Doc Alliance, the creative union of seven major European documentary film festivals, has unveiled the shortlist of 14 nominees for the 2022 Doc Alliance Awards, to be handed out during the Doc Day lunch in Cannes on May 24. The total prize pot is €8,000 in cash, designed to support the winners’ future creative endeavours and projects.
Every year, the programmers and artistic directors of all seven festivals nominate one short film and one feature-length film. A jury of leading European journalists and film professionals then select the winning films in both categories from the list of nominated films.
The Doc Alliance festivals are: CPH:DOX (Denmark), Doclisboa (Portugal), DOK Leipzig (Germany), FIDMarseille (France), Ji.hlava IDFF (Czech Republic), Millennium Docs Against Gravity (Poland) and Visions du Réel (Switzerland).
This year’s jury members are Frederik Bojer Bové (POV.International), Esther Buss (Jungle World, Filmdienst, Der Tagesspiegel), Teresa Vieira (Antena 3, Cineuropa), Nepheli Gambade (Critikat), Leila Basma (dok.revue), Nicolas Wadimoff (filmmaker, Head of the Cinema Department at HEAD–Genève) and Michał Walkiewicz (Filmweb).
Doc Alliance founder Nina Numankadić comments of this year’s picks: “The past year has […] brought a sense of calm to the world of film festivals, as well as new hope for filmmakers and film audiences. The films chosen for the Doc Alliance Selection are proof of that. They reflect on topics such as migration and personal experiences of war. Meanwhile the nominated short films surprise us with innovative and experimental forms and styles in addressing our world.”
Feature documentary nominations (nominating festival/title/director/country of origin):
- CPH:DOX: The Eclipse. Dir: Nataša Urban, Norway
- Doclisboa: Yoon. Dir: Pedro Figueiredo Neto, Ricardo Falcão, Portugal
- DOK Leipzig: Nasim. Dir: Ole Jacobs, Arne Büttner, Germany
- FIDMarseille: A Night of Knowing Nothing. Dir: Payal Kapadia, France/India
- Ji.hlava IDFF: Kapr Code. Dir: Lucie Králová, Czech Republic/Slovakia
- Millennium Docs Against Gravity: The Pawnshop. Dir: Łukasz Kowalski, Poland
- Visions du Réel: 5 Dreamers and a Horse. Dir: Aren Malakyan, Vahagn Khachatryan. Armenia/Germany/Switzerland/Denmark/Georgia
Feature documentary nominations (nominating festival/title/director/country of origin):
- CPH:DOX: Abyss. Dir: Jeppe Lange, Denmark
- Doclisboa: Peace. Dir: José Oliveira, Marta Ramos, Portugal
- DOK Leipzig: Light Years. Dir: Monika Proba, Poland
- FIDMarseille: In the Billowing Night. Dir: Erika Etangsalé, France
- Ji.hlava IDFF: Beautiful Solution. Dir: Eliška Cílková, Czech Republic
- Millennium Docs Against Gravity: Joanna d‘Arc. Dir: Aleksander Szamałek, Poland
- Visions du Réel: Aralkum, Dir: Daniel Asadi Faezi, Mila Zhluktenko. Uzbekistan/Germany
