• Recuerdos para el que por mí pregunte, by Fernando Vílchez Rodríguez, and Razeh-del, by Maryam Tafakory, receive the National and International Fugas Awards.
• The CineZeta Youth Jury Award goes to Deuses de pedra, marking a second recognition for the film.
• The Corte Final section and the Freak Agency Distribution Award go to Atlas de la desaparición, by Manuel Correa.
• The Audience Award for Best National Film goes to Capitol Vs. Capitol, by Javier Horcajada, while the Best International Film prize is awarded to What We Ask of a Statue Is that It Doesn't Move, by Daphné Hérétakis.
• The festival’s closing night featured two previously unseen gems: El Rastro, by Javier Aguirre, and video recordings by neurologist and amateur filmmaker Alberto Portera, accompanied by live music from Abel Hernández Pozuelo.

Documenta Madrid, the International Film Festival organized by Madrid City Council through the Department of Culture, Tourism and Sport, announced the winners of its 22nd edition tonight in the Azcona screening room at Cineteca Madrid. The awards ceremony was hosted by the Programming Committee—Paola Buontempo, Javier H. Estrada, Ruth M. Somalo and Florencia de Mugica—joined by Luis E. Parés, Artistic Director of Cineteca Madrid, and the juries of the competitive sections.

The juries awarded eight films selected from the 13 titles in the National Competition, 12 in the International Competition and four final projects, all chosen from among the 1,604 submissions from 125 countries received this year.

National Competition: Best Film and Fugas Awards

The National Competition Jury, composed of Dario Oliveira (Director of the Porto/Post/Doc Festival, Portugal), Frédéric Maire (Director of the Cinémathèque Suisse) and Alejandra Trelles (Director of the International Film Festival of Uruguay), awarded Deuses de pedra, by Iván Castiñeiras (Spain, Portugal, France, 2025), the Jury Prize for Best National Film, which comes with a €10,000 cash prize. In their deliberation, the jury praised the film “for its poetic narrative, the depth of empathy it weaves with its characters and setting, and its powerful portrayal of the passage of time and societal transformations, crafting a narrative of the present and its social reality.”

The same jury awarded the National Fugas Award for innovation and the will to cross boundaries, with a prize of €5,000, to Recuerdos para el que por mí pregunte, by Fernando Vílchez Rodríguez (Spain, 2025), “for bringing to light and honoring the victims of Francoism through their own letters to loved ones, giving a collective dimension to these personal fates.”

A Special Mention was also given to Un dragón de cien cabezas, by Helena Girón and Samuel M. Delgado (Spain, 2025), “for achieving an almost fantastical quality through its treatment of images and sound.”

In addition, Deuses de pedra, by Iván Castiñeiras, received the CineZeta Youth Jury Award, granted by members of the CineZeta program, which brings together young programmers to experience film curation for the first time at Cineteca Madrid. The jury highlighted the film “for portraying rural exodus with commitment and sensitivity.”

International Competition: Best Film and Fugas Awards

The Jury Prize for Best International Film, also worth €10,000, went to Collective Monologue, by Jessica Sarah Rinland (Argentina, United Kingdom, 2024). The jury—made up of Tania Pardo (Director of CA2M and artistic curator), Romanian filmmaker Andrei Ujică (a leading figure in archival cinema and featured guest at this year’s special screenings), and Daniel Mann (winner of last year’s edition)—praised the film for “portraying the impossibility of dialogue between humans and animals, while offering a subtle possibility for communication, through the life of a zoo in Argentina.”

That same jury awarded the International Fugas Award (worth €5,000) to Razeh-del, by Maryam Tafakory (Iran, Italy, United Kingdom, 2024), recognizing the film’s “ability to explore new forms of editing through archival footage, achieving a poetic result.”

A Special Mention was awarded to 7 Walks with Mark Brown, by Vincent Barré and Pierre Creton (France, 2024).

Corte Final Award

In the Corte Final section, which focuses on films in the advanced editing stage of Spanish production or co-production, the jury consisted of filmmaker and screenwriter Rafael Alberola; distributor and Sideral founder María Oliva; and Luisa Espino, head of the Matadero Madrid Artists Residency Center—a selection of profiles reflecting the dialogue between tradition and innovation, industry and experimentation.

This jury awarded the Corte Final Prize (worth €4,000) to Atlas de la desaparición, by Manuel Correa (Spain, Norway), “for addressing a subject and chapter of our history long buried, and its striking relevance in these dark times of violence and forgetfulness. The film stands out for the rigor of its research, highlighting the commitment of new generations by merging different disciplines and artistic and scientific techniques to create a film that transcends the cinematic medium itself.” The film also received the Freak Agency Distribution Award, valued at €6,000.

Audience Award – Cineteca Madrid

Festivalgoers contributed to the awards through in-theater voting following screenings. The Audience Award – Cineteca Madrid for Best International Film, with a €1,000 prize, went to What We Ask of a Statue Is that It Doesn't Move, by Daphné Hérétakis (France, Greece, 2024). The Best National Film Audience Award, also with a €1,000 prize, went to Capitol Vs. Capitol, by Javier Horcajada (Spain, 2025).

A musical closing with two unseen gems

The closing ceremony featured the screening of two previously unreleased treasures. First, El Rastro (Javier Aguirre, 1966), restored by the Madrid Film and Audiovisual School (ECAM), a film the director made about the Madrid neighborhood just before launching his career in feature films and anti-cinema.

The program also included El secreto de Alberto Portera (David Plaza Sagrado, 2025), showcasing the unpublished amateur footage by neurologist and filmmaker Alberto Portera documenting artists from the Spanish Museum of Abstract Art’s circle. Restored by Fundación March, the screening featured live music composed and performed by Abel Hernández Pozuelo.

Documenta Madrid 2025

Documenta Madrid, the International Film Festival of Madrid City Council, held its 22nd edition from May 6–11, reaffirming its commitment to auteur documentary cinema, formal experimentation, and critical thinking. This year’s edition focused on archival imagery as a generator of new memories and heritage, and on cinema’s potential as a tool for resistance, historical revision, and collective creation.

Organized by Cineteca Madrid, the festival once again became a meeting point for contemporary documentary and non-fiction cinema. Its main venue was Cineteca Madrid, with screenings also held at Filmoteca Española, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, La Casa Encendida, ECAM, and Fundación Casa de México/UNAM-España.

The festival benefited from the collaboration of ECAM, Madrid Film Office, Acción Cultural Española (ACE), the Romanian Cultural Institute, UNAM-Spain’s Center for Mexican Studies, the Embassy of Switzerland, Fundación Juan March, and Bofill Taller de Arquitectura, among other national and international cultural institutions.