DOC.BERLIN Documentary Film Festival 2025: Award Winners Unveiled!

Over the past few days, the Doc.Berlin once again hosted its annual event at the historic Babylon cinema in Berlin. The festival was happy to welcome a number of artists: Nazanin Hafez, Zora Arose Ritz, Evgenia Chetvertkova, Kayu Yeung, Matias Dumas, Westley Hennigh-Palermo, Piotr Goldstein and many more.

Kris De Meester, festival director, looks back:

“As the festival director of Doc.Berlin, I tend to experience each edition in a very inward way. Documentaries, for me, are not about declaring ‘the truth,’ but about opening a space to examine deeply rooted moral conflicts. They function as vessels for dialogue — connecting people through reflection rather than dividing them through certainty. These films speak to you personally, often long after the screening has ended. This year we were fortunate to present so many profound and courageous voices. I was especially moved by Inferior Shadows, an extremely brutal and deeply human tragedy. When the credits stopped rolling, the audience remained silent for a long time. We looked at each other and, without words, understood that we had shared something rare and deeply human.”

Cherrypicked out of more than 2000 submissions, this year's official selection included 23 wonderful films hailing from France, Iran, Lebanon, Mexico, United States, Poland, Belgium, Qatar, Canada, Estonia, and Germany.

We are pleased to share with you the 2025 Doc.Berlin award winners, chosen by the jury panel.

Best Feature Documentary Film

Inferior Shadows (Iran) by Ramin Khalighi

Best Short Documentary Film

To the embers (France) by Morgane Ambre

Best German Documentary Film

Spiegelberg - A german village (Germany) by Adrian Sagolla

Best Experimental Documentary Film

Blessed Are Those Who Grieve (Germany) by Zora Arose Ritz, Evgenia Chetvertkova, Kayu Yeung

Best Underground Documentary Film

Tokyo Toy Boy (Belgium) by Esli Balatova

Best Cinéma Vérité Film

Yalla, Baba! (Belgium, Lebanon, Netherlands, Qatar) by Angie Obeid

Best LGBTQ+ Documentary Film

Portraits In Drag – The Faces of Pinay Colada (Germany) by Stephan Schaar

Best Poetic Documentary Film

Voice Notes on Death (Germany) by Romy Persaud Drennan, Harry Crampton

Best Historical Documentary

Ottilie Moore –  Heiress in the Resistance (United States) by Dana Plays

Best Super Short Documentary Film

Nathalie, Nathalie (Germany) by Matias Dumas

Congratulations to all!

About Doc.Berlin:

Doc.Berlin is part of Doc.World, a new global network of documentary film festivals, with festivals in London, Berlin, Ghent and Boston. As a celebration of the cinematic and visual arts, these documentary festivals will bring diverse international films to our community and showcase the best regional and international filmmakers.

https://www.docberlin.org

Official Selection / Winners of The Tarkovski Grant

Ottilie Moore –  Heiress in the Resistance (United States) by Dana Plays

Seconds Away (United States) by Benjamin Kegan

From Earth to Earth: The Lost Art of Dying in America (United States) by Maxwell Schweik, Alyssa Beebe, Chess Cabrera, Reed Freedman, Mikayla Hall

Portraits In Drag – The Faces of Pinay Colada (Germany) by Stephan Schaar

No Matter What  (United States) by Carolyn Lambert

Harder! Faster! Louder! – Crows! Fireworks! Berlin! (Germany) by Westley Hennigh-Palermo

Hidden Driveways (Canada) by Quinn Masselink

Sanctity (Germany) by Frances Rebollido

Aka 赤 (Mexico) by Abinadi Meza

Yalla, Baba! (Belgium, Lebanon, Netherlands, Qatar) by Angie Obeid

Inferior Shadows (Iran) by Ramin Khalighi

The Other Side of Despair (Switzerland) by Varsy Buchmann

Line of Sight (Estonia) by Akseli Leppänen

Georgie (United States) by Jennie Butler

To the embers (France) by Morgane Ambre

Shifting Roots (Lebanon) by Angie Mrad

Tokyo Toy Boy (Belgium) by Esli Balatova

Spiegelberg - A german village (Germany) by Adrian Sagolla

Voice Notes on Death (Germany) by Romy Persaud Drennan, Harry Crampton

Nathalie, Nathalie (Germany) by Matias Dumas

This week doesn't really exist (Germany, Poland) by Piotr Goldstein, Olga Łojewska, Maksymilian Awuah

Blessed Are Those Who Grieve (Germany) by Zora Arose Ritz, Evgenia Chetvertkova, Kayu Yeung

Unscarred (Belgium) by Théo Roland