DocsBarcelona 2026 Film Awards

The festival closes with 12,300 attendees, 28 sessions with sold-out tickets and 70% occupancy in the halls

• Special Mention for Das Deutsche Volk, by Marcin Wierzchowski, a portrait of structural racism in contemporary Europe.
• The Travelers , by David Bingong, wins the award for Best Catalan Film at the 29th edition of the festival
• The festival has screened 57 productions at the CCCB, the Renoir, Aribau, Phenomena, Zumzeig and Espai Texas cinemas, the Filmoteca de Catalunya and Casa Montjuïc.
• DocsBarcelona will celebrate its 30th anniversary from April 29 to May 9, 2027

Barcelona, ​​May 16, 2026.– DocsBarcelona presented the awards for its 29th edition this Saturday in a ceremony at the Barcelona Contemporary Culture Center (CCCB), after bringing together more than 12,300 spectators in the halls and parallel activities, 12% more than last year, according to the provisional balance. The award ceremony puts an end to an extraordinary edition, which in 10 days has brought in the Catalan capital, a hundred documentary filmmakers and 57 films in eight venues. DocsBarcelona has announced the dates for the next edition, which will celebrate its 30th anniversary from April 29 to May 9, 2027 .

“This year we wanted DocsBarcelona to be, even more, a festival rooted in the city. We believe that this is the only possible future: generating spaces for dialogue with Barcelona where we are and becoming an event made by the city and for the city”, highlights Maria Colomer, co-artistic director and head of programming. Colomer also highlights the situation of the documentary industry: “The sector is experiencing a major distribution crisis. Extraordinary documentaries are made that often do not find exhibition windows. We want to be this great window that helps films connect with the public.” In this sense, she highlights the success of this year’s attendance, with 28 sessions with sold-out tickets and 70% occupancy in the theaters , in addition to great support for the films and their creative teams.

The festival’s Official Jury has awarded the Best Film Award to Amazomania, a documentary that revisits the 1996 expedition to the Amazon to film the isolated Korubo tribe and questions the colonial legacy and the human consequences of the so-called “discovery”. The film is directed by Swede Nathan Grossman, internationally recognized for his career focused on social and environmental issues. He began his career as a photographer for Rolling Stone and moved into film with the viral short The Toaster Challenge, about human energy consumption. In his first feature film, I Am Greta , he followed Greta Thunberg from the first day of her school strike to worldwide fame and was awarded the Critic’s Choice and Emmy.

The same jury also awarded a Special Mention to Das Deutsche Volk., a work that reconstructs the racist attack in Hanau, Germany, through the testimony of survivors and relatives of the victims, exposing structural racism in contemporary Europe. The documentary is directed by Marcin Wierzchowski, a filmmaker based between Frankfurt and Warsaw and author of the multi-award-winning Hanau – Eine Nacht und ihre Folgen .

The Docs&Cat Jury has awarded the Best Catalan Film Award – XAL The Travelers, a film that accompanies a group of migrants on the border between Morocco and Spain as they wait for the moment to cross into Europe, turning the camera into a tool of survival and shared hope. It is directed by David Bingong, who shot the film during his own migratory journey.

The Docs&Cat Jury’s Special Mention went to Bêstia, a portrait of three hunters from inland Catalonia that reflects on rural masculinity and the contradictions between tradition and contemporary perspective. The documentary is the debut work of Helena Garza, an author linked to non-fiction and anthropological research.

Corren las liebres was the production most highly rated by the viewers of this edition of DocsBarcelona, ​​who awarded it the Audience Award – Moritz. It follows the story of Noa, a trans gypsy woman who, after being released from prison, fights to regain custody of her children while facing social and residential exclusion in Barcelona. The 3Cat Jury has also recognized this production with the 3Cat Award. Director Lorena Ros is a documentary filmmaker and journalist who has won several World Press Photo awards.

The Amnesty International Catalonia Award and the Docs Jury Award – Antaviana have recognized Atlas of the Disappeared, a documentary investigation into the missing people transferred to the Valley of the Fallen and the forensic tools that today allow us to reconstruct their memory. The film is directed by Manuel Correa, a former member of Forensic Architecture specializing in memory and post-conflict reconstruction, who has presented his work in venues such as the Venice Architecture Biennale or the Rotterdam Festival.

