DocsBarcelona has announced the submission dates for its 2025 edition, running May 8 to 18 2025 and its associated Industry program (May 12-16).
Documentary films can be submitted from September 16 to November 15, and projects for Industry program from December 10 to January 27, 2025.
Five Competition Sections, a Retrospective and almost €20,000 in prizes
The festival promises to “bring to the public a showcase of the best global documentary productions through a committed, stimulating program focused on the major challenges, debates, and conflicts of contemporary society,” write organisers. “It will do so by promoting the diversity of perspectives and themes, structured into five competitive sections and a major retrospective.” These are:
- Official Section – Docs&Pearls: A competitive section that brings together feature-length documentaries selected from the most recent national and international cinematic productions, aiming to bring other realities from all over the world to the public and address major issues, challenges, and concerns of today’s world.
- Docs&Cat Section: A competitive section that brings together a selection of the best documentaries produced and/or co-produced in Catalonia, with the aim of showcasing and supporting Catalan talent, reaffirming DocsBarcelona’s commitment to the strength and diversity of perspectives and themes in documentaries made in our country.
- Docs&Focus Section: A competitive section that gathers a selection of feature-length documentaries revolving around a single thematic axis that varies in each edition of the Festival. After focusing on different expressions and manifestations of love in 2024, this next edition will be dedicated to humor and will be called Docs&Humor.
- Docs&Honor Section: A retrospective of a selection of the filmography of the filmmaker awarded the Docs of Honor Prize in each edition of the Festival in recognition of their contribution to the world of cinema. • Docs&Teens Section: A competitive section focused on documentary productions suitable for audiences between 12 and 18 years old.
- DOC-U Section: A competitive section focused on documentary short films made by students over 18 years old from universities, educational centers, and film schools in Spain.
The festival distributes more than a dozen prizes valued at a total of almost 20,000 euros, including cash prizes (a total of 10,500 euros) and 8,000 euros in post-production services and equipment rental for filming, among others.
Documentary films can be submitted between September 16 and November 15 (early bird September 16 to November 1). Check the rules and regulations of each section and submit documentary films via docsbarcelona.com.
DocsBarcelona Industry
Festival organisers underline how DocsBarcelona Industry nurtures, every year, “daring and pioneering non-fiction media across various formats, including feature films, series, and new media productions.” Core to events are three pitch events:
- Public Pitch: Selected projects will be presented to an expert panel of financiers: commissioning editors, funding funds, sales agents, festival programmers and distributors from all over the world. Each selected project will make a live presentation, where it will screen its trailer and receive feedback from the funders.
- Rough Cut Pitch: A selection of non-fiction projects at rough cut stage to be presented in front of a large panel of funders and industry experts from around the world, interested in projects at this phase.
- New Tech Pitch: The New Tech Pitch (held for the first time in 2024) provides a selection of non-fiction projects that include emerging technologies to be presented in front of a large panel of funders and industry experts from around the world, interested in projects of this type. Projects must use, in one of their production phases, one of the following technologies: AI models, AI-powered tools, VR, XR, AR, web3, blockchain or metaverse.
Projects for DocsBarcelona Industry can be submitted December 10 to January 27, 2025.
