Doc Weekly’s Tips for Fipadoc 2025
Doc Weekly is kicking off 2025 with a visit to Fipadoc ! Taking place in Biarritz, France’s largest international documentary film festival is a renowned professional hub for taking TV, series and film projects to the next step. It’s also a fantastic place to discover exciting new talent, with a wealth of young directors and films being shown for the first time.
This year’s edition boasts nearly 180 films from around the world, with 16 awards up for the grabs across 5 major competitions. In anticipation of the festival, we’ve been poring through the programme in order to give you our hot tips from this year’s premiering films in the competitions. We’re privileging World and European premieres, so that we’re showing you films you’re unlikely to have come across before.
Here are our top tips for the premiering films to catch during your visit.
First, a film not in competition but a highlight nonetheless : I Am Martin Parr. Even if you’ve never heard of him before, you’ve almost certainly seen one of his photos. The landmark British photographer has captured the kitsch, ironic and absurd of the consumer age like no other. Discover the maverick behind some of the most iconic images of the past century on an intimate and exclusive road trip across England - and meet him in person for a Q&A after the film’s screening on the 29th of January at Gare du Midi.
This year’s international competition is rich with a diverse array of subjects and film styles. The very stylish Tardes de Soledad, promises an atmospheric dive into a day of bullfighting for superstar Andrés Roca Rey, from the moment he dresses up to the moment he undresses.
Another film who’s photography and atmosphere have captured our attention is Saturno. Director Daniel Tornero meets with his grandfather for the first time since he was arrested for child abuse and kidnapping. At the same time, he meets in the family home with his extended family to discuss their feelings since the revelations.
Tardes de Soledad by Albert Serra
Happiness to All by Filip Remunda leaps off the page. Vitali is from Siberia. In his fifties, a nuclear physicist by training, he is a bricklayer by profession. Born into a family of scientists, once a member of the Soviet elite, he dreams of a great return to the days of the USSR, embodied today by Vladimir Putin. Political arguments are punctuated by swims in ice floes and boxing matches in apartment block stairwells.
Balomania gives access to a secret society of hot air balloon makers in the favelas of Brazil, willing to sacrifice everything to fly their illegal creations. Through the relationships the director establishes with these creators, Balomania immerses us into a surreal and intimate world where balloons are the protagonists.
This is a film that we’d already spotted in IDFA last year, but hadn’t had a chance to see.
Writing Hawa by Najiba and Rasul Noori tells the story of Hawa, in Afghanistan, who was married to a man when she was still a child. 40 years later, as her husband sinks into Alzheimer's disease, Hawa is eager to start an independent life and learn to read and write. But the return of the Taliban to power jeopardizes the realization of her dream.
French speaking documentaries Panorama
This is also a film we missed at IDFA, and one that we’ve heard particularly good things about.
Writer Christine Angot was invited for professional reasons to Strasbourg, where her father lived until his death in 1999. This is the city where she first met him at 13, and where he began raping her. His wife and children still live there. In A Family, Angot picks up a camera, and knocks on the family's doors.
A Family by Christine Angot
This is the competition we’re most excited about, with several films carrying bold artistic visions as well as interesting subject matter, and plenty of European premieres to boot ! We’ve only picked two here but we urge you to explore this selection further yourself.
In My Sextortion Diary, Pati, a young Spanish producer, is confronted with “sextortion” after her laptop containing intimate photos of herself is stolen. Blackmailers threaten to leak them to her contacts if she doesn't pay a ransom. Pati embarks on a quest to regain control of her private life and regain her power.
In Poland, Asia and Marek want to create a paradise for their family. They are rebuilding a house in the middle of a forest, where their children can grow up far from the hustle and bustle of the world. But the border with Belarus is just around the corner, and the refugee crisis at the gates of the EU pops up in their Eden. Forest by Lidia Duda tells the story.
