• Atlas de la desaparición by Manuel Correa and The Recce by Daniel Mann receive the National and International Fugas Awards, respectively.
• The CineZeta Young Jury Award goes to No hay camino by Luciana Espinoza Hoempler.
• The project Escribir nuestro nombre y seguir by Fernando Vílchez Rodríguez and Lili Albornoz wins both the Final Cut Award and the Agencia Freak Distribution Award.
• Atlas de la desaparición also receives the Audience Award for Best National Film, while El príncipe de Nanawa by Clarisa Navas wins Best International Film.
• The National and International juries have awarded Special Mentions to OAO by Rocío Mesa and Lloyd Wong, Unfinished by Lesley Loksi Chan, respectively.
• The festival closed with the premiere of Vial Matadero, a film by Juan Cavestany created specifically for this edition.

Documenta Madrid, the City of Madrid’s International Film Festival, organized by the Department of Culture, Tourism and Sport, announced the winners of its 23rd edition this evening at the Azcona Hall of Cineteca Madrid. The awards were presented by the Programming Committee—Florencia de Mugica, Nuria Cubas, Irene Castro and Pablo Caldera—alongside Luis Parés, Artistic Director of Cineteca Madrid, and the juries of the competitive sections.

The jury awarded eight films selected from the 12 titles in the National Competition, the 14 in the International Competition, and the four Final Cut projects. These works were themselves chosen from the 1,650 submissions received this year from nearly 20 countries.

National Competition: Best Film and Fugas Award

The National Competition jury, composed of Hélder Beja, director of Doclisboa; Maite Conesa, director of the Filmoteca de Castilla y León; and Iris Martín-Peralta, curator and film producer, awarded the Jury Prize for Best National Film, endowed with €10,000, to Krakatoa (Spain, United Kingdom, France, 2026) by Carlos Casas.

In its statement, the jury praised the film “for staging a cinematic journey that traverses the boundaries of non-fiction with great technical and aesthetic boldness. The film constructs a narrative rooted in mythological tradition and the adventure tale, reaffirming the cinema theatre as the ultimate space for reaching the limits of sensory experience beyond the visual.”

The same jury awarded the National Fugas Award for innovation and boundary-crossing, endowed with €5,000, to Atlas de la desaparición (Spain, Norway, 2026) by Manuel Correa, “for its commitment to shedding light—through the most innovative techniques of scientific and architectural research—on a known reality that nevertheless remains hidden and silenced, transcending the boundaries of historical memory and bringing it to the forefront of social debate.”

The jury also granted a Special Mention to OAO (Spain, 2026) by Rocío Mesa.

Finally, No hay camino (Spain, Peru, 2026) by Luciana Espinoza Hoempler received the CineZeta Young Jury Award, presented by participants in the CineZeta programme, which offers young programmers their first experience in film curation at Cineteca Madrid. The jury recognised the film “for its bold thematic approach and portrayal of a reality that often goes unnoticed, as well as for its intelligent integration of contemporary languages and forms of communication into its narrative.”

International Competition: Best Film and Fugas Award

The Jury Prize for Best International Film, endowed with €10,000, was awarded to Evidence (United States, 2025) by Lee Anne Schmitt.

The jury, composed of artist and filmmaker Jessica Sarah Rinland, winner of the previous edition; Laura García-Lorca, President of the Federico García Lorca Foundation; and Christophe Piette, programmer at CINEMATEK, the Royal Belgian Film Archive, highlighted the film “for its strong authorial voice, connecting the intimate and familial with their global consequences, for its profound research in understanding this process, and for its poetic cinematography.”

The same jury awarded the International Fugas Award, endowed with €5,000, to The Recce (United Kingdom, Germany, 2026) by Daniel Mann in recognition of its innovation and willingness to cross boundaries, “for its exploration of cinematic ethics through contemporary resources.”

The jury also granted a Special Mention to Lloyd Wong, Unfinished (Canada, 2025) by Lesley Loksi Chan.

Corte Final and Agencia Freak Awards

The Corte Final section, dedicated to Spanish productions and co-productions in advanced stages of editing, was judged by documentary producer Rocío Cabrera; Aimar Arriola, head of the Intermediae programme at Matadero Madrid; and programmer and Atlàntida Mallorca Film Fest deputy director Joan Sala.

The jury awarded the Corte Final Prize, endowed with €4,000, to Escribir nuestro nombre y seguir (Spain, Peru, 2026) by Fernando Vílchez Rodríguez and Lili Albornoz.

The project also received the Agencia Freak Distribution Award, which covers the creation of the film’s projection files and its festival distribution for two years following completion. The value of this award is estimated at €6,000.

Cineteca Madrid Audience Award

Festival audiences contributed to the awards through their votes after the screenings.

The Cineteca Madrid Audience Award for Best International Film, endowed with €1,000, went to El príncipe de Nanawa (Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, 2025) by Clarisa Navas.

The Cineteca Madrid Audience Award for Best National Film, also endowed with €1,000, was awarded to Atlas de la desaparición (Spain, Norway, 2026) by Manuel Correa, which had already won the National Fugas Award.

Premiere of Vial Matadero by Juan Cavestany at the Closing Ceremony

The festival concluded with the premiere of Vial Matadero, an unreleased film by filmmaker Juan Cavestany created specifically for this edition and produced by Matadero Madrid and Cineteca Madrid.

The film offers a reflection on Matadero as a symbolic space of urban and social transformation, turning this cultural landmark into a mirror of the city’s changes.

Documenta Madrid 2026

Documenta Madrid is the City of Madrid’s International Film Festival and one of Spain’s leading platforms for the exhibition, reflection and creation of non-fiction cinema. Its 23rd edition was structured around the concept of “Taking the Pulse”, a thematic focus that reclaims the tradition of direct cinema and its capacity to capture social and cultural reality in an immediate way.

Organised by Cineteca Madrid, the festival also expanded its programme across several venues throughout the city, including Filmoteca Española, La Casa Encendida, ECAM and Goethe-Institut, further consolidating its role as a meeting point for filmmakers, industry professionals and audiences. / 

Palmarés DM26 Photos

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More info: documentamadrid.com