Documenta Madrid presents the programming of its tenth edition

In its tenth edition, it renews its programming line, reduces sections and concentrates the competition in a single Official Section made up of two competitive sections that will house the best productions of the year.

The Madrid International Documentary Festival, Documenta Madrid, celebrates its tenth edition from May 5 to 12 and coinciding with this anniversary, renews its programming line, reducing sections and concentrating the competition in a single Official Section made up of two competitive sections that will house the best productions of the year, not released in Spain, prioritizing the quality of the selected films, regardless of their country of origin.

Documenta Madrid opens a wide window that will allow the Madrid public to observe the world around us by enjoying 75 films, selected from more than 1,100 applications received from 84 countries on all continents.

The Festival is presented this year, in the words of Mikel Olaciregui, new director of the festival, "with the double purpose of consolidating its position as a reference festival among those held in the capital and continuing its unstoppable and necessary climb in the ranking of festivals dedicated to the documentary genre held in the world", but above all, with the intention of becoming "an annual meeting point between professionals, creators and the public to whom they direct their works."

The festival will feature the visit of many of the directors and producers of the selected films. Professionals from all over the world who will be able to share their experiences and projects and whom the Madrid public will have the opportunity to meet, first-hand, both in the presentations of their screenings and in the “Terretulias en la Cantina”. Every day, at 1:00 p.m. in the Cineteca Cantina, these informal meetings will take place in which, moderated by different journalists, viewers will be able to debate directly with the guests.

The Official Section will be divided into two categories:

• Feature films (duration greater than 60 minutes) whose character privileges the narrative point of view, information and/or social interest about current events in our world. 14 films in competition (two of them Spanish production) and one extra title, out of competition, will make up a selection that will offer world-class titles.
• Short films (maximum 30 minutes long and not part of a series). An international selection made up of 18 titles in competition, coming from 15 countries (a Spanish production) along with one film out of competition.

Two International Juries, made up of professionals with extensive experience in the field of documentary film, will decide the Awards (with financial prize) for the three best films in each category. The public will also be able to express their opinion, voting for those works that they liked the most and thus awarding the Audience Prize.

Likewise, the festival will offer two informative sections dedicated, in this case, to national production: Panorama of the Spanish Documentary, which will collect the most relevant titles produced in our country in recent months and that have not yet been released in Madrid (with 13 feature films and 5 short films) and the retrospective The Documentary during the Transition in Spain, which will provide a journey to one of the richest and most exciting stages in the history of Spanish documentary, the years of the Transition, which will allow the viewer to review essential titles as well as discover new proposals and looks at the time. The section is completed with the presentation of the book The voices of change. The word in the documentary during the Transition in Spain and two round tables that will take place at the Taller Matadero.

Cineteca will be the official headquarters of the festival, hosting the screenings of the two sections in competition and the Spanish Documentary Panorama of the Year.

On the other hand, the festival maintains collaboration with other venues such as the Cine Doré (Filmoteca Española) and Casa de América.

Other unofficial awards

Canal+ collaborates with Documenta Madrid 2013 by awarding a prize for Best Documentary within the Spanish Documentary Panorama section. The prize will consist of the acquisition of broadcasting rights for the aforementioned film for programming on the Canal+ family of channels. It will be this channel that will choose the winner for its artistic and production values.

The Official Short Film Section will also compete for two “unofficial” awards, but very interesting for the winners: one awarded by the independent film sales agency Freak and another by the Graduate Institute of Cultural and Communication Studies, IPECC.

Round tables, book presentations and other parallel activities will complete a program designed for the Madrid public to enjoy, discover and share the best documentary cinema of the moment.