DOCU/WORLD is the international competition of feature- and medium-length documentaries which are longer than 30 minutes. It presents creative documentaries that reveal human rights, ethic and social issues with unique artistic vision.
The DOCU/WORLD jury includes Danilo Petrovich Jorquera, a programmer of FIDOCS in Chile, a Chilean anthropologist, filmmaker, and cultural researcher; Niels Pagh Andersen, a Danish film editor who has made more than 250 widely different films; and Vika Leshchenko, a Ukrainian cultural manager and curator.
MAIN PRIZE
2000 Meters to Andriivka / Mstyslav Chernov / USA, Ukraine / 2025 /106'
Our winner is a powerful film, an extraordinary tribute to the human spirit. It offers an eye-level perspective of Ukrainian soldiers who are prepared to sacrifice their lives for their country, alongside the director and his cameraman. The film delivers a raw, almost physical experience that captures heroism, but without any romanticization, laying bare the brutal realities of war.
With a simple yet highly effective narrative structure and a personal voiceover, it creates suspense rarely seen in documentary filmmaking, but it never loses its solidarity with the individual soldiers. Through intimate scenes, it portrays the young men’s motivations, fears, and dreams for the future. There was no doubt on the jury that the leading award should go to 2000 Meters to Andriivka by Mstyslav Chernov.
SPECIAL MENTION
On Sacred and Profane / Giedre Beinoriute / Lithuania / 2025 / 80'
It is a simple yet multilayered film told in strong visual language. It explores an old ritual with care and sensitivity, revealing the essence of a small village and its people. It captures the gathering of children, youth, and elders as they gather to prepare and perform this significant event. It's a film about cultural identity that elegantly has the Russian war as a backdrop. The film shows how collective memory can be bridged and come alive in the present. Special mention goes to On Sacred and Profane by Giedrė Beinoriūtė.
The DOCU/WORLD international feature-length competition included:
- 2000 Meters to Andriivka, dir.Mstyslav Chernov (USA, Ukraine)
- Silent Trees, dir.Agnieszka Zwiefka (Silent Trees)
- My Sweet Child, dir.Maarten de Schutter (The Netherlands)
- Where the Trees Bear Meat, dir.Alexis Franco (Argentina, USA, Spain)
- On Sacred and Profane, dir.Giedrė Beinoriūtė (Lithuania)
- Writing Hawa, dir.Najiba Noori. co-dir. Rasul Noori (France)
- Limits of Europe, dir.Apolena Rychlíková (Czech Republic, France, Slovakia)
- The Family Approach, dir.Daniel Abma (Germany)
- Bright Future, dir.Andra MacMasters (Romania, South Korea)
- Your Life Without Me, dir.Anna Rubi (Hungary)
