Nick Cunningham

The two festivals may run concurrently, but that is no hindrance to Polish docmakers who are out in force this year at both Ji.hlava IDFF and DOK Leipzig. Seven Polish productions have been selected for the Czech docfest, while eight projects are pitched in Leipzig, in addition to a basketful of selections in the festival program. (Still: Trains by Maciej J. Drygas)

In The Beauty of the Donkey, which has its international premiere at Ji.hlava 2025, director Dea Gjinovci and her exiled father return to his razed village in Kosovo to recreate his childhood memories, alongside local townsfolk. “My film contemplates the traces left behind and asks: can they be woven back together? Often, what remains are the memories of those who survive—and how they pass them on,” Gjinovci tells BDE.

Fossil Matter follows twin scientific endeavours undertaken within a natural history museum in southern Patagonia; firstly, to excavate an ichthyosaur, a marine reptile from the Cretaceous period, and secondly to retrieve the carcass of a whale stranded on the shores of Tierra del Fuego. It’s “a project rooted in the far south that involves scientists, artists, historians, and filmmakers who are convinced that research - across all its disciplinary expressions - can be a step toward rewriting the story of southern Patagonia and envisioning possible futures for the planet,” Panizza tells BDE.

The Best International Competition Film was awarded to The Night Is Fading Away by Ezequiel Salinas and Ramiro Sonzini (Argentina). The International Competition Jury Award went to Tell Me a Fairy Tale by Ebrû Avci (Turkey), while the Jury Award for Best International Competition Director was won by Fantasy by Isabel Pagliai (France). The Doclisboa Award for Best Portuguese Competition Film was picked by Água Mãe, by Hiroatsu Suzuki and Rossana Torres.

Chilean artist/filmmaker Meliza Luna Venegas’ Green Desert (screening in the International Competition at DOK Leipzig) is both a climate change movie and an intensely personal and poetic journey into the director’s own past, and that of her family. “For me, the film is a journey through time,” the director tells BDE. “A lot of the archive is used to help remember the culture of the people who lived on this land and of the forests that don’t exist anymore.” Venegas is joined in interview by producer Isabel Orellana Guarello.

Located in the east-German city of Halle, Kindesmutter tells the story of Anne who became a mother at the age of 17. Her daughter Leonie (now 14) runs the risks of taking the same path of drug addiction. To break the cycle, Anne determines to change her life, but can she become the role model her daughter needs before it’s too late? “While the film is rooted in the social realities of Eastern Germany, Anne’s struggle to break cycles of poverty, addiction, and stigma speaks to universal experiences of motherhood, resilience, and hope,” producer Friedemann Hottenbacher tells BDE.

Kim Hess’s There You Go follows new ballet director Demis Volpi during his first season at the Hamburg State Opera, after the departure of legend John Neumeier who, over the previous 50 years, had turned the Hamburg Ballet into an internationally renowned company. “What began as a portrait of a promising new beginning has, in a few months, become a chronicle of a historic cultural conflict,” producer Lotta Schmelzer tells BDE.

The feature doc project Finding Connection investigates the extent to which AI can provide help and comfort to folk who cannot receive these via human contact. “As AI increasingly mimics empathy, people turn to it not just for information, but for companionship and emotional support,” producer Martin Schwimmer tells BDE. “The film probes urgent questions about loneliness, authenticity, and what it means to form connections in a world where the line between human and machine is fading.”

The Respekt Award for the best audiovisual reportage on a political or social topic – went to Černá práce (Black Work) from Czech Television’s Reportéři ČT series. The Documentary Book Award, presented for the fifth time, was handed to Petr Třešňák for his book Důstojnost (Dignity), while in the Short Joy category, the winning film is wedLOCK tradWIFE by Austrian director Gabriele Neudecker.

Some see OnlyFans as purveyors of “fair-trade” porn, allowing content creators control over their business from the safety of their home. Others see it as no less exploitative in its objectification of women than pornography has ever been. “It's consensual from both sides, so that's why we decided that we want to do it in a very observational way,” Czech producer Pavla Klimešová tells Business Doc Europe of her Ji.hlava opener Virtual Girlfriends. “We just wanted to shoot the situation and make the viewer make the decision about what they think.”