The twelve films from different countries and artistic approaches are presented in the Short Competition Festival Film Dokumenter 2025. The works explore a wide spectrum of intentions: memory and lived experience, historical trauma, political reflection, experimentation in sound-image, and abstraction. The category demonstrates how short documentaries today are not defined by its length, but by how much it asks the audience to think and feel within a limited time.
Tan Pin Pin, Jinna Lee, and Thomas Barker are the jury members of the category. Coming from filmmaking, film programming, and academic research, the three jurors entered the deliberation with varied sensitivities toward form, subject matter, and political presence in cinema. Instead of creating conflict, these differences shaped a constructive conversation about how contemporary short documentaries are evolving.
A central topic in the jury interview was the rapid shift in global documentary form. The jury members noted that talking-head-driven films are decreasing, while voice-over-based works are becoming significantly dominant. This change reflects a broader creative shift, where filmmakers combine narration with poetic or reflective structures. However, the jurors also expressed concern that nearly half of the twelve selected films rely on voice-over as their main structural backbone. They emphasized that voice-over is not inherently weak, but is difficult to execute well and requires clear intention so that writing and narration do not overpower the image.
The jury members acknowledged that filmmakers today are increasingly open to exploring diverse forms and that this openness should continue to grow. The aim is not to prescribe a single direction for short documentaries, but to encourage filmmakers to discover expressive languages that best serve their intentions. They agreed that the competition deserved two recognitions rather than one. Two films stood out as equally deserving of visibility, and awarding only one would risk limiting the momentum of the other. They described awards as a gateway to attention rather than a final validation, and they wanted both films to receive opportunities that could lead to further artistic development. The jury members also highlighted that the award recognises emerging filmmakers who take risks in approaching elevated or challenging themes.
In closing, the jury members expressed that the nominated films show how short documentaries can hold many ideas, shapes, and intensities at once. The two awards in this lineup are intended to amplify works that demonstrate rigor, risk, and promise, rather than to divide films hierarchically. Festival Film Dokumenter 2025 presents Inventory (2025) directed by Ivan Marković, producer Jelena Radenković, produced by Big Time Production as Best Film for Short Competition; and In Flanders Fields (2024) directed by Sachin, produced by DocNomads as Jury’s Special Mention for Short Competition.
Jury’s Statement for Best Film Award
This film documents the dismantling of a historical object that once housed the ambitions of Yugoslavia as a driver of the non-aligned movement. Beginning with claustrophobic, tight frames punctuated by the sounds of demolition, the film, with no dialogue, moves through a series of ever-expanding sequences of footage that reveal the scale and former glory of the building and the workers inside. What we suspect was a risky approach, not knowing where the material would lead, the filmmaker resolves the film by following one of his protagonists home, where he lives a mundane existence, seemingly unaware of the significance of the building, and the ideals that it stood for. It highlights the disconnect between past and present, and of a past never fully realized, evoking curiosity for the audience.
Jury’s Statement for Jury’s Special Mention Award
This film uncovers a neglected history of Indian soldiers recruited to fight for the Empire in a devastating war not of their making in Belgium. Precisely conceived and executed, the filmmaker creatively presents archival footage and images against the contemporary landscape, accompanied by the voiced stories of those who were there. Through this combination of image and text, the filmmaker reveals forgotten stories from the battlefield, and resurrects the ghosts unheard for decades.
Festival Film Dokumenter is grateful to all the jury members (Tan Pin Pin, Jinna Lee, Thomas Barker) and selectors (Oggs Cruz, Sanchai Chotirosseranee, Valencia Winata) of the Short Competition category. Festival Film Dokumenter is presented by Forum Film Dokumenter, Indonesia. (Vanis, 26/11/2025)
