03/03/2025 - The travelling event will unspool between 5 and 19 March, notably showcasing 15 feature-length documentaries (ten of which in competition) in its line-up

No Other Land by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor

Upwards of 70 French cinemas are set to play host to Best of Doc #6, a festival unspooling between 6 and 19 March which has noted a steady increase in its reach, since last year saw 65 cinemas organising upwards of 200 screenings and an 85% rise in viewer numbers on 2023.

This touring festival will offer up 10 films from among the very best documentaries released over the past year. Each of the participating cinemas will showcase at least three of the selected films, whose screenings will be attended by the filmmakers or other professionals involved in the movies. We’ll also see a high school jury (in partnership with Tenk and the film education programme "One hundred years of young people’s cinema") awarding a Coup de Cœur Prize, with the line-up further rounded off by screenings of three feature films in premieres, one previously unreleased title, one heritage film and five short films.

Set apart by a political situation to which the films in question add genuine poetic force, prioritising words and human communication, this 2025 competition notably includes No Other Land [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
film profile] by Palestinian directors Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal alongside Israelis Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor (awarded the Best Documentary and Audience awards in Berlin last year, nominated at the 2025 Oscars), Bye Bye Tiberias [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lina Soualem
film profile] by French-Algerian director Lina Soualem (unveiled in Venice’s Gionate degli Autori line-up and nominated for 2025’s Best Documentary César and Lumière awards) and Journey into Gaza by Italy’s Piero Usberti (likewise nominated for the 2025 Lumière award). Competing alongside them are It Is Night in America [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Brazil’s Ana Vaz (discovered in Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente line-up), Apolonia Apolonia [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lea Glob
film profile] by Denmark’s Lea Glob (triumphant in the IDFA), Coconut Head Generation by French-Congolese director Alain Kassanda (honoured in the Cinéma du Réel Festival), Anhell69 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Theo Montoya
film profile] by Colombia’s Theo Montoya (unveiled in Venice’s Critics’ Week), Knit’s Island [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by the French trio composed of Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse and Quentin L’helgoualc’h (victorious in Visions du Réel), and two movies (unveiled in Berlin) by Iranian Mehran Tamadon: Where God Is Not [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mehran Tamadon
film profile] and My Worst Enemy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mehran Tamadon
film profile].

Stealing focus out of competition, meanwhile, we’ll find Afternoons of Solitude [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Albert Serra
film profile] by Spain’s Albert Serra (awarded the Golden Shell for Best Film in San Sebastián and due for release in France by Dulac Distribution on 26 March), Who Cares? [+see also:
film review
interview: Alexe Poukine
film profile] by Belgium’s Alexe Poukine (rewarded in last year’s Cinéma du Réel Festival – due for release in France on 4 June), My Stolen Planet [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Iran’s Farahnaz Sharifi (discovered in Berlin’s Panorama section and triumphant in Thessaloniki), We Are Inside [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Lebanon’s Farah Kassem (awarded a Special Mention in Visions du Réel) and, on the heritage side, Black Harvest (1992) by Australian directors Robin Anderson and Bob Connolly.

(Translated from French)