Running April 3 to 13 in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, the 30th It’s All True International Documentary FF festival will showcase 85 productions from 30 countries, including feature-length, medium-length and short films.
Brazilian documentaries telling the stories of two iconic figures from its national culture – Rita Lee and Marília Pêra – will have their world premieres as opening screenings. Ritas, by Oswaldo Santana, will be screened April 2 in São Paulo. The April 3 Rio de Janeiro opening will feature Viva Marília by Zelito Viana.
The festival awards ceremony will take place on Saturday, April 12.
“With the prestigious recognition of It’s All True as a ‘qualifying festival’ by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the four films winning the official jury awards for the Brazilian and International Competitions in Feature/Mid-Length Films and Short Films are automatically qualified for consideration for the 2026 Academy Awards® in both categories,” says festival director Amir Labaki.
“The fact that this festival reaches its 30th edition this year reaffirms, first and foremost, our initial belief that documentary film requires an annual platform in the country that would provide audiences with access to the excellence and originality of both Brazilian and international non-fiction production.”
It’s All True also presents Non-Competitive Sections: Special Programs, The State of Things, Latin American Focus and It’s All True Classics.
The festival also honours the work of Vladimir Carvalho (1935-2024) in 2025, one of the most influential filmmakers in the history of, with the screening of the nine feature films he made over more than half a century, organisers inform. The international retrospective, in turn, highlights the work of British director Humphrey Jennings (1907-1950), regarded as “the first poet of English non-fiction filmmaking.” The cycle presents eight of his classics, such as Fires Were Started (1943) and Family Portrait (1950), along with a documentary about his work, directed by Kevin Macdonald (winner of the 1998 Oscar with One Day in September).”
To celebrate “30 uninterrupted years” of It’s All True, three landmark documentaries from the festival’s history will be shown. The Comrade: The Life of Luiz Carlos Prestes by Toni Venturi, and Noel Field – The Fictitious Spy by Swiss director Werner Schweizer, were the first winners of the competitive sections at the festival’s second edition in 1997. The classic Man Marked for Death (1984) by Eduardo Coutinho will also have a special screening.
On April 8 and 9, the 22nd edition of the International Documentary Conference will take place, co-organized with the Cinemateca Brasileira in São Paulo, with its program to be announced later.
Opening Film:São Paulo
- Ritas by Oswaldo Santana. Brazil; 83 minutes; 2025 Language: Portuguese. Synopsis: Rita Lee shows what everyone knows in a way no one has ever seen before: the poet, composer, instrumentalist, writer, hermit, and muse, as told by her, through interviews and testimonies.
Opening Film: Rio
- Viva Marília by Zelito Viana. Brazil; 87 minutes; 2024. Language: Portuguese. Synopsis: The historical, political, and social context of Brazil in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, and its impact on the life and work of actress Marília Pêra, part of a generation of strong and powerful women who influenced hearts and minds.
Closing Film
- Trains by Maciej J. Drygas. Poland and Lithuania; 80 minutes; 2024. Language: [No dialogue] Synopsis: An artistic and reflective train journey through 20th-century Europe, entirely composed of archival footage, reveals how the wonder of movement can become a curse.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: FEATURE OR MEDIUM-LENGTH FILMS
- Blame by Christian Frei. Switzerland; 122 minutes; 2025. Language: English. Synopsis: When the world is engulfed by the COVID-19 pandemic, three scientists who had long predicted its arrival must fight not only against the virus but also against a wave of misinformation.
- Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story by Sinéad O’Shea. Ireland, United Kingdom; 99 minutes; 2024. Language: English. Synopsis: In 1960, Edna O’Brien made her literary debut with The Country Girls, which caused controversy in Ireland: her books were banned. She passed away in London, leaving her testament of a vibrant life to filmmaker Sinéad O’Shea.
- Chronicles of the Absurd by Miguel Coyula. Cuba; 77 minutes; 2024. Language: Spanish. Synopsis: The complex contradictions of Cuba’s social and political dynamics are unveiled in a narrative largely built from clandestine audio recordings captured by hidden cell phones.
- The Propagandist by Luuk Bouwman. Netherlands; 108 minutes; 2024. Language: Dutch. Synopsis: The rise and fall of filmmaker Jan Teunissen and the boundaries between documentary and propaganda. Head of the Cinema Department of the Nazi Party and the Dutch SS, he was the most powerful man in the Dutch film industry during World War II.
- The Freedom of Fierro by Santiago Esteinou. Mexico; 96 minutes; 2024. Language: Spanish. Synopsis: César Fierro has just become a free man and must rebuild his life after being unjustly sentenced to death in Texas. Upon his release, the world is in isolation due to a pandemic.
