VIDEO Awards Winners revealed for FIPADOC 2026 - 8th edition
8TH EDITION OF FIPADOC: THE WINNERS
The closing ceremony of the eighth edition of Fipadoc, the international documentary film festival, was held this evening, Friday 30 January, 2026, in Biarritz.
Watch the video highlights
See the list of winners here.
Grand Prix for International Documentary
Redlight to Limelight by Bipuljit Basu (India, Finland & Latvia)
Unshaides Productions
A few words from the jury:
« In a fractured world, this documentary shows how cinema can strengthen communities and restore our faith in humanity. More than ever, we believe that cinema does not merely reflect change, it has the power to inspire it. »
The jury: Miguel Eek, Per K.Kirkegaard and Petra Seliskar
The Grand Prix for International Documentary recognizes the director of the best international film. It is endowed by the Nouvelle Aquitaine region with €5,000.
Grand Prix for French Documentary
The Strike by Gabrielle Stemmer (France)
Blue Monday Productions
A few words from the jury:
« A national award for a sexy film about a sex strike. A radical and joyful experiment. A political film about freedom. A filmmaker we believe in. »
The jury: Andreï Kourkov, Sonia Kronlund and Yolande Zauberman
The Grand Prix for French Documentary recognizes the director of the best French film. It is endowed by the City of Biarritz with €5,000.
Grand Prix for Musical Documentary
The Orchestra by Philippe Beziat (France)
Les films Pélleas
A few words from the jury:
« By awarding the Best Music Documentary Prize to The Orchestra, the jury sought to recognize a film that is powerful in both substance and form. It is a work that offers a highly nuanced analysis of the musical and, above all, human mechanisms that enable a large symphony orchestra to become a unique and indivisible entity. Philippe Béziat films these women and men in the shadows with great empathy and ingenuity, directed on a daily basis by star conductors who are accustomed to the spotlight and microphones. »
The jury: Jean-Baptiste Loussier, Louise Narboni and Marc Zisman
The Grand Prix for Musical Documentary recognizes the director of the best international film dedicated to music or live performance. It is endowed with €5,000.
Grand Prix Impact Documentary Banque Populaire
An eye for eye by Tanaz Eshaghian and Farzad Jafari (Iran, France, Denmark, United-States)
Unchained Productions
A few words from the jury:
« A film that opens our eyes to the strange complexity of a legal system that entrusts decisions of life and death to ordinary citizens. The directors bring us closer to real people in an extremely pressing situation that turns their lives upside down. A well-crafted film that brings us closer to the most important human rights challenges today: women's rights and the inhumane death penalty. »
The jury: Fredrik Gertten, José Luis Rebordinos, Marie-Monique Robin
The Grand Prix for Impact Documentary recognizes the director of the best international film committed towards furthering human rights, social justice, or the environment. It is dually endowed by La Cinémathèque du documentaire with a license fee of €5,000 for the Images de la culture catalogue, and by Banque Populaire, with €5,000 to the director.
Human Rights in Motion Award
Trade secret by Abraham Joffe (Australia, United-Kingdom)
Trade Secret
A few words from the jury:
« The WWF has made the polar bear a symbol of the disastrous consequences of climate change. This film shows that the leading biodiversity protection organization contributes to the annual death of several hundred individuals, killed to feed international trafficking or the hunt for trophies. Denouncing double standards, secret agreements, and half-truths: this film fulfils one of the essential functions of documentary film »
The jury: Fredrik Gertten, José Luis Rebordinos and Marie-Monique Robin
The Human Rights in Motion Award honours the director of the film which best promotes human rights or the fight for democratic values. It is chosen by the Impact Documentary Jury and is endowed with €5,000 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
INA-madelen Audience Award
The Extraordinary Journey of Mister Jack by Sarah Moon HOWE (Belgium, France)
© Annabel Sougné
The INA-Madelen Audience Award recognizes the director of the best film in the French speacking documentaries Panorama, through audience voting in Biarritz. It is endowed by the INA-madelen platform with €5,000.
