From Cuba to Gaza: Documentary Festival Tackles Historical Conflicts

The DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (DMZ Docs) has unveiled its lineup for its 17th edition, featuring films in the International and Frontier competitions that explore the aftermath of historical conflicts and their global repercussions.

From over 600 submissions, the festival’s programming committee—led by chief programmer Jang Byung-won, programmer Kang Jin-seok, and film critic Lee Seung-min—handpicked 18 films. Ten titles will compete in the International Competition, while eight will vie for recognition in the Frontier section.

Notable entries in the International Competition include the Cuban black-and-white documentary “To the West, in Zapata,” which earned the Jury Special Award in the Burning Lights section at Visions du Reel. “La jetee, the Fifth Shot,” a winner of the Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig, delves into Algeria’s colonial history through personal family archives. The Romanian-Korean collaboration “Bright Future” offers a fresh perspective on Cold War-era spectacle, using footage from the 1989 World Festival of Youth and Students in Pyongyang.

The festival also addresses contemporary global conflicts. “Militantropos” employs direct cinema techniques to examine the Russia-Ukraine war, while Abbas Fahdel’s “Tales of the Wounded Land” documents life in southern Lebanon following the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

The Frontier section pushes the boundaries of documentary filmmaking. Kamal Aljafari’s “With Hasan in Gaza” reconstructs 2001 footage to preserve images of people and places now lost in Gaza. “Ancestral Visions of the Future” blends personal storytelling with poetic visuals as it reflects on the filmmaker’s exile from Lesotho during a period of civil unrest. In “New Beginnings,” director Billy Luther follows a Vietnam War veteran on a Native American reservation in California, exploring the interplay between environmental degradation and intergenerational trauma.

Since its inception in 2009, DMZ Docs has grown into one of Korea’s premier documentary festivals. In 2023, it revamped its programming with a new competition format featuring International, Korean, and Frontier sections.

The International and Frontier categories will together award a total of 45 million KRW (32,000 USD) in prizes. This includes a 20 million KRW (15,000 USD) Grand Prize for the International Competition, a 10 million KRW (7,500 USD) Jury Special Award, and a 15 million KRW (11,250 USD) Grand Prize for the Frontier Competition.

Be sure to mark your calendars for the 2025 edition of DMZ Docs, scheduled to take place from September 11–17 in Paju and Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. The festival’s industry program, DMZ Industry, will run from September 12–16, serving as a hub for co-production and project development.