- Searching for Amani by Nicole Gormley & Debra Aroko. USA & Kenya; 76 minutes; 2024. Language: English. Synopsis: A teenage aspiring journalist investigates the mysterious murder of his father in one of Kenya’s largest wildlife conservation areas. His search takes a new turn when he comes face to face with the effects of climate change.
- The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy by Håvard Bustnes. Norway; 95 minutes; 2025. Language: English, Norwegian. Synopsis: Rob Moore, a former TV producer, pretends to be a journalist and documentary filmmaker to gain the trust of anti-asbestos activists—when, in reality, he was a spy for the asbestos industry mafia.
- The Invasion by Sergei Loznitsa. France, Netherlands, USA; 145 minutes; 2024. Language: Ukrainian. Synopsis: Ten years after the release of his epic film Maidan, Sergei Loznitsa resumes his Ukrainian chronicles, portraying the resistance of the civilian population—a nation determined to defend its right to exist—against the Russian invasion.
- Under the Flags, the Sun by Juanjo Pereira. Paraguay, Argentina, USA, France, Germany; 90 minutes; 2025. Language: Guaraní, Spanish, German, French, English, Portuguese. Synopsis: Rare footage unveils the hidden mechanisms of Alfredo Stroessner’s dictatorship in Paraguay, one of the longest-lasting regimes in history. A revealing look at how the media shaped power.
- Writing Hawa by Najiba Noori. France, Netherlands, Qatar, and Afghanistan; 85 minutes; 2024. Language: Persian. Synopsis: Forty years after being forced into an arranged marriage as a child, Hawa begins to build an independent life and learns to read and write. But with the return of the Taliban to power, her dreams—and those of her daughter Najiba and granddaughter Zahra—are shattered.
- 2000 Meters to Andriivka by Mstyslav Chernov. Ukraine; 107 minutes; 2025. Language: Ukrainian, English. Synopsis: The devastating impact of the Russia-Ukraine war from a deeply personal and intense perspective. After his historic account of civilian victims in Mariupol, Mstyslav Chernov now turns his camera to the soldiers.
- My Armenian Phantoms by Tamara Stepanyan. France, Armenia, Qatar; 75 minutes; 2025. Language: English, Armenian. Synopsis: An evocative journey through the forgotten world of Armenian cinema. Inspired by conversations with her father, actor Vigen Stepanyan, and her own memories, the filmmaker explores universal themes of identity, love, struggle, and artistic expression.
BRAZILIAN COMPETITION: FEATURE OR MEDIUM-LENGTH FILMS
- Bruscky: A Self-Portrait by Eryk Rocha. Brazil; 94 minutes; 2025. Language: Portuguese. Synopsis: Reflecting on the memories of the dictatorship and his artistic works, the Pernambuco-born Paulo Bruscky walks through the city while exercising his libertarian and experimental perspective on the world.
- Copan by Carine Wallauer. Brazil; 97 minutes; 2025. Language: Portuguese. Synopsis: The Copan building is a microcosm of Brazil. With 5,000 residents and more than a hundred employees, it represents a diversity of characters and perspectives that reveal the contrasts and structural inequalities of the country.
- Lan – The Caricaturist by Pedro Vinícius. Brazil; 81 minutes; 2024. Language: Portuguese. Synopsis: The Italian boy Lanfranco Vaselli crossed the Atlantic in the late 1920s and became one of the most influential caricaturists in Latin America. Alongside Olivia, his wife and faithful companion, he revisits his memories across Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil.
- Mundurukuyü – Fish Woman’s Forest by Aldira Akay, Beka Munduruku, Rylcélia Akay. Brazil; 72 minutes; 2024. Language: Munduruku and Portuguese. Synopsis: In the Sawre Muybu village, on the banks of the Tapajós River, Pará, the forest of the fish-women mirrors Munduruku mythology, in which humans, at the origin of the world, transformed into forests, plants, and animals.
- A Restless Gaze: The Cinema of Jorge Bodanzky by Liliane Maia, Jorge Bodanzky. Brazil; 86 minutes; 2024. Language: Portuguese. Synopsis: In 1973, while documenting the construction of the University of Humboldt in Mato Grosso, Jorge Bodanzky flies over indigenous people attempting to hit the plane with arrows. Half a century later, he revisits his relationship with the Amazon and the story behind that image.
- When Brazil Was Modern by Fabiano Maciel. Brazil; 93 minutes; 2025. Language: Portuguese. Synopsis: Brazilian architecture in the 20th century influenced generations of architects worldwide. But there was a time when choosing an architectural style also meant choosing a vision for the country, amidst political power struggles.
- Fisherman’s Street, nº 6 by Bárbara Paz. Brazil; 72 minutes; 2025. Language: Portuguese. Synopsis: As the floodwaters in Rio Grande do Sul recede, the memories of many lives surface. A small team of audiovisual technicians from Rio Grande do Sul, some of whom were also affected by the tragedy, set out in search of stories and memories “after the end.”