Smart Biarritz Immersive Award
Impulse: Playing With Reality by May Abdalla et Barry Gene Murphy (United Kingdom, France)
© Impulse: Playing with Reality is a new work by Anagram, co-produced by Floréal & France Télévisions
A few words from the jury:
«The jury rewards this work for its masterful use of the interactive potential of immersive technologies, opening up real possibilities for the documentary genre. The work gives us a tangible and intimate insight into the experience of attention deficit disorder: a plunge into the depths of neurodivergence, close to the voices that inhabit it, accompanied by narration provided by the brilliant Tilda Swinton. The artistic direction, which does not hesitate to take unexpected formal paths, leaves plenty of room for the characters and the power of its message. »
The jury: Anaïs Emery, Pierre-Alain Giraud and Emilie Valentin
The Smart Award rewards the best digital documentary experience, distinguished by its originality and the coherence between its content and the technologies used. It is endowed with €3,000 by the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department (64).
Short Film Award
What Does the Mud Whisper? by Dea Tcholokava (Georgia)
A few words from the jury:
« What the Mud Whispers is a remarkable film, delicately directed, expressive and sensual... Both the images and the sound are extremely refined. Director Dea Tcholokava transports us to the heart of Georgia, into the dreamlike and allegorical world of legends that both unsettle and reassure. She films the intimate and ancestral bond that unites human beings with the healing forces of the earth, this living mud that unites bodies, in the daily labour of grandmothers an. »
The jury: Inês T. Alves, Blanche Guichou and Yves Jeuland
The Short Film Award Documentary Award recognises the director of the best international film with a maximum length of 20 minutes. It is endowed with €3,000 by Enedis.
SACEM Award for Original Score
Grey Zone by Liza Guillamot (France), original score by Pierre Lucas
©Liza Guillamot
A few words from the jury:
« Beyond the qualities of the music, we applaud the collaborative work between the director and the composer. Through the identity of the music and its place in the film, Liza Guillamot and Pierre Lucas succeed in immersing us in the grey area that the film explores. »
The jury: Catherine Bernstein, Hélène Blazy and Stéphane Jourdain
The Sacem Award for original Score recognises the composer for a film in the French Documentary category. It is endowed by Sacem with €3,000.
Young Europeans Jury Award
The Castle by Danny Biancardi, Virginia Nardelli and Stefano La Rosa (Italy)
La société du sensible
A few words from the jury:
« Today, Europe must rediscover its sense of community in a spirit of solidarity and cooperation. Through the eyes of children, this film uses a mirror to imagine a future built on the ruins of the past. A reality that makes us ask ourselves: where are we going? And where can we still find hope? The image of hope conveyed by this film touched us deeply. With this award, we want to congratulate the directors for the tenderness of their vision. »
The jury : Diyar Akar, Rebeka Bizubova, Maria Martos, Eulalie Pernelet, Yorgo Scheib, Andrea Segna and Iris Tesmoigt
The Young Europeans Award recognises the director of the best film in the European Stories selection. It is dually endowed with €3,000 by the Erasmus+ France Agency /Education Formation and with €2,000 by Doc Around Europe.
New Talent Award
Drawn in Water by Heta Jokinen (Finland)
Heta JOKINEN
A few words from the jury:
“The film deeply moved us with its poetic imagery and the subtle way in which it weaves together inner dialogue and the outside world. Through the silent questions posed by a hypnotic little black cat, the film offers a profound reflection on belonging, family, and the deeply human need to define oneself in an uncertain world. Within a fragile, fluid, and tactile visual universe, created using stop-motion animation with modelling clay and cut-out paper shapes, the film physically embodies the idea that relationships are constantly evolving.
The jury applauds the fragile balance between the haptic power of the materials and the emotional charge of the narrative, which allows the film to give substance to seemingly theoretical texts with rare mastery and to extend their impact far beyond the screening. “
The jury: Margaux Fournier, Sergio Gomes and Adèle Kohout
The New Talent Award recognises the best student film. It is endowed with €3,000 by Studios Palace.
