Best Documentary Short Films

Documentaries

Fount

Walid and his family, who had been having a difficult life in Somalia and had to migrate to Turkey, are sent to Burdur. Walid, facing the drought in Burdur which he ran away from Somalia, is struggling his life, as well.
Directed by Evrim İnci

Duration : 4m
Maturity Level : all

UNHOLY GUACAMOLE: Deforestation, Water Capture, and Violence Behind Mexico’s Avocado Exports

Avocados grown for export to the United States have fueled widespread deforestation and water theft in the Mexican states of Michoacán and Jalisco, with dire consequences for the rights of local residents. A report by Climate Rights International documented how major US companies were contributing to this disaster by failing to ensure the avocados they imported from Mexico were sourced sustainably. Since the release of the report and this video in 2023, local Mexican officials, civil society, and community leaders have joined forces to launch an ambitious satellite-based certification and conservation program—and, in doing so, they have created a promising model for efforts around the globe to reduce commodity-driven deforestation and catalyze community conservation.
Video by: Climate Rights International
Filmmaker: José Bautista

Duration : 6m
Maturity Level : all

My Body, My Territory: The Struggle of Chiquitano Indigenous Women for Their Ancestral Land

In 2024, Bolivia experienced one of the most devastating wildfire seasons in its history. Over 12.6 million hectares of forest and non-forest ecosystems were consumed by flames—many deliberately set—leaving irreversible damage to the Chiquitano Dry Forest, one of the world’s most unique and fragile ecosystems. Amid the smoke, ashes, and imposed silence, a powerful resistance emerges.
My Body, My Territory is an intimate and visually striking documentary that follows the Chiquitano Indigenous women as they confront environmental destruction and systemic violence to defend their territory, culture, and dignity. Through deeply personal testimonies, evocative imagery of a forest in crisis, and the unyielding spiritual force of collective resistance, the film reclaims the profound link between body and land.
This is not only a story of survival, but a call to listen—urgently and globally—to those who protect the Earth from its heart: the guardians of the Chiquitano Dry Forest.
Directed by Roberto NaviaDirector

Duration : 18m
Maturity Level : all

Dancing on the Ruins

How do you hold on to hope in times of violence and oppression? For visual artist Mounira Al Solh, born in Lebanon and based in the Netherlands, making art is her lifeline: a way to ‘resist the feeling that we are doomed.’
Remarkably, this does not result in somber work. Dancing on the Ruins shows how Al Solh fearlessly builds a multifaceted and playfully activist body of work. Through textiles, ceramics, installations, video and paintings, the artist creates a colorful universe in which she blends personal stories with ancient myths and musical traditions. Her passion is fueled by a deep sense of urgency to offer optimism in a world full of injustice.

Duration : 17m
Maturity Level : all

Dear Home of Scars

In Dear Home of Scars, we see celebrated visual artist Ibrahim Mahama return to his hometown of Tamale in Northern Ghana to visit Red Clay Studio, a lively cultural centre and art space he founded, where he works on a new art installation involving old colonial railcars and the reconstruction of a stretch of track. During British rule of Ghana (1821-1957), the colonisers used trains to transport gold and other resources to the coast. Remnants of track now lie abandoned as silent reminders of this history of exploitation. They are ‘scars in the landscape’, in the words of Mahama.
The project brings new energy and self-awareness to local residents. Meanwhile, Mahama reflects on his role as a sought-after artist and builder of local communities.

Duration : 20m
Maturity Level : all

Three Acts

Opera as an artform can be approached from various angles – the music, the singers, the stage design. Then there is the story, the emotion, the ideas. How does one combine these elements into an event which opens the door to fantasy and dreams?
In Three Acts, world-renowned opera director Pierre Audi gives us a glimpse behind the scenes. As we watch him prepare for a rendition of Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra in Tokyo (with stage design by renowned visual artist Anish Kapoor), he shares his vision for the genre. According to Audi, the dramatic world on stage can bring us more in touch with contemporary issues than reading the news ever could. In the theatre you offer hope, he says. “You help people find a connection with themselves.”

Duration : 16m
Maturity Level : all

Northern Winds

Growing up, visual artist Jonathas de Andrade was fascinated by the Jangadeiros (sailors) operating the traditional fishing boats in his hometown of Maceio, Brazil. In Northern Winds, we follow him as he visits this community of workers to film their craft (which now serves tourism) for a new artwork.
Intrigued by their skilful way of rolling the sailboats up and down the beach, De Andrade tries to capture their ingenious choreography. Far from romanticising their way of life, however, he creates a testament to their precarious existence in a country where unequal power structures are painfully and at times violently apparent.

