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This weekend saw the presentation of the awards of the 47th Cinéma du reel. The Grand Prix, valued at a total of €8,000 was handed to James Benning for his film, little boy. The Cinéma du réel International Award 2025 was won by two films, In the Manner of Smoke by Armand Yervant Tufenkian, and Monólogo Colectivo by Jessica Sarah Rinland, with a split pot of €5,000. The ParisDOC Works-in-Progress prize went to Bahía Honda by Alejandro Alonson. All awards…

On March 25, Wolf Moon, a captivating project by Robin Petré, was unveiled at the CPH:DOX Forum. Moderated by Tabitha Jackson, the presentation offered an exciting glimpse into a film that promises to take audiences on an immersive journey deep into the landscapes of the night, exploring the evolving relationship between humans and animals in the age of the Anthropocene.

The winners of the international competitions at CPH:DOX 2025 were announced during the March 28 award show in Copenhagen. The competition line-up included a total of 71 films across 6 different categories, featuring 56 world premieres. The DOX:AWARD went to Always by Deming Chen. The F:ACT AWARD ‘2000 Meters to Andriivka by Mstyslav Chernov; the HUMAN:RIGHTS AWARD to 9-MONTH CONTRACT by Ketevan Vashagashvili, and the NORDIC:DOX AWARD to Walls – Akinni Inuk.

The talk Collective Action, Collective Power, presented in partnership with Documentary Campus and held as part of this year’s CPH:DOX Conference on 25 March, brought together a distinguished group of panellists to discuss the potential of collective organising in reshaping the documentary ecosystem. “There’s an audience out there tired of being spoon-fed by algorithms. They want engaging, meaningful content—they just can’t find it,” said former Sundance Institute CEO Keri Putnam.

UK production outfit Hopscotch Films returned to CPH:DOX Forum with Story of Documentary Film, the latest epic by revered filmmaker Mark Cousins. Following on from their collaborations on The Story of Film: An Odyssey and Women Make Film, this new 16x60-minute series sets out to tell the definitive story of non-fiction cinema—"boldly feminist, jargon-free, and truly global in scope."

The Eurimages Outreach Award of €30,000 was won by Becoming Lucien, directed by Lucien Pin & Alex Haugmard and produced by Thibault Elie. The Eurimages Innovation Award of €20,000 went to A Sanctuary of Stuff by Francesca Tremulo & Eszter Várhidi. The $25,000 Sandbox Films Science Pitch Prize went to Metropolis by Anupama Srinivasan & Anirban, while the first Rise and Shine Award went to House No.7, directed by Rama Abdi and produced by Hazar Yazji. All awards…

At this year’s CPH:DOX Forum, Norwegian auteur Margreth Olin (Songs of Earth, The Self Portrait, Doing Good) unveiled details of her latest non-fiction venture. Known for her lyrical storytelling and focus on human rights and environmental consciousness, Olin is now turning her lens toward a different kind of subject: the horse - not as a servant to human needs, but as a sentient, autonomous being.

“Crossing the Mountains is a necessary and urgent film, telling the story of one of Europe’s most symbolic borders through an intimate and political lens,” says producer Céline Loiseau of her ParisDOC 2025 project. “At a time when fascism and migration repression are intensifying, this film offers a powerful narrative of resistance and solidarity. It is not just a documentary about the migration crisis, but a broader reflection on our times, on the struggles of those who challenge borders, and on the fragility of our idea of freedom.”

“First and foremost, it is a rare and unique point of view, one of the very few representatives of Chechen culture in contemporary cinema,” says French producer Alexandra Mélot ahead of the March 27 ParisDOC Work-in-Progress screening of Imago by director Déni Oumar Pitsaev. “Imago is an initiation tale about a free-spirited young man's search for his roots as he confronts the traditional dogmas of his clan, which he left as a teenager to exile in France.”

“Two out of three protagonists of Anatomy of a Portrait are on stage while the third, despite being the reason for their initial encounter, is a ghost,” begins the synopsis of Mattia Colombo and Francesco Clerici’s latest documentary opus, presented at this week’s ParisDOC Work-In-Progress forum. BDE was intrigued enough to catch with the film’s producer, Marco Malfi Chindemi to find out more.