Sections | WATCH DOCS

A selection of the most vital human-rights documentaries from the past two years: twelve films that fuse sharp social insight with bold cinematic craft. Uncompromising stories that confront questions that matter most.

The WATCH DOCS Award in the Main Competition is funded by the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The second edition of the Polish WATCH DOCS Competition includes six films, remarkable both in form and theme. These are stories of human rights intertwined with personal, intimate experiences that take place in Poland and abroad, featuring protagonists with whom we can easily identify ourselves.

The documentaries presented in the New Polish Film Competition are vying for the Main Award and the Arthouse Cinema Association Award.

Films that explore our bond with the natural world; the place of humankind within the broader ecosystem, the oceans rising, and landscapes wounded by war.

The documentaries presented in this competition are vying for the Green Dog Award.

Issues that define our present moment: the paradoxical rise of the extreme right, neurodiversity and its inequalities, propaganda, and post-colonial ties between Europe and Africa. A kaleidoscope of remarkable protagonists, inventive cinematic forms, and urgent themes. Eight outstanding works - festival discoveries and global highlights alike. 

One section of this year’s festival is dedicated to the situation in Palestine. As part of it, we will present titles including “The Mission,” a documentary about a British doctor operating on the wounded under bombardment in Gaza; “Three Promises,” a chronicle of survival, saved from oblivion, of a Palestinian family hiding in a basement during the Second Intifada; and “With Hasan in Gaza,” a nostalgic portrait of the Gaza Strip a quarter of a century ago. The program will be complemented by international films offering broader contextual angles on the conflict, such as “The Settlers,” portraying a community of Zionist extremists, and “The Encampments,” focusing on student pro-Palestinian protests in the USA in 2024. 

This section seeks new ways of telling stories about contemporary Ukraine. This year’s films focus on lesser-known contexts of the war – such as the Russian occupation of Chernobyl (“Special Operation”), the ecological devastation caused by warfare (“Divia”), or the influence of social media on our perception of the conflict (“Until You Feel Nothing”).

 Program partners:

In this year’s edition of our series dedicated to the masters of European documentary, we spotlight outstanding achievements of Nordic cinema. The program includes a selection of short films by the Danish visionary Jørgen Leth; two early documentaries by Ruben Östlund, the hottest name in Swedish filmmaking today; a raw, punk portrait of Finland as we’ve never seen it before in Jörn Donner’s “Fuck Off! Images of Finland,” and the anthropological work of Markku and Johannes Lehmuskallio, exploring the lives of Indigenous peoples of the North. The lineup is rounded out by Margreth Olin’s “Raw Youth,” made with the blessing of Lars von Trier and featuring an intimate look at the challenges of growing up in multicultural Norway. 

Programmed by Weronika Adamowska. 

Both of this year's documentary short lists impress with their wealth of themes and techniques. Here are the most interesting short films shown and awarded at festivals in New York, Toronto and Amsterdam - from the beach escapades of carefree pensioners sunbathing topless to a poetic image of a community lost among the Euphrates wetlands. 

World premiere of the latest documentary by Martyna Wojciechowska and Jowita Baraniecka, whose protagonist, an investigative journalist, tries to unravel the highly emotive mystery of child trafficking in Georgian hospitals. 

This year’s special festival award will be presented symbolically to Palestinian documentary filmmakers who risk everything to show the world the suffering of their nation. The award will be accepted by Kamal Aljafari, whose work “With Hasan in Gaza” features in our Main Competition.

December 5–31, 2025

The most compelling films from past WATCH DOCS editions return: formally bold experiments and international festival standouts. Among them: “Antarctica Calling,” a follow-up to the Oscar-winning “March of the Penguins”; “Antidote”, a documentary thriller about an investigative journalist who suddenly finds himself in the crosshairs of the KGB; and “Powerless,” a humorous story about an Indian Robin Hood who steals electricity from the rich to give it to the poor. Thanks to our cooperation with the Player platform, these films can be viewed free of charge.