– The touring event will unspool between 4 and 17 March with a selection of 16 feature-length documentaries gracing the line-up
La Jetée, the Fifth Shot by Dominique Cabrera
A new record is about to be set: this year, between 4 and 17 March, an impressive 91 French cinemas (versus 70 in 2025 and 65 in 2024) are set to host the touring festival, Best of Doc #7, which primarily showcases a selection of 10 films chosen from among the previous year’s best documentaries. Each participating cinema will screen a minimum of three films from the selection, with the relevant filmmakers or representatives attending these seances in person, while a jury of high school children will award a Film Crush prize. Three feature films screening in premieres, two previously unreleased titles, one heritage film and five shorts will further bolster the programme.
The 2026 selection includes La Jetée, The Fifth Shot [+see also:
film review
film profile] by French director Dominique Cabrera (nominated for a César in 2026), Afternoons of Solitude [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Albert Serra
film profile] by Spain’s Albert Serra (triumphant in San Sebastián and at the recent Spanish Goya Film Awards, and nominated for this year’s Best International Co-Production Lumière), Imago [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Déni Oumar Pitsaev
film profile] by the French filmmaker of Chechnyan origin Déni Oumar Pitsaev (awarded the French Touch Jury Prize in Critics’ Week, as well as Cannes’ Golden Eye trophy last year), Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk [+see also:
film review
film profile] by Iran’s Sepideh Farsi (unveiled in Cannes’ ACID line-up, awarded the 2026 Best Documentary Lumière and also nominated at the Césars) and My Stolen Planet [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by fellow Iranian Farahnaz Sharifi (discovered in the Berlinale’s Panorama section).
The showcase further boasts The Invasion [+see also:
film review
interview: Sergei Loznitsa
film profile] by Ukraine’s Sergei Loznitsa (unveiled in a Cannes Special Screening), All I Had Was Nothingness [+see also:
film review
film profile] by French director Guillaume Ribot (presented in the Berlinale), Peaches Goes Bananas [+see also:
film review
interview: Marie Losier
film profile] by equally French filmmaker Marie Losier (the star attraction of Venice’s Giornate degli Autori line-up), Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Johan Grimonprez
film profile] by Belgium’s Johan Grimonprez (victorious in the Sundance Film Festival, and Oscar nominated) and Agniia Galdanova’s US-French production Queendom [+see also:
film review
film profile] (awarded the Next:Wave Prize at CPH:DOX).
Stealing focus among the premieres on the festival agenda are Landmarks [+see also:
film review
interview: Lucrecia Martel
film profile] by Argentina’s Lucrecia Martel (unveiled out of competition in Venice and set to be distributed in France by Météore Films on 1 April 2026), Under the Flags, The Sun [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Paraguay’s Juanjo Pereira (presented in the Berlinale’s Panorama section, triumphant in Thessaloniki and at BAFICI, and due for distribution in France on 25 March via VraiVrai Films) and the Belgian-French production New Beginnings by Isabelle Ingold and Vivianne Perelmuter (discovered in the Visions du Réel Festival).
Two previously unreleased documentaries (spotted on the festival circuit but not distributed in France) will round off the Best of Doc line-up, namely A Fidai Film [+see also:
film review
interview: Kamal Aljafari
film profile] by Palestine’s Kamal Aljafari (named Best Film in Visions du Réel’s Burning Lights section) and Back Home by Taiwan’s Tsai Ming Liang (unveiled out of competition in Venice), and, as if that wasn’t enough, Chris Marker’s repertory feature film The Lovely Month of May is also set for the showcase, alongside a line-up of five short films.
(Translated from French)
