Capitán by Laura Otárola took home the DocsBarcelona Award for Best Project during the event’s May 15 awards ceremony. Gaza Sunbirds by Flavia Cappellini won the Al Jazeera Documentary Channel Co-production Award. The awards ceremony was held at Casa Montjuïc and marked the conclusion of DocsBarcelona Industry. This year’s edition brought together more than 750 accredited professionals from around the world for four days of pitching sessions, networking events, and many industry-oriented activities.
The winners are as follows:
- DocsBarcelona Best Project Award: Capitán (Colombia/Spain) by Laura Otárola. This is the story of a farewell journey between a father and a daughter who, in a race against time due to Alzheimer’s, decide to recreate their memories through a film.
- Special Mention DocsBarcelona Best Project Award: Gaza Sunbirds (Spain/Belg/UK) by Flavia Cappellini. Seven years in the making, Gaza Sunbirds follows the chronicles of Alaa, a road cyclist who lost his leg in 2018 in Gaza. He and his underdog team of war amputee paracyclists escaped the war to compete abroad, at the heavy price of leaving their families behind in Gaza.
- Al Jazeera Documentary Channel Co-production Award: Gaza Sunbirds (Spain/Belg/UK) by Flavia Cappellini. Seven years in the making, Sunbirds follows the chronicles of Alaa, a road cyclist who lost his leg in 2018 in Gaza. He and his underdog team of war amputee paracyclists escaped the war to compete abroad, at the heavy price of leaving their families behind in Gaza.
- DocsBarcelona Best New Tech Project Award: There is Something in the Silence (Spain/Serbia/France) by Patricia Fernández. Twenty years after the unexpected death of her first love, the director turns to virtual reality to recover the memories blocked by trauma.
- HBO Europe Best Pitch Award: All We Have Is Us (Chile/Germany) by Aline Juárez and Juan Francisco Donoso. Peasants and Indigenous communities unite to defend their territories in Serbia and Chile against lithium mining for the energy transition. Spoiler: They win…but how long will those victories last?
- Music Library Award: Kalari Kid (WT, Swiss) by Maria Kaur Bedi, Satindar Singh Bedi. Young women fighting for their place using ancient Indian martial art.
- Antaviana Best Pitch Award: Tokyo Meltdown (France) by María Urquijo. No press…
- Women Make Movies Award: Before the Feast (India) by Rajani Mani. In Cochin’s tidal wetlands, ageing farmer Vincent braves a rising sea, storms, and the inevitability of time to protect Pokkali rice – a rare, salt-resistant grain with the superpower to feed the future. When an unexpected tragedy upends his life, and his family begins to fragment, will his legacy survive?
- Sónar+D New Tech Pitch Award: Lid Scape (Colombia/Spain) by Sebastián Carrasco. An expanded VR documentary exploring the virtual war between Venezuelan gamers and the European mercenary faction Reign of Terror in RuneScape Old School, revealing how digital economy, racism, and geopolitical tensions turn virtual spaces into reflections of the real world.
- San Sebastian Lau Haizetara Forum Award: Gaza Sunbirds (Spain/Belg/UK) by Flavia Cappellini. An expanded VR documentary exploring the virtual war between Venezuelan gamers and the European mercenary faction Reign of Terror in RuneScape Old School, revealing how digital economy, racism, and geopolitical tensions turn virtual spaces into reflections of the real world.
- FipaDoc Award: Capitán (Colombia/Spain) by Laura Otárola. This is the story of a farewell journey between a father and a daughter who, in a race against time due to Alzheimer’s, decide to recreate their memories through a film.
- East Doc Platform Award: Berliner (Georgia/Germany) by Anna Khazaradze. Nana, a Georgian translator living and working in Berlin, acts as a bridge for asylum seekers – helping them share their stories through translations and navigate the challenges of starting a new life.
- MIA DOC Award: Julian Assange: This Is All About You (France) by Etienne Huver. Hacker. Whistleblower. Spy? Who is Julian Assange? An investigative portrait of the Wikileaks’ founder, nearly imprisoned for life until his unexpected release, raising new questions on the future of whistleblowing as we face a world where the truth itself is being eroded with every passing minute.
- Dok.fest München Award: When You’re Not There (Spain) by Pol Picas, Marta Sellart. An old-fashioned funeral home run by a family faces its last days of business.
- DOCXS Consultancy Award: Romania vs Romania (Romania) by Anelise Salan. A political earthquake threatens the democracy in Romania and splits the country in two, creating an emotional chaos and possible economic decline.
- CIRCLE Women Doc Accelerator Award: Tokyo Meltdown (France)by María Urquijo. No press…
- Nuevas Miradas EICTV Award: La Taca (Spain) by Mònica Llop. How can one explain what the mind forgets but the body remembers? Mònica spends over a decade reopening her sexual assault case, challenging the silence of the system and society. From pain’s darkness, she finds healing through art and introspection, transforming wounds into light and beauty.
- Doklab Navarra Grant: Barceloneta 1/4 (Spain) by Alba Maria Sueiro. In the midst of a housing crisis, an old sailor, guardian of Barceloneta’s memory, guides us through the stories of his neighbors’ resistance, as gentrification and speculation threaten to erase the neighborhood’s identity.