The Short Film Jury has awarded the Best Short Film Award to Retales, a piece constructed as a collage of family memory, found images and reflections on cinema and social class. The short is directed by Juanjo Giménez, winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and nominated for an Oscar for short film Timecode .

Dreams for a Better Past , by Albert Kuhn, an exploration of the weight of family silences and the inheritance of memory across three generations, has won the Short Film Audience Award – 16Nou , while viewers of the Docs del Mes circuit have awarded the Docs del Mes Award to Mr. Nobody Against Putin., a documentary that exposes the indoctrination and militarization of Russian schools through the clandestine recordings of a teacher who decides to document the system from the inside. The film is directed by David Borenstein and Pasha Talankin.

The Docs Award for Best Editing – AMMAC went to Mailin , a reconstruction by Argentine director María Silvia Esteve of the story of abuse suffered during childhood and the subsequent healing process, through memories, archives and animations.

The Docs Nou Talent – ​​Filmin Award is for Do You Love Me , by Lana Daher, a film essay built entirely with audiovisual archives that covers seven decades of collective memory of Lebanon and the city of Beirut.

The Docs&Teens audience has recognized Runa Simi with the Docs&Teens Award , a documentary that claims the preservation of the Quechua language and cultural transmission through the dubbing of The Lion King. in this indigenous language. The film is directed by Augusto Zegarra, a filmmaker and visual anthropologist focused on the cultural and linguistic identities of Latin America.

The Doc Around Europe Award went to Les culpables , the debut film by Marta Duran Lozano, a brave and generous film with the viewer, which opens the doors to a taboo subject such as abortion in adolescents.

The Reteena Young Jury has awarded the Reteena Young Jury Prize to A Fox Under a Pink Moon, which follows the five-year journey of Soraya, a young Afghan artist who documents with her mobile phone her attempt to flee Iran to reunite with her mother in Austria. The documentary, the inaugural film of DocsBarcelona 2026, is co-directed by Mehrdad Oskouei, one of Iran’s most renowned documentarians, with more than 180 international awards.

Tomorrow, Sunday, the festival will screen at the CCCB Theatre the winning films of the Audience Award, Corren las liebres (6:00 p.m.), and the Best Film Award, The Travelers (8:00 p.m.).

More than 2,400 attendees at DocsBarcelona Pro

DocsBarcelona Pro, its professional space, has continued to grow and has consolidated itself as a key meeting point for the documentary sector, which has brought together more than 700 accredited professionals and has awarded fifteen prizes worth 66,000 euros. A total of 62 projects in development from more than 35 countries and more than 2,400 attendees have participated in an edition that has also brought together major guest platforms such as ARTE, which has presented its pan-European expansion plan for the coming years, with the creation of the new channel ARTE España. “DocsBarcelona Pro has brought together a selection of courageous authorial perspectives, which take narrative and aesthetic risks, and which have found here the complicity of international professionals to project them everywhere, becoming the best radar for documentary talent in southern Europe”, he recalls Èric Motjer , co-artistic director and head of DocsBarcelona Pro.

DocsBarcelona 2026 Awards

Best Film Award : Amazonia (Nathan Grossman)

Special mention : Das Deutsche Volk (Marcin Wierzchowski)

Award for Best Catalan Film – XAL : The Travelers (David Bingong)

Special Mention : Bèstia (Helena Garza)

Audience Award – Moritz : The Hares Run (Lorena Ros)

Jury Prize – Antaviana : Atlas of Disappearance (Manuel Correa)

Award for Best Short Film : Retales (Juanjo Giménez)

Audience Award for Short Films – 16New : Dreams for a Better Past (Albert Kuhn)

Docs of the Month Award : Mr. Nobody Against Putin (David Borenstein and Pasha Talankin)

Best Editing Award – AMMAC : Mailin (María Silvia Esteve)

New Talent Award – Filmin : Do You Love Me (Lana Daher)

Docs&Teens Award : Runa Simi (Augusto Zegarra)

Prize 3Cat : Corren las liebres (Lorena Ros)

Doc Around Europe Award : Les Culpables (Marta Duran Lozano)

Amnesty International Catalonia Award : Atlas of Disappearance (Manuel Correa)

Young Jury Prize – Reteena : A Fox Under a Pink Moon (Mehrdad Oskouei)

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