Duration : 17m
Maturity Level : all

Eyes Wide Open

In an ongoing series of theatre productions, Nicole Beutler explores how humans are inflicting irreversible damage on planet earth. What does our future look like? Her plays envision the necessary transformation of the position of humans on earth: the end of the Anthropocene takes centre stage. She describes this process as “going into the dark with your eyes wide open”.
Beutler combines a strong artistic vision with room for joint decision-making. By inviting her team to bring their own visions to the table, she creates a collective work of art while challenging traditional conceptions of leadership.
In the film, we see Nicole Beutler working on GINKGO or: 56 million years ago there were palm
trees on the North Pole. A confrontational dance opera about the end of the world as we know it,
and the first performance of her RITUALS OF TRANSFORMATION trilogy.

Duration : 14m
Maturity Level : all

In The Storm Within

On her native soil just above the Arctic Circle, Norwegian-Dutch theater director Eline Arbo recalls her teenage spirit: “I was so bold, eager and looking for fun – I often think back on those days.” Today, she feels like a fighter trying with all her might to turn the tide in an alienating and unjust world.
In The Storm Within, Arbo reflects on her role as a leading theater director as she rehearses for the new play Haugtussa, based on a Norwegian cycle of poems in which a young woman with magical powers seeks refuge in nature. With a dark and mysterious theatrical adaptation, Arbo aims to create a world never before seen on stage. In her view, the ominous mythical scenes of nineteenthcentury Haugtussa are profoundly contemporary.

Duration : 20m
Maturity Level : all

Dimension of Absence

Although she didn’t personally experience the last Argentinian military junta (1974-1983), Argentinian-Dutch visual artist Aimée Zito Lema grew up in the shadow of the violent history that affected her country and family. At a young age, she grew fascinated with archival photographs of people who dared to risk their lives by resisting Jorge Videla’s military regime.
On a visit to Buenos Aires, she includes her daughter in a performative art piece in which they embody the past and imagine a new future, showing the way art can function as a medium for memory work across countries and generations.

Duration : 15m
Maturity Level : all

In between Realities

How does technology transform humanity? Do we need a body to be human? In his multidisciplinary work, composer and director Michel van der Aa explores the big themes of our digitised age and contemplates existential questions in the border area between humans, machines and consciousness.
Van der Aa re-energises the world of opera. Whether his VR goggles are on or off, he is always looking towards the future. In Between Realities shows him working on a new music theatre project, crossing the boundaries between remembering and forgetting, reality and unreality, life and death. Together with actors and avatars he forges new paths into the metaverse.

Duration : 17m
Maturity Level : all

Triptych Opus II

Hugo Bel, François Legoubin, Marc Désarme. 3 artists. 3 works. 3 moments of creation.
Through his lens, Gilles Thomat explores the making of a work of art, capturing that fragile, intimate moment when nothing is yet set in stone, when the work is in flux. "What drives me is the desire to observe. Discreetly, honestly. To film the work, the action, the very breath of the artist, without artifice. To enter into a silent intimacy, where the work is born, in its materiality, its slowness, its hesitations." Here, very different worlds communicate through this mysterious and fascinating moment of creation, of the painting, of the artwork coming to life before our eyes.
Directed by Gilles Thomat
Written by Gilles Thomat

Duration : 52m
Maturity Level : all

Rencontres du Film d’Art

ikonoTV is delighted to present a selection from this French festival, with three films available in their entirety. Explore the new Channel on ikonoTV.
Explore the new [Channel,https://ikonotv.art/Channels/211/rencontres-du-film-dart] on ikonoTV
Since 2013, each year at the end of January, the Saint-Gaudens Art Film Festival offers four days of programming celebrating the world of art and artists. With evening guests, an exhibition, a bistro, and screenings across five rooms of the Cinéma le Régent, viewers are invited to immerse themselves in the fascinating world of creation and its various processes. Painting, photography, music, sculpture, architecture, from all artistic fields, all nationalities, all genres.

Duration : 57s
Maturity Level : all

A Accord to Variations

Jean Rondeau is an internationally renowned harpsichordist. For his tour dedicated to the Goldberg Variations, he decides to travel in a van with his own instrument in the back. Accompanied by Florian Donati, a harpsichord tuner, they cross Europe, ready to champion the harpsichord and his music. As the score unfolds, their friendship deepens, and their commitment grows.
Directed by Erwan Ricordeau
Written by Erwan Ricordeau

Duration : 1h 22m
Maturity Level : all