The documentary film festival is back

If you are filmmakers and you are interested in the documentary genre, the month of May brings an ideal event for you: the Docs Barcelona Festival. This year's festival offers forty documentaries and five short films that explore a wide range of topics such as colonialism, the perils of the digital world, women's empowerment, and the different forms and expressions of love, among others. DocsBarcelona will be held from 2 to 12 May, mainly at the CCCB and the Cinemes Renoir Floridablanca, although some documentaries will also be screened at the Sala Phenomena and the Filmoteca de Catalunya. In addition, multiple activities will be organised around the festival.

DocsBarcelona presents a programme with the best documentary production in the world, from premieres to others that have recently been shown at festivals around the world, such as Victor Kossakovsky's film, Architecton, which premiered at the Berlinale and will be screened for the first time in Spain. The festival's films form part of various sections, some of which are competitive, such as Docs&Pearls, Docs&Cat and DOC-U. 

The film that opens the festival is Agents of Happiness, directed by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, at the Sala Phenomena, although it can also be seen on Wednesday at Cinemes Renoir Floridablanca. This documentary, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, explores and questions Bhutan's Gross National Happiness index.

The Docs&Pearls section presents a selection of the most outstanding and recent documentaries on the national and international scene. Among the fifteen films chosen, you will find titles such as Mambar Pierrette, by Rosine Mbakam; Diari de la meva sextorsió, by Patricia Franquesa; and Our land, our freedom, by Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu. 

You can also enjoy new documentaries produced in Catalonia at Docs&Cat. Stories such as Pepi Fandango, by Lucija Stojević; Binu, història de dues estrelles, by Guillem Cabra and Mar Clapés; and Casa Reynal, by Laia Manresa.

Love also has a place in the new thematic section Docs&Love, where you can discover cinematographic stories that deal with different expressions and forms of love, such as Sisters Forever, by Sigve Endresen; Bye Bye Tiberias, by Lina Soualem; and Queendom, by Agniia Galdanova, among others.

As part of the Docs&Honour section, the festival will pay tribute to the French filmmakers Raymond Depardon and Claudine Nougaret, who will be honoured with the Docs of Honour Award during the opening ceremony. The Filmoteca de Catalunya will screen three films from their filmography, including 10E Chambre, Journal de France and, under the direction of Depardon alone, La vie moderne.

In addition, there will be a Special Sessions section with non-competitive documentary feature films such as Architecton, by Victor Kossakovsky; DOC-U, a space dedicated to the documentary talent of Spain's higher education centres with two titles, the screenings of which will be held at the CCCB; and Docs&Teens, a section dedicated to teenage audiences with works such as Over the Limit, by Marta Prus or Artificial Immortality, by Ann Shin, among others.

Take the opportunity to immerse yourself in the documentary genre and explore the films on offer at the DocsBarcelona Festival. The times vary according to the screenings, as does the ticket price (there is also a €40 subscription that includes six tickets, which are not individual). If you want to buy it or get more information, you can consult the DocsBarcelona website.