As ever, Cannes Docs chief Pierre-Alexis Chevit is upbeat about his Riviera event that can rightfully claim must-attend status among all serious internationally-minded doccers.
“Cannes Docs remains a networking platform which is open to anyone working with docs and attending Marché du Film, who would be interested in our activities and offerings,” he tells BDE. “Spreading the word that there actually exist[s] a program for docs in Cannes has been a long endeavour, over the years, but I think that now a lot of people finally got it! It’s been fun doing that, people are always happy to learn about Cannes Docs. I think the program found its natural place within the yearly doc calendar of docs, even if sadly we still kind of conflict with a few other great doc fests like DocsBarcelona or Beldocs.”
“All in all, Cannes Docs really is a different kind of proposal than all the super established doc fests out there,” he adds, when asked where the event fits within the yearly doc calendar. “It’s more of an additional, supplementary opportunity, one that takes place during the world’s biggest convening of film professionals at large. Which in itself is also one of the unique and distinctive aspects of Cannes Docs, obviously.”
The very existence of the event also serves as a mild rebuke to a host festival for which documentary is less of a priority. “I would just add that in many ways, symbolically speaking (but no less importantly), I also see Cannes Docs as a strategic place of community gathering for all of us doc-believers, to stand our ground in Cannes and affirm, loud and clear, that docs are cinema. Period,” Chevit stresses.
As in past years, Cannes Docs offers up a varied selection of pitches, talks, masterclasses and networking opportunities, culminating in a packed Doc Day (May 20) which sees keynotes, top-level interviews and the award of prizes to projects that have been presented over past days.
The event boasts two new partners for its Docs-in-Progress awards: the Rulli Putortì & Partners legal support award, and the Chicken & Egg Vision Award, presented to a woman or gender-expansive filmmaker whose film offers a creative vision and the potential to create change. The US-based Chicken & Egg celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2025 and their award includes a $5,000 cash prize, one year of mentorship, and AlumNest membership.
“Two of our eleven ʹSpotlighted Projectsʹ come from freshly established collaborations with the New Dawn Film Fund and with DOCA – Documentary Association of Georgia,” Chevit highlights other new elements in place for 2025. “We also have three newly installed partnerships in support of our delegations of producers attending Cannes Docs 2025: Documentary Africa, a coalition of the 3 Baltic countries, and the BIPOC EURODOC initiative.”
Every year, Cannes Docs partners with institutions and organizations from around the world to showcase selections of documentaries at edit or post-production stage, and soon to hit the festival circuit. The eight showcases in 2025 are from Brazil (the festival’s Country of Honour in 2025), Canada, Docs by the Sea, Scotland, Spain, Chile, Palestine and the Circle Doc Accelerator.
“All these new collaborations are carefully incubated and implemented, always powered by the drive to build a community of relevant allies,” Chevit comments. “New and long-standing partners all conduct a remarkable mission in their part of the world and within different segments of this industry, and we, as Cannes Docs, feel strongly about being on the same wavelength, driven by common work ethics and shared desires of emancipation through documentary.”
Chevit points to the “exponential” expansion of the Cannes Docs programme over the past ten years, especially post-pandemic with the input of his colleague, the “truly out-of-this-world” Babette Dieu, and also the support and “sublime expertise” of DAE (Documentary Association of Europe) headed up by Brigid O’Shea and Marion Schmidt.
“Cannes Docs has become an ambitious, multifaceted, diverse program, drawing more and more attention and participants year after year. To be honest, the real question now would be: what’s next?! It’s a tricky one, to be honest, as Cannes Docs has in some ways reached some sorts of limits of the space and resources we have at our disposal. I sometimes wonder what the next phase of Cannes Docs should and will be. All inputs from the community are very welcome!”
The jam-packed Doc Day 2025 takes place May 20, gathering a wide array of important doc voices. These include: Waad al-Kateab (For Sama, L’Œil d’or Award 2019); Sepideh Farsi (Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, ACID Cannes 2025); Paul Gransard (Festival de Cannes), Michael Stutz (Berlinale), Ania Trzebiatowska (Sundance), Pamela Biénzobas (Locarno), who will talk about doc programming in film festivals; Erige Sehiri (Promised Sky, Un Certain Regard 2025) and Zoulikha Tahar, for a special ‘Rawiyat – Sisters in Film’ podcast episode about how their practice of cinema of the real and how it nourishes their fiction; Yelizaveta Smith, Alina Gorlova, Simon Mozgovyi and Eugene Rachkovsky about their film Militantropos (Directors’ Fortnight 2025); and emerging filmmaker Viv Li, giving a live performance based on the making of her upcoming debut feature documentary The Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest.
Chevit acknowledges the importance of documentary, both in chronicling our troubled (socio)political times and, as importantly, in enabling or giving space for personal reflection. “For me, especially through a lot of very first-person, intimate, poetic, introspective films, docs are definitely a therapeutic way to better understand ourselves, our own feelings and emotions, and how we cope with (dreadful) reality. Seeing these kind of films makes you realize that you’re not alone feeling what you’re feeling – that helps,” he says.
Furthermore, documentaries “represent a kind of modest, of course, yet genuine form of resistance to the mainstream ultra-capitalist and individualist doxa, and to the terrifying contemporary extreme centrism our governments are desperately trying to hold on to, when it hasn’t already tipped over to (proto)fascist regimes.”
He describes doc fests as “an essential asset” within the whole non-fiction ecosystem, and praises their endeavours “to connect films with audiences and reunite professionals in all four corners of the world.”
“Some of our key partners at Cannes Docs have always been documentary festivals worldwide, and their support in building up the program over the years has been decisive and heart-warming,” Chevit signs off. “So here’s a very friendly nod to all our Festival Partners this year: CPH:DOX, DMZ Docs, DocsMX, Docudays UA, DOK Leipzig, Dokufest, É Tudo Verdade – It’s All True, Encounters, Festival dei Popoli, Ji.hlava, Movies that Matter, Thessaloniki Int’l Documentary Festival, Visions du Réel & ZINEBI. Thank you for being part of the Cannes Docs family!”
