Although documentaries work to avoid it, hegemonic power structures determine how individuals usually view the world. This is a concern that the DocsBarcelona team, who dedicates many hours to watching a thousand titles to prepare each edition, has strongly detected this year. To try to redirect these dynamics, the international documentary film festival has decided to focus its 27th edition on creations that question colonialisms and provide tools to reduce their influence.
Daughter of Genghis by Danish photojournalists Kristoffer Juel Poulsen and Christian Als, and Mambar Pierrette by Cameroonian filmmaker Rosine Mbakam are some of the titles that make up Docs&Pearls, the official section of the festival. Composed of a total of 15 documentaries, other topics addressed are the dangers of the digital world and the empowerment of women, as done by the German-American co-production Eternal you and the Catalan production Diari de la meva sextorsió, directed by Patricia Franquesa.
From Thursday, May 2 to Sunday, May 12, the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) and the Renoir Floridablanca cinemas will host the screenings of a total of 50 documentary films, with 40 features and 10 shorts, in addition to the participation of most of their directors in presentations and discussions. The event will extend its reach through the Filmin content platform. Following the theme of this edition, DocsBarcelona has defined its program prioritizing anti-discriminatory criteria, with 23 female directors, 38 racialized directors, and 9 directors representing the LGTBI+ collective.
A novelty this year will be the Docs&Love section, a new programming line that will change its theme each year. In its first edition, six titles have been chosen that question romantic love and talk about other ways of loving, with documentaries such as the Dutch Sexual Healing, the Danish Echo of You, and the French Bye Bye Tiberias. The opening film, Agent of Happiness, a co-production between Hungary and Bhutan that investigates what is behind the slogan The happiest country in the world by following, probably, its saddest citizen, also talks about love. In total, four world premieres, four European premieres, and 17 Spanish premieres.
One must not forget the activities designed for professionals in the sector, the DocsBarcelona Industry program, origin of the Barcelona documentary festival. From Monday, May 6 to Friday, May 10, a total of 700 professionals will attend talks by filmmakers such as Albert Serra and John Wilson, and will seek funding for their projects, a figure that will be the highest in the history of the event. It is expected that this leg will continue to grow in the coming years, with the aim of consolidating the event as the most important in Southern Europe.