As of 2025 MDAG (Millennium Docs Against Gravity, Poland) will be accorded Oscar® Qualifying status. “This means that from the 22nd edition in 2025, the Grand Prix – Bank Millennium Award winner will have a clear path to the Academy Awards. The film will no longer need to fulfill the additional conditions required to compete for the world’s most prestigious film award,” the festival writes.
“This is a huge achievement for the entire team, as this exclusive list [of festivals] has remained barely unchanged for decades and includes only the most important and largest film events, such as Berlinale and the Cannes Film Festival. Millennium Docs Against Gravity, which has grown to become the second-largest documentary film festival in Europe, has gained significance due to its scale and program, becoming a key venue for world and international premieres, as well as a starting point for films on their way to major awards,” the festival adds.
“According to the rules set by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, only films that have had a continuous 7-day distribution in the U.S. (meeting several additional conditions), titles nominated by their countries in the Best International Feature Film category, or those works that have won at one of the qualifying festivals are eligible for the award. As MDAG is now on this list, the prestige and importance of the festival’s main prize has significantly increased.”
Organisers of MDAG (Millennium Docs Against Gravity) have also invited submissions for the festival’s 22ndedition, which will take place May 9-18, 2025 in cinemas, and from May 20 to June 2 online at mdag.pl. The deadline for submissions is January 6. For the competition sections the festival accepts films that will have their Polish premiere and are over 45 minutes long.
MDAG is one of the largest doc fests in the world and the only film festival in Europe that takes place simultaneously in seven different cities: Warsaw, Gdynia, Wrocław, Bydgoszcz, Katowice, Poznań, and Łódź.
During the 21st MDAG in May 2024, more than 165,000 people attended both parts of the festival (onsite and online) to watch the festival selection numbering almost 190 films.
For the past three years, MDAG has also featured industry events—MDAG Industry—drawing key figures in documentary cinema from around the world to Warsaw, as well as filmmakers developing their projects.
The festival’s mission to promote film culture “is highly appreciated by its audience and the media,” write organisers. “A Net Promoter Score of 69—an exceptionally high result—reflects the satisfaction of participants in the 21st edition of MDAG. As many as 78% of respondents in the survey are festival promoters. Media interest is equally strong. In 2024, 7,035 media pieces were published, resulting in a record-breaking Advertising Value Equivalency (AVE) of 39,854,505 PLN.”
“All data regarding the festival’s structure and audience development, events, awards, year-round film cycles, number of publications, and media reach are constantly available on the official MDAG website,” organisers write. “The festival is committed to full transparency and providing access to key data about its growth.”
Millennium Docs Against Gravity is also co-founder of the Doc Alliance network, which brings together seven key European documentary film festivals: CPH:DOX, DOK Leipzig, Ji.hlava IDFF, FID Marseille, Visions du Réel, Doclisboa and MDAG.
Submissions for the 22nd edition of MDAG should be made via https://vp.eventival.com/mdagff/2025.
