Doclisboa
Doclisboa is a festival dedicated to documentary and to the new possible paths that are being opened for the genre. We are particularly interested on the new modes of relation between the cinematographic and the real, and we are looking for proposals that suppose an implication on the world, facing cinema as a political and artistic practice.
About
Doclisboa seeks to imagine reality through new cinematic forms of perception, reflection and action, placing filmmaking into dialogue with its history to question the present of cinema. Doclisboa is interested in films that are rigorous about their conceptual and formal implications; films that experiment with cinema’s artistic and political possibilities and refuse to be categorized; films that engage with and mirror the complexity of the world. Doclisboa offers a ground where cinema and the contemporary are investigated as acts of being together in, and with, time.
Submissions
The 23rd edition of Doclisboa will take place between the 16th and the 26th of October, 2025. Film submissions for this edition are open between 17th February until 31st May 2025. National and international films, produced from September 2024, of any length, can be submitted. Regardless of the date of submission in any category, the film screeners can be sent to the festival until May 31st.
Programme
International Competition
New films from all over the world, with diverse poetics, forms and lengths, drawing a map of contemporary cinema through singular works that question both themselves and what they portray. Films produced after September 2024, largely screening as international or world premieres.
Portuguese Competition
Portuguese produced and/or directed films, with no limitations in terms of format or length. This section presents an overview of the diversity of visions, practices and languages within contemporary Portuguese cinema, through a rigorous, open and attentive selection of films. Films produced after September 2024, largely screening as world premieres.
New Visions
New Visions explores the possibilities of cinema as a site for experimentation in both film practice and film programming. It places bold and innovative new propositions and tendencies in filmmaking into dialogue with radical moments from cinema’s past. Here categories, formats, and durations are challenged, through a cinema that believes reality is less captured by the camera than constructed anew.
From the Earth To the Moon
Premieres of the latest films by key directors from the documentary scene, out of competition. A selection of works that allow us to see the worlds of yesterday, today and tomorrow, through powerful visions and stories.
Heartbeat
Films exploring all forms of art and expression are represented in this section, in a celebration of creation. Music, sport, literature, the performing and visual arts… The arts beat in Doclisboa, not only on the screen.
Cinema of Urgency
The sessions of Cinema of Urgency are built around contemporary problems which urgently demand the creation of a community of debate. The section features films from social media and other sources that respond to gaps in media narratives and are resolutely anchored in reality, challenging citizens to be active members of an ever-changing society.
Green Years
World and international premieres of European films of any length, from students and new directors taking their first steps in film. The section creates a platform for dialogue and reflection, seeking to contribute to the development of new filmmakers. Green Years has its own competition and jury, and features an annual programme from an invited school.
Doc Alliance
This section is present at all festivals that are members of the Doc Alliance project. It presents a programme of films nominated for selection by Doc Alliance, including the winner of the Doc Alliance Award, given by a jury of international critics.
Industry
Nebulae is a space for the industry and networking dedicated to cinema professionals, aimed at promoting an authorial and diverse vision aligned with the artistic programming and ideas of Doclisboa, from a perspective of critical articulation with the contexts of production and circulation, particularly in Portugal, Europe, and the Ibermedia countries (Latin America, Portugal and Spain), without neglecting other territories, ensuring a unique meeting space among agents from their key territories.
Through a reflective and exchange-focused environment for filmmakers, producers, critics, and other agents present at the festival, Nebulae encourages the exchange of ideas and experiences, stimulates dialogues about contemporary practices and their social and political contexts, and fosters potential collaborations.
Assuming a mediating role between the film industry and its audiences, Nebulae includes activities that are open to the general public, allowing them to participate in the reflection on contemporary cinema. In this sense, Nebulae is a space for critical development, including seminars and writing labs.
Annually, Nebulae organizes its program around three axes: a guest European country, the Ibermedia countries film projects, and the Portuguese industry activities. In all its diversity, Nebulae seeks to become increasingly a relevant space for the independent industry in Portugal, offering visibility opportunities for local projects and facilitating the exchange of experiences with professionals from various parts of the world.
Students
Apordoc Educational Project, abcDoc, has been focusing year in, year out on developing audiences through film, in an initiative that brings together pedagogy, art and citizenship. The aim is to foster an audience that is more aware, critical and attentive to the realities of the surrounding world.
Through film sessions, debates and workshops, aimed at school audiences and less visible communities, we offer a dynamic and inclusive learning space that unites the art of cinema to education, strengthening the cultural participation and critical and empathic sense of the public.
abcDoc considers film education necessary to prepare students and communities to interact with the surrounding world, not just as passive spectators, but as active agents.