Weiss Nominee · Dreamful (Armenia) · Sarko Meené, Vahan Khachiyan Semi-Finalist · Homeless Street Artist (USA) · Tysen Knight Semi-Finalist · Enfield: What Is Inherited (USA) · Naomi Despres, Angela N. Robinson Semi-Finalist · Behind The Stage Door (USA) · Brian Stork Semi-Finalist · Revelation At Sea (New Zealand) · Bertrand Remaut Semi-Finalist · Music, Freedom And Mountains (Bolivia) · Jose Ignacio Mateis Balza Semi-Finalist · Golden Hearted (USA) · Millena Gay Semi-Finalist · Islander On A Mountain (Croatia) · Meri Tadic Semi-Finalist · Married To Math (USA) · Nina Zaretskaya |
Best Performative Documentary
1st Place Winner · In The Blink Of An Eye: A Coffee Documentary (Turkey) · Cem Adıyaman 2nd Place Nominee · Not A Fucking Horror Story (UK) · Otto Baxter 3rd Place Nominee · Improvisione (Italy) · Franco Gonzalez Bertolino Semi-Finalist · Shaping Kulture (USA) · Joseph Vialpando Semi-Finalist · Voyages: A Tale Of Culture, History And Awakening (USA) · Alex Chacon Semi-Finalist · Where Is Ida (Austria) · Petra Zoepnek Semi-Finalist · #Hatersmakemefamous (USA) · Tray Goodman Best Doc Directing 1st Place Winner · Alex Lewis Mountain (UK) · Simon Ratigan 2nd Place Nominee · Not A Fucking Horror Story (UK) · Otto Baxter 3rd Place Nominee · Improvisione (Italy) · Franco Gonzalez Bertolino Nominee · His Name Is Ray (Canada) · Michael Del Monte Nominee · Reznica (Serbia) · Davor Marinković Nominee · El Tigre (USA) · Graciela Cassel Nominee · In The Blink Of An Eye: A Coffee Documentary (Turkey) · Cem Adıyaman Semi-Finalist · Lia: Body Of Work (USA) · Susan Weiss Best Doc Cinematography 1st Place Winner · His Name Is Ray (Canada) · Michael Del Monte 2nd Place Nominee · Alex Lewis Mountain (UK) · Simon Ratigan 3rd Place Nominee · Reznica (Serbia) · Davor Marinković Nominee · In The Blink Of An Eye: A Coffee Documentary (Turkey) · Cem Adıyaman Nominee · Written With A Finger On A Steamed-Up Window (Australia) · Guy Morgan Best Doc Editing & Sound Design 1st Place Winner · In The Blink Of An Eye: A Coffee Documentary (Turkey) · Cem Adıyaman 2nd Place Nominee · Alex Lewis Mountain (UK) · Simon Ratigan 3rd Place Nominee · Americanophile (Israel) · Or Dotan Nominee · The Carnival: 125 Years Of The Penn Relays (USA) · Justin Jarrett Semi-Finalist · Enfield Is Prayer: Mystery Of The Palm Leaf Library (Austria) · Pavi Lustig Semi-Finalist · Qassem Haddad: The Last Door's Hour (Bahrain) · Khalid Alrowaie Best Nature Documentary 1st Place Winner · Mountains In Harmony (Spain) · Francisco Javier Fernández Bordonada 2nd Place Nominee · El Tigre (USA) · Graciela Cassel 3rd Place Nominee · A Era Dos Humanos "The Human Era" (Brazil) · Iara Cardoso Semi-Finalist · The Dolphin Dilemma (USA) · Olivia Andrus-Drennan Semi-Finalist · With & Without: A Coral Story (USA) · Derick Royce Lozano-Walker Semi-Finalist · Hell In Paradise (Switzerland) · Tiziana Caminada |
