The #MDOC# – Melgaço International Documentary Film Festival returns this summer with a bold and urgent lineup that spans continents, histories, and identities. From 28 July to 3 August, the festival’s 11th edition will screen 33 films from 23 countries, all competing for the prestigious Jean-Loup Passek Awards, the Don Quixote Award (FICC), and—for the first time—the FIPRESCI Prize, granted by the International Federation of Film Critics.
Out of more than 800 submissions, 33 films were selected—17 features and 16 shorts or medium-length works. Remarkably, 28 of them will have their Portuguese premieres at MDOC.
This year’s films interrogate the festival’s central themes of identity, memory, and borders, with a programme that traverses war-torn landscapes, ancestral traditions, refugee stories, and political resistance. Highlights include:
- Bedrock (Poland) by Kinga Michalska – exploring the Holocaust’s haunting echoes
- Flowers of Ukraine (Ukraine) by Adelina Borets – portraying a woman’s defiant resilience amid war
- O Diabo do Entrudo (Portugal) by Diogo Varela Silva – documenting Carnival rites in Lazarim
- My Memory Is Full of Ghosts (Syria) by Anas Zawahri – a lyrical elegy to the city of Homs
- Ancestral Visions of the Future (Lesotho/Germany) by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese – on intergenerational trauma and Black identity
- Kora (Portugal) by Cláudia Varejão – following refugee women reclaiming selfhood in exile
- Afterwar (Denmark) by Birgitte Stærmose – a 15-year chronicle of war’s psychological legacy
- Holding Liat (USA) by Brandon Kramer – centering a family fractured by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- Cutting Through Rocks (Iran) by Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyn – about a pioneering woman elected to local office in rural Iran
New Initiatives and Out-of-Competition Premieres
Beyond the competition, MDOC expands its critical and cultural footprint. The festival opens with premieres from its Plano Frontal Residency, a collaborative film and photography initiative led by Pedro Sena Nunes. On 3 August, The Man of Cinema by José Vieira makes its Portuguese debut, celebrating the life of Jean-Loup Passek, namesake of the festival’s main award and founder of the Melgaço Cinema Museum—now in its 20th year.
Another standout is VIVODOC, a new gathering of European documentary festivals designed to foster transnational dialogue. Participants include Majordocs (Spain), Escales Documentaires (France), Frontdoc (Italy), and One World Romania.
Educational and Research Platforms
The festival also acts as a hub for academic exchange and critical inquiry. Notable events include:
- Workshops and Masterclasses with directors Margarida Cardoso (Lost and Found) and Sandra Ruesga
- X-RAYDOC (3 August), a deep dive into the work of #Chris Marker# and Joris Ivens
- Fora de Campo, a transatlantic summer course focused on Cinema and Territory, featuring scholars and curators from Brazil, Spain, and the U.S.
- Who Are We, the Ones Who Are Here?, a community-based project documenting the parish of Alvaredo through oral histories and archival photography
- Tears of Iron, a photography exhibition at the Jean-Loup Passek Museum captures wartime resistance in Eastern Europe
The festival concludes with Salto a Melgaço (2–3 August), a final weekend program combining screenings, filmmaker dialogues, and guided tours.
