All eyes turn to FIPADOC
- 180 works set to dazzle in the first major international event of the year, dedicated to the documentary genre and unspooling in Biarritz between 24 January and 1 February

"Knowing how to look carefully at others, knowing how to look inside of yourself to imagine a better world, but also knowing how to look at the world for what it is, without lowering your gaze or your camera." These are the virtues of documentary film, according to Anne Georget and Christine Camdessus, who are respectively the president and general delegate of FIPADOC which has unveiled the wonderfully rich programme (180 works) of its 7th edition, unspooling in Biarritz between 24 January and 1 February.
12 films will battle it out for the Grand Documentary Prize, set to be awarded by a jury comprising French director Nicolas Philibert, South Africa’s Mandisa Zitha (director of the Encounters Festival) and Serbian director Mila Turajlić. Standing tall among them are Afternoons of Solitude [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Albert Serra
film profile] by Spain’s Albert Serra (which triumphed in San Sebastián), Saturno by fellow Spaniard Daniel Tornero, At the Door of the House Who Will Come Knocking [+see also:
film review
interview: Maja Novaković
film profile] by Bosnia’s Maja Novaković (victorious in Sheffield) and Happiness to All [+see also:
film review
interview: Filip Remunda
film profile] by Czech filmmaker Filip Remunda (crowned Best Documentary from Central Eastern Europe at the Ji.hlava Festival).
Sharing the showcase are Balomania [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Denmark’s Sissel Morell Dargis (discovered at CPH DOX), Tracing Light [+see also:
film review
interview: Thomas Riedelsheimer
film profile] by Germany’s Thomas Riedelsheimer (unveiled in Dok Leipzig), My Sweet Land [+see also:
film review
film profile] by the Jordanian-Armenian director Sareen Hairabedian (screened in Sheffield), Dad’s Lullaby [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Ukraine’s Lesia Diak (discovered in competition in Sarajevo), Cleaning & Cleansing [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Austria’s Thomas Fürhapter, Black Box Diaries [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Japan’s Shiori Itō, Homegrown by American filmmaker Michael Premo and The Bibi Files by South Africa’s Alexis Bloom.
The French Documentaries Competition (due to be assessed by a jury including Claus Drexel, Lofti Achour and Lucile Commeaux) will consist of 12 contenders, 10 of which are feature films: Sudan, Remember Us [+see also:
interview: Hind Meddeb
film profile] by Hind Meddeb, Stups by Alice Odiot and Jean-Robert Viallet, Act Up Against AIDS, A Story of Love and Death by Pierre Chassagnieux and Matthieu Lère, The Watchman by Lou du Pontavice and Victoire Bonin Grais, Writing Hawa [+see also:
film review
interview: Najiba Noori, Rasul Noori
film profile] by Najiba Noori and Rasul Noori, Siblings by Juliette Cazanave, The Forbidden Call: Women Priests by Marie Mandy, Les esprits libres by Bertrand Hagenmüller, Bosco grande [+see also:
interview: Giuseppe Schillaci
film profile] by Giuseppe Schillaci and This Is My Body by Jérôme Clément-Wilz.
The Musical Documentary Competition notably consists of Joana Mallwitz – Momentum by Germany’s Günter Atteln (scheduled to open the festival), Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Johan Grimonprez
film profile] by Belgium’s Johan Grimonprez, Unbound by John English and Tom Garner (the two founders of Spanish firm Otoxo), Giro di banda – The Touring Band by Italy’s Daniele Cini, the Swiss production Don’t Put Me In a Box by Romain Girard, Erik Satie: Reloaded by French director Gregory Monro, Swedish co-production Hayu – Rebel Singer Mariem Hassan and the Struggle for a Free Western Sahara by Alex Veitch, Brahim B. Ali, Mohamedsalem Uered and Anna Klara Åhrén, Orlando – The Life of a Composer in the Renaissance by Belgium’s Joachim Thôme, and Glass, My Unfulfilled Life [+see also:
film review
film profile] by the Netherlands’ Rogier Kappers.
Six further sections are set to round off this tantalisingly rich line-up, namely the Impact Documentary line-up, the French-Speaking Documentaries Panorama, the European Stories offering, the Smart - Biarritz Immersive selection, New Talent from film schools and a short films selection.
Other events worthy of mention are the Focus on the Balkans, comprising 24 titles, a selection of three documentary series, and a variety of thematic sections (family titles, culinary and gastronomic documentaries, and works about the sea and the ocean), a Docs4Teens section and, on the “major premieres” agenda, Ravel in a Thousand Sparkles by Gordon and François-René Martin, the French-Spanish production Sorcières : chroniques d’un massacre by Marie Thiry and the Hungarian film Agent of Happiness by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbo.
Last but not least, FIPADOC PRO is due to unspool between 27 and 30 January, hosting conferences and pitches of 24 projects taking place within the Co-Production Forum as well as others dedicated to First European Films, not to mention workshops and presentations of French broadcasters’ line-ups.
(Translated from French)
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