After a second edition which unspooled entirely online in March 2021, the Best of Doc Festival is returning to French cinemas (where the requirement to wear a mask was lifted on Monday) between 2 and 8 March. Fifty or so venues are taking part in this week-long showcase of the documentary form, offering a line-up composed of 10 of the best film releases from last year, with each cinema screening at least three titles from the selection in the presence of their filmmakers or other team members.

Organised by the Documentaire sur grand écran [Documentaries on the Big Screen] association, with Mariane Otero as this year’s patron, the event is notably presenting There Will Be No More Night [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by France’s Éléonore Weber (awarded the Union of French Critics’ 2022 trophy for Outstanding French-Language Film) and The Kiosk [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by her compatriot Alexandra Pianelli (nominated for 2022’s Best Documentary Lumière).

Also on the agenda, we find Downstream to Kinshasa [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Congolese director Dieudo Hamadi (gracing Cannes 2020’s Official Selection), 143 Sahara Street [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Algeria’s Hassen Ferhani (crowned Best Emerging Director in Locarno), Midnight Traveler [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Afghan director Hassan Fazili (discovered in Sundance and later screened in the Berlinale’s Panorama section) and three titles which spent time in Cannes’ ACID showcase (Il mio corpo [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Michele Pennetta
scheda film] by Italy’s Michele Pennetta, The Last Hillbilly [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by French duo Diane-Sara Bouzgarrou and Thomas Jenkoe, and Solo [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Artemio Benki
scheda film] by the late Artemio Benki), all without forgetting the multi-award-winning work Collective [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Romania’s Alexander Nanau (notably nominated for two Oscars last year, as well as winning the Best Documentary title at the European Film Award) and Notturno [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Gianfranco Rosi
scheda film] by Italian helmer Gianfranco Rosi (unveiled in competition in Venice).

It’s a pretty impressive line-up, rounded off by two "bonus" films; namely a rare treat (in the form of A Bigger Splash by English director Jack Hazan) and a premiere of Ghost Song [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], which was shot in Houston by French filmmaker Nicolas Peduzzi (selected for Cannes’ ACID line-up last year and whose cinema release is officially scheduled for 27 April via Les Alchimistes).