AWARDS & JURIES

GRANDS PRIZES

Grand Prix For International Documentary

The Grand Prix for International Documentary recognises the director of the best international film. It is endowed by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region with €5,000.

Grand Prix For French Documentary

The Grand Prix for French Documentary recognises the director of the best French film. It is endowed by the City of Biarritz with €5,000.

Grand Prix For Musical Documentary

The Grand Prix for Musical Documentary recognises the director of the best international film dedicated to music or live performance. It is endowed with €5,000.

Grand Prix Impact Banque populaire

The Grand Prix for Impact Documentary recognises the director of the best international film committed towards furthering human rights, social justice, or the environment. It is dually endowed by La Cinémathèque du documentaire – Image de la culture, with a license fee of €5,000 for the Images de la culture catalogue, and by the Banque populaire with €5,000 to the director.

INA-madelen Audience Award

The INA-madelen Audience Award recognises the director of the best film in the French speaking documentaries Panorama, through audience voting in Biarritz. It is endowed by the INA-madelen platform with €5,000.

PRIZES

Human Rights in Motion Award

The Human Rights in Motion Award honours the director of the film which best promotes human rights of the fight for democratic values. It is chosen by the Impact Documentary Jury and is endowed with €5,000 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Sacem Award for Original Score

The Sacem Award for Original Score recognises the composer for a film in the French Documentary category. It is endowed by Sacem with €3,000.

Short Film Documentary Award

The Short Film Award recognises the director of the best international film with a maximum length of 20 minutes. It is endowed with €3,000 by Enedis.

Coup de coeur dans les murs Award

The prize is awardeed by a jury of inmates from the Bayonne house of detention, it rewards a film in the French speaking documentaries Panorama. This year, the jury is joigned by the filmmaker Anne Richard.

New Talent Award

The New Talent Award recognises the best student film. Its is endowed with €3,000 by Stydio Palace.

Smart-Biarritz Immersive Award

Smart-Biarritz Immersive Award recognises the best digital documentary experience for its originality and coherence between its subject matter and technological resources. It is endowed by the Department Pyrénées-Atlantiques (64) with €3,000.

Tënk Award

The Tënk Award recognises a film from the New Talent category. It is endowed by Tënk, which grants the winning director €500 and a screening of their film on the Tënk platform.

Michel Mitrani Discovery Award

The Michel Mitrani Discovery Award recognises the director of the best first or second film among the four Grand Prix competition categories (International Documentary, French Documentary, Musical Documentary, Impact Documentary). It is endowed by France Télévisions with €3,000 and a broadcast on one of its affiliate channels.

Young Europeans Award

The Young Europeans Award recognises the director of the best film in the European Stories selection. It is dually endowed with €3,000 by the Erasmus+ France Agency/ Éducation Formation and with €2,000 by Doc Around Europe.