Tënk Award
Elysian Fields by Anna-Maria Dutoit (Germany, Greece)
© Louis Dickhaut / HFF
A few words from the jury:
« There is no doubt that a disaster is unfolding, yet we persevere, we come together, we unite to counter it. There is courage and hope in this film, which is close to humanity and gives pride of place to simple encounters, time spent together, and observed gestures. There is wind, Mediterranean landscapes, and a looming danger: the fire that burns the trees and could reach us any day. This is Elysian Fields, by Anna-Maria Dutoit, to whom we are delighted to award the Tënk-Fipadoc prize for young creators in 2026. We greatly appreciated the wisdom with which the family we follow faces difficulties. We saw it as a kind of fable about human nature that resists and—like Sisyphus, whose story is recalled—seems able to find happiness where it is, where the roots are planted. It is a cinema of encounters that takes advantage of its apparent simplicity, taking the time for meditation and contemplation. A cinema in which we find a form of appeasement in anxiety. A place where, amid the deafening noise of cicadas, we ask a child for the solution to the problems of our world. And then we continue to water the olive tree. »
The Tënk Award recognises a film from the New Talent category. It is endowed by Tënk, wich grants the winning director €500 and a screening of their film on the Tënk platform
Michel Mitrani Discovery Award
Lamb of God by Massimiliano Camaiti (Italy)
Cinemaundici
A few words from the jury:
«With this award, we wanted to recognize the boldness and rigor of powerful cinematic writing, carried by an aesthetic and a poetry of revelation that offers us a glimpse into a little-known and fascinating world. We were impressed by the editing, the mastery of the narrative, and the use of silence and beauty, which make this film a powerful work where the sacred and the profane engage in dialogue. »
The jury: Vincent de Cointet, Amélie Juan, Nathalie Kaminsky and Don Kent
The Mitrani Award Discovery Award recognises the director of the best first film among the four Grand Prix competition categories (International Documentary, French Documentary, Musical Documentary, Impact Documentary). It is endowed by France Télévision with €3,000 and a broadcast on one of its affiliate channels
Coup de cœur dans les murs Award
Maïmouna, the Voice of the 9-3 by Anouk Burel and Antonin Boutinard Rouelle (France)
Les films du Huitième jour
A few words from the jury:
«Humans, women, men, black, white, gay, straight, young, old, fat, thin; this documentary brings us all together through the breath of hope and humanity it sends to viewers. It is not a documentary about career advancement. Nor is it a documentary about the legal profession or a public speaking competition. And don't be mistaken, it's not a documentary about the 9-3. You might ask, “So what is this documentary about?” Well, I'll answer you with a simple definition. On page 278 of my Robert Mini + dictionary, the definition of a documentary is “an educational film presenting authentic facts”; and there we have it! This documentary film deals with the authenticity of human beings in all its aspects: social struggle, gender equality, the education of young people, a mother's love for her daughter, a daughter's love for her mother, disability, love and discord, relationships of all kinds. What we are presented with is not a portrait of Maïmouna, but a portrait of humanity. »
Created in 2023, the Coup de Cœur dans les Murs Award is awarded by a jury made up of inmates from the Bayonne remand prison and the Mont-de-Marsan center of detention. It is awarded to a film in the Panorama de la creation francophone selection.
FIPADOC PRO AWARDS
Discover the awards given out for international pitches, regional first film pitches, and European first film pitches.
TV7 Writing Grant of 1,500€: COTE SAUVAGE by Florence Peyrard
€1,500 in writing, sponsored by TV7
KANALDUDE Writing Grant, 2000€: AINSI MEURENT LES ETOILES by Virgile Valère
€1,500 in writing, donated by Kanaldude
FIRST FILM PITCH AWARD Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine: NIGHTVISION by Thea Capitanio and Paul Lajus
€1,500 in writing, funded by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region
LIGHTDOX AWARD: PRAISE AND SAND by Annina Lehmann
Consultation on festival, marketing, and distribution strategies, valued at €1,500.
EUROREGION AWARD: LIVE TILL DEATH by Xuban Intxausti
Cash prize of €6,000 awarded by the EGTC Euroregion Nouvelle-Aquitaine – Euskadi – Navarre for the best Euroregional project
SAN SEBASTIÁN AWARD: THE ISLAND IN SILENCE by Mario Trujillo
DOK.FEST MÜNCHEN AWARD: LANDFALL by Peter Middleton
DOCSBARCELONA AWARD: QUEENS BALLROOM by Siyi Chen Hansen Lin
DOCS UP FUND AWARD: INNER LANDSCAPES by Zofia Sawicka + THE BAMBOO FAMILY by Sein Lyan Tun
Awarded by DOCS UP FUND to reward a documentary project committed to defending human rights (€1,500 in cash and editorial support)
CAT&DOCS AWARD: RECLAIMING TIME by Fuad Hindieh
One year of personalized support focused on marketing strategy, festivals, and distribution
