Documentary Competition

An elderly man works exhausting hours alongside his horse. A story about man and grief as a universal human experience. At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking is the director’s debut feature-length documentary: it premiered at the Sheffield DocFest in 2024, where it won the Grand Jury Award in the International Competition.

In 1981 Poland was on the verge of an unravelling revolution. Exciting time for people, troublesome for the authorities. A film about the imposition of martial law made from archive material, that vibrates with extraordinary and unexpected energy. A Year in the Life of a Country was presented at the Krakow Film Festival and at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.

Tata is a raw portrait of a family locked in a relentless struggle against toxic masculinity. It tells the story of a daughter’s emotionally poignant quest to break the cycle for herself, the next generation, and even for the one who hurt her. The film is Lina Vdovîi’s feature-length directorial debut. The film premiered at the Toronto FF in 2024.

Seven years after To Be Continued, Seleckis and Začs return to visit the film’s protagonists, who are now 14 years old. The documentary captures the world through the eyes of teenagers and observes how the situation in the country and the world shapes these children’s destinies. To Be Continued. Teenhood. was presented at the latest IDFA.

Filmed over 10 years, it’s the story of Alice, a girl trapped in a young mother’s life.
Alice On & Off, Isabela Tent’s debut feature documentary, premiered at Krakow Film Festival and then was presented at the Transilvania IFF where it won the Best Debut Feature award.

The terminus resembles a circle, because it is where things turn around. The people one meets at a terminus are very important people. Maybe because it’s at the termini that the city ends and begins – and if not the city, then at least something ends and begins there.
The film premiered at the latest Riga Film Festival.

Trains is a documentary fresco, a wordless and contemplative journey through the Twentieth century, depicting humanity’s cycles of war, fleeting peace, and inevitable tragedy. Composed entirely of archival film footage from 46 archives around the world and sound design, Trains premiered at the latest IDFA in Amsterdam where it was awarded Best Film and Best Editing.

The citizens of Zenica have united in a common struggle for a sustainable future. But money, power, and politics prove to be as toxic an opponent as the pollution that is threatening their lives. The Sky Above Zenica premiered at CPH:Dox in Copenhagen and was then presented at the Sarajevo FF and Jihlava IDFF, among others festivals.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine finds Alina in Irpin, near Kyiv. The front is getting closer and closer, and it’s time to make a decision – to stay or to run away? This feature documentary debut premiered at Visions du Réel and it was also selected by European Film Academy to be part of the EFA Documentary Film Selection 2024.

From the sea, through dark caverns, to volcanic deserts, an unexpected disappearance uncovers a new horizon: phases of grief unfold in this emerging ecosystem, offering a perspective full of empathy for life that is no more. Lapilli is Paula Ďurinová’s feature-length debut, premiered at the Karlovy Vary FF in 2024, in the Proxima Competition section.