The annual Doc Day celebrations at the Cannes Marché du Film culminated in the presentation of the Docs-in-Progress Awards, which spotlight non-fiction works in the final stages of production. This year, eight showcases were featured: Brazil, Canada, Docs by the Sea, Scotland, Spain, CIRCLE, Chile and Palestine. The winners were selected by an international jury comprising Maria Bonsanti, film consultant and selection committee member at Giornate degli Autori; Soleil Gharbieh, programme manager at the Arab Fund for Arts and Culture (AFAC); and Kiyoko McCrae, programme director at Chicken & Egg Films.

The standout winner of this year’s Docs-in-Progress Awards was Asphalt by debuting filmmaker Hamza Hamideh, which received the IEFTA Doc-in-Progress Award, comprising a €10,000 cash prize along with ongoing support from the International Emerging Film Talent Association. Selected from the Palestine Showcase, Asphalt follows 20-year-old Debs, a Palestinian refugee from Jordan’s Baqa’a camp, who dreams of marrying his beloved. But as the war in Gaza intensifies, he is forced to delay his wedding again and again, mourning the loss of relatives killed one after another. Debs becomes a quiet symbol of an entire generation raised in exile, bearing the weight of displacement, grief and interrupted dreams.

Meanwhile, the Al Jazeera Documentary Award, which includes a minimum co-production contribution of $15,000, was presented to Everybody to Kenmure Street, directed by Glasgow-based Chilean-Belgian filmmaker Felipe Bustos Sierra. The film captures a dramatic moment when neighbours and activists spontaneously surround an immigration van to prevent the detention of two residents in one of Scotland’s most diverse communities. Shot from the ground up, Everybody to Kenmure Street offers an urgent and ultimately uplifting portrait of resistance, tracing the local histories and collective struggles that culminated in this extraordinary act of civil defiance.

The Chicken & Egg Vision Award was granted to Something Familiar, the debut feature by British-Romanian filmmaker Rachel Close, presented as part of the CIRCLE Showcase. Accompanied by a €5,000 cash prize and a year-long mentorship, the award recognises creative vision and the potential to spark change. In the film, Close sets out to help a fellow adoptee find her birth mother, only to be pulled into her own unresolved past. As she launches an international search for her missing sisters, she uncovers a harrowing legacy of abuse and exploitation. A Special Mention in the same category went to Sama by Rabab Khamis. Set in Gaza, the film follows ten-year-old Sama, who spends her days collecting plastic and cardboard to sell as fuel.

The Post-Production Award, offered by TransPerfect Media, a technical partner of the Cannes Film Festival, grants €5,000 in post-production services and was awarded to The Production of the World by Brett Story, selected through the Canada Showcase. This archival documentary explores the life and legacy of radical art critic John Berger, juxtaposed with the CIA’s covert influence on the arts during the Cultural Cold War. Framed as a non-fiction espionage thriller, the film investigates how images become sites of ideological conflict, set against the broader backdrop of rising superpowers and the looming threat of nuclear annihilation.

The Rise and Shine Award, a €3,000 cash prize presented to the project with the strongest international potential and no sales agent attached, went to The Tiger of the East by Jorge Acevedo Carrasco, featured in the Chile Showcase. The movie is a coming-of-age music documentary that follows Custodio, a young Chilean cowboy and aspiring singer-songwriter of rancheras and Mexican corridos. As he navigates the hardships of rural life and artistic ambition, Custodio dreams of reaching Mexico to perform alongside his idols, Los Tigres del Norte.

Here is the complete list of 2025 Docs-In-Progress Award winners:

IEFTA Doc-in-Progress Award
Asphalt - Hamza Hamideh (Jordan)
Producer: Mahmoud Massad

Al Jazeera Documentary Award
Everybody to Kenmure Street - Felipe Bustos Sierra (UK)
Producer: Ciara Barry (Barry Crerar)

Chicken & Egg Vision Award
Something Familiar - Rachel Close (Romania/UK)
Producers: Monica Lăzurean-Gorgan, Elena Martin (Manifest Film), Aleksandra Bilic (My Accomplice)

Special Mention
Sama - Rabab Khamis (Palestine/France)
Producer: Rashid Masharawi (Masharawi Fund for Films and Filmmakers in Gaza)

Post-Production Award (TransPerfect Media)
The Production of the World - Brett Story (Canada/UK/France)
Producers: Jeff Reichert, Brett Story (Oh Ratface!), Elhum Shakerifar (Hakawati)

Rise and Shine Award
The Tiger of the East - Jorge Acevedo Carrasco (Chile/Mexico)
Producer: Mixie Araya Soler (Yareta Films)

Alphapanda Award
Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest - Viv Li (Germany/Netherlands)
Producers: Daniela Dieterich (Corso Film), Olivia Sophie Van Leeuwen (100 %)

Think-Film Impact Production Award
My Rebel Heart - Ida Kat Balslev (Denmark/Palestine)
Producer: Sidsel Lønvig Siersted (Siersted Film)

Rulli Putortì & Partners Law Firm Award
I Heard the Calling: The Return of the Tupinambá Cloak - Myrza Muniz, Robson Dias, Célia Tupinambá (Brazil/France)
Producers: Myrza Muniz (Selvática Filmes), Robson Dias (Búzios Films)

DAE – Documentary Association of Europe Award
The Flight of the Stork - Soumaya Hidalgo DJjahdou, Berta Vicente Salas (Spain/Qatar)
Producer: Matheus Mello (Migranta Films)