01
No premiere requirement
A film having screened elsewhere does not make it less worth taking seriously here. We are interested in the work, not in whether it is untouched.
About
What we are looking for
The festival exists to honour documentary authors who go their own way and go there with compassion — for their deep attention to the human world, and for new work that takes real artistic risks.
02
Sixty minutes or under
A rule unchanged since the first edition. Shorts and mid-length work compete on the same stage: a thirteen-minute film and a sixty-minute film are weighed by the same jury against the same standard.
03
Deliberations made public
The executive committee publishes the deliberations in text or on video. Jurors’ nominations, disagreements and reservations appear alongside the citations — including the films they believe were missed.
2025
2025 Official Selection
Twelve films, from thirteen minutes to sixty, made in a Tajik village in Xinjiang, on the streets of Yunnan, across the Tibetan grasslands and inside Yangtze Delta factories.
The Homeless地衣
The Third Child第三个孩子
Bitter Rice一座桃花洞
Girl of Wind吹梦无踪
A Woman Trapped in Time困在时间里的她
Corn Corn苞谷苞谷
About the Pink Cocoon过去未来的阵痛
Homeward归途
KaiHong开红
Notes of a Crocodile鳄鱼手记
The Land In Between中间之地
Death Education死亡教育课
2025
2025 laureates
Best Film: The Homeless. Best Director: The Third Child. Special Mentions: Girl of Wind and Bitter Rice.
2025
2025 Final Jury
Jury President
Martine Thérouanne
France
Final Jury
Chris Berry
United Kingdom
Final Jury
Zlatina Rousseva
Belgium
Final Jury
Zhao Jia 赵佳
China / Netherlands
Final Jury
Zhou Hao 周浩
China
Gallery
On the ground in Shitang
News
Latest
13 Dec 2025
Four hours of argument, and The Homeless takes Best Film by a margin
凹凸镜 DOC
Four hours of argument, and The Homeless takes Best Film by a margin10 Dec 2025
The results of 2025’s most fiercely contested Chinese documentary competition
金华青工作室
The results of 2025’s most fiercely contested Chinese documentary competition8 Dec 2025
The second edition opens in Shitang, and Jin Huaqing receives a Career Achievement Award
金华青工作室
The second edition opens in Shitang, and Jin Huaqing receives a Career Achievement AwardAbout
Partners
Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema (FICA)
Founding partner · receives films put forward by the festival
Brussels Millenium Documentary Film Festival
Founding partner · receives films put forward by the festival
Donghai International Documentary Masterclass Camp
2025 co-host · Shitang, Zhejiang
Submit a Film
Send us your film
The 3rd edition call for entries will be announced here first. There is no entry fee. AI-generated films are not accepted.