Bella Ciao [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Giulia Giapponesi
scheda film] by Italian director Giulia Giapponesi will open tomorrow the 6th edition of the revamped FIPADOC, the first major international documentary event of the year, which will take place from 19 to 27 January in Biarritz. Over 150 films, 5 documentary series, 24 short films and 19 digital experiences, for a total of 174 works, will be showcased.

11 films will be competing for the Grand Prize for Best International Documentary which will be handed out by a jury including Italian director Mo Scarpelli, Polish filmmaker Pawel Lozinski, and Belgium-based Israeli director Sigal Yehuda (Close-Up founder and director). Standing out in the selection are 20 Days in Mariupol [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Mstyslav Chernov
scheda film] by Ukraine’s Mstyslav Chernov (winner of the Audience Award at Sundance), Smoke Sauna Sisterhood [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Anna Hints
scheda film] by Estonia’s Anna Hints (winner of the Best Director award at Sundance, of the Best Documentary award at the European Film Awards, and nominated for the LUX Audience Award of the European Parliament), the Swedish production Son of the Mullah [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Nahid Persson Sarvestani, Body [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Slovenia’s Petra Seliškar (unveiled in Sarajevo), Hawar, Our Banished Children [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Pascale Bourgaux
scheda film] by Belgium’s Pascale Bourgaux (which played at Visions du réel), The Gullspång Miracle [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Sweden’s Maria Fredriksson (discovered in Tribeca), Riverboom by Switzerland’s Claude Baechtold and German production Venezuela: Country of Lost Children by Juan Camilo Cruz and Marc Wiese.

Also competing are The Mother of All Lies by Morocco's Asmae El Moudir (winner of the Best Director award in Un Certain Regard in Cannes), Amchilini, Choose Me by Kader Allamine (a co-production between Chad, Ivory Coast and France) and Eat Bitter by Pascale Appora-Gnekindy and Ningyi Sun (Central African Republic and China).

Vying for the Grand Prize for Best National Documentary are 11 titles (including 7 world premieres), nine of them feature films: Viol, défi de justice by Marie Bonhommet, The Bertrands’ Farm by Gilles Perret, Congo-Océan : un chemin de fer et de sang by Catherine Bernstein, The Conspiracy – Assassination in Beirut by Dan Clifton, Ghettos in the Holocaust by Barbara Necek, The Vermillion Body. An Anatomy of Desire by Ron Vargas, The Island by Jérôme Clément-Wilz, A Shepherd by Louis Hanquet and The Lost Boys of Mercury [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Clémence Davigo.

The Musical Documentary competition includes, among other titles, the animated feature They Shot the Piano Player [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] by Spain’s Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, Ula by Poland’s Agnieszka Iwanska, Feenen by Italy’s Giulia Rosco, A Resilient Man by France’s Stéphane Carrel, Opéra de Paris : Roméo, Juliette, Thomas et les autres by France’s Priscilla Pizatto and Fanny: The Other Mendelssohn by the UK’s Sheila Hayman.

Six other competitive sections complete the festival’s very rich menu: Impact Documentary, Panorama of French-speaking creation, the Stories of Europe programme, Smart – Biarritz Immersive, Jeune Création (New Talents) for graduation films and a selection of short films.

Also worth pointing out among the "major world premieres" are Blue Carbon by Nicolas Brown and 1874, The birth of impressionism by Julien Johan and Hugues Nancy, from the UK, as well as a special screening of Hugues Nancy’s Manouchian et ceux de l'Affiche rouge. There will also be a selection of five documentary series.

Finally, FIPADOC PRO will unfold from 22 to 25 January with, among other things, conferences, pitching sessions for 24 projects at the Co-production Forum and new sessions dedicated to European debuts, as well as line-up presentations from French broadcasters.