JURIES

Grand Prix for International Documentary Jury

Filmmaker - Producer - Programmer / Spain

Miguel EEK

Filmmaker - Producer / Slovenia

Petra SELIŠKAR

Editor / Danmark

Per K.KIRKEGAARD

Grand Prix for French Documentary Jury

Writer / Ukraine

Andreï KOURKOV

Radio producer - Filmmaker / France

Sonia KRONLUND

Filmmaker - Artist / France

Yolande ZAUBERMAN

Grand Prix for Musical Documentary Jury

Composer - Pianist / France

Jean-Baptiste LOUSSIER

Filmmaker - Editor / France

Louise NARBONI

Music journalist / France

Marc ZISMAN

Grand Prix Impact Banque populaire Jury

Filmmaker / Sweden

Fredrik GERTTEN

Director of the San Sebastián International Film Festival / Spain

José Luis REBORDINOS

Filmmaker / France

Marie-Monique ROBIN

Sacem Award for Original Score Jury

Filmmaker / France

Catherine BERNSTEIN

Composer - Violonist / France

Hélène BLAZY

Filmmaker - Producer / France

Stéphane JOURDAIN

Human Rights in motion Award Jury

Filmmaker / Sweden

Fredrik GERTTEN

Director of the San Sebastián International Film Festival / Spain

José Luis REBORDINOS

Filmmaker / France

Marie-Monique ROBIN

Short Film Documentary Award Jury

Filmmaker / Portugal

Inês T.ALVES

Producer / France

Blanche GUICHOU

Filmmaker / France

Yves JEULAND

New Talent Award Jury

Director of Porto/Post/Doc / Portugal

Sérgio GOMES

Director of DOK.fest München festival / Germany

Adele KOHOUT

Filmmaker / France

Margaux FOURNIER

Biarritz-Immersive Award Jury

Filmmaker / France

Pierre-Alain GIRAUD

Screenwriter - Filmmaker / France

Émilie VALENTIN

Director of the Geneva International Film Festival (GIFF) / Switzerland

Anaïs EMERY

Michel Mitrani Discovery Award

SCAM

Vincent de COINTET

Procirep

Amélie JUAN

France Télévisions

Nathalie KAMINSKY

Sacem

Don KENT

Young Europeans Award Jury

Student/Writer - Italy

Andrea Segna

My name is Andrea Segna. My academic and research background revolves around the languages of documentary and archival cinema, as well as the relationships that images weave with memory and reality. I view documentary as a triangulation between the filmmaker, the filmed subject, and the camera itself: a field of tensions where the image does not merely represent, but becomes a living, interrogative matter. In 2025, I served on the official jury for Venice Classics at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, chaired and moderated by the Italian documentarian Tommaso Santambrogio. Under the guidance of Marco Bertozzi, one of Italy’s leading theorists of documentary cinema, I deepened my research on found footage practices and even delivered a university lecture on archival materials.
Filmmaker - Slovakia

Rebeka Bizubová

Hello, my name is Rebeka Bizubová, and I am a young documentary filmmaker from Slovakia. In my work, I primarily focus on the theme of family, exploring its closeness, unity, as well as its challenges and complex relationships. I completed my bachelor’s studies at the Academy of Arts in Banská Bystrica with the film At the Beginning of the End (2022), which examines the evolving relationship between a mother and daughter. I pursued my master’s studies at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava under the mentorship of Jaroslav Vojtek, culminating in the film Confession (2024). With this film, I delve deep into my inner self and confront a trauma that has weighed on me for several years. The film premiered at the Fipadoc in Biarritz, France, won second place in the international CILECT competition, received awards at several domestic and international festivals, and earned the Silver Student Academy Award. During my studies, I worked in galleries, created artist portraits, and completed internships in Reykjavík and at the production company IS Production. My creative motto is: “It is better to see once than to hear a hundred times.”
Filmmaker/Editor - France

Eulalie Pernelet

With a master's degree in Writing Reality from the University of Rennes 2, I specialized in creative documentary filmmaking. This training allowed me to enrich my film culture and develop practical skills in filmmaking. I participated in the development and writing of the film The Violence Is Always Happening Somewhere Else, as chief editor and chief set designer. I worked as a photojournalist at the Rencontres internationales de la photographie d'Arles, then as a guest reception assistant at the États généraux du film documentaire in Lussas, where I also supported the general coordination and communications teams.
Filmmaker - Spain

María Martos

I’m María Martos, a 25-year-old film director from Barcelona. I studied a degree in Cinematography and Audiovisual Communication at ESCAC, and later completed a Master’s in Film Directing at the same school, funded by a scholarship for academic and artistic merit. During my studies, I directed both fiction and documentary short films. Right now, I’m in the distribution process of my master’s final project, La Pegaso, which I completed in September 2025. It is a hybrid short made with non-actors and no written dialogue; I worked closely on the editing process, selecting only the moments that felt truthful and unforced. I personally love going to the cinema alone, but whenever I can, I choose to go with others, because discussion is a vital part of the experience: sharing opinions, challenging each other, changing minds, or even changing your own. Being surrounded by different perspectives and voices, with people who love and respect cinema as much as I do, is something I deeply value.
Filmmaker/Programmer - Greece

Yorgo Scheib

Greek-Lebanese director and cinematographer, based in France since 2021. A graduate of ESEC-Paris, he co-directed Madiakho told me (28’, 2024, graduation film, selections: Fipadoc, Côté Court, Silhouette) and shot two feature documentaries by Vouvoula Skoura: Contrabando, Seeking Melpo (70’, 2023, Thessaloniki IDF) and Poetics of the Borders (upcoming 2025). Yorgo is also a film programmer for the Lebanese Film Festival in France and a member of the Greek Directors Guild. He remains active between Lebanon, Greece, and France.
Student/Filmmaker - Germany

Diyar Akar

Diyar Akar was born in Turkey and moved to Berlin with his family at the age of four. His filmic language uses an intimate approach to portray the different forms that family can take and the realities that emerge from them. He studied communication design in Germany, going on to complete a Master’s degree in Documentary Film Directing on the DocNomads programme. Following the premiere of his debut film Anne at the Kurdish Film Festival in Berlin in 2024, he has several short films in development.
High school student - France

Iris Tesmoingt

My name is Iris Tesmoingt, I am eighteen and I am a French high school student from Bordeaux. I am very interested in Cinema and also in meeting other young people around topics that interest us all. Cinema has been one of my passions since I was young. I have always liked watching movies with my family, and it also helped me learn new languages. Growing up, I started making some little film projects with all I had in my possession and one of my dreams is directing a short movie. This festival is a huge opportunity for me, to be linked with some other European students around a shared passion, to be able to meet some cinema professionals and to share my opinions about many documentaries.

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