Documentaries this fall

The Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival (October 24 – November 2, 2025) will showcase 15 European premieres in its Opus Bonum Competition, including LA BEAUTÉ DE L'ÂNE by Dea Gjinovci, who premiered her film at the Zurich Film Festival. In this poetic documentary film, a daughter accompanies her father on a search for traces of his native village in Kosovo after 60 years in exile.
Screened in the same section will be Peter Mettler’s seven-hour film diary WHILE THE GREEN GRASS GROWS: A DIARY IN SEVEN PARTS, which will celebrate its European premiere in Jihlava after its world premiere at TIFF.

WIDER THAN THE SKY by Valerio Jalongo will compete in the Testimonies section. The film, which celebrated its world premiere at Visions du Réel, explores the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence. 

The minority coproduction BESTIARI, ERBARI, LAPIDARI by Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti will be screened in the Constellations section.

The short film TALKING SHADOWS, which was created by Lévana Schütz for her masters degree at ECAL/HEAD, will compete in the Short Joy section. 

Documentaries and animation films in Leipzig 

Gregor Brändli’s ELEPHANTS & SQUIRRELS will celebrate its world premiere in the International Competition Documentary Film at the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (October 27 –November 2, 2025). In his feature-length-film debut, Brändli portrays Sri Lankan artist Deneth Piumakshi Veda Arachchige, who discovered artefacts from an indigenous community in Swiss museums and initiates a debate about the restitution of works of art.

SEDIMENTE will celebrate its international premiere in the German Competition Documentary Film. Based on conversations with her grandfather, director Laura Coppens links her family history with the history of Germany since the Second World War. SEDIMENTE was honoured with the Special Jury Prize for the National Competition at Visions du Réel.

In the animated film sections, Marcel Barelli’s feature-length animation film MARY ANNING is in the running for the Young Eyes Film Award. Barelli’s latest short film EX-TRACT will celebrate its world premiere in the International Competition Animated Film.

Two animation short films from Switzerland will be screened in the Kids DOK for the festival’s very young audience: IL ÉTAIT UNE FOIS À DRAGONVILLE by Marika Herz and ASTRAL by Judith Ordonneau. Dirk Coy’s experimental short film BILDRAUM will be screened in the Hommage: Punto y Raya section.

Films and talents in Amsterdam

Eight Swiss productions have been selected for the festival programme of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam IDFA (November 13–23, 2025). 

Gregor Brändli’s ELEPHANTS & SQUIRRELS will be screened in the Best of Fests section, Peter Mettler’s WHILE THE GREEN GRASS GROWS in the Signed section, as well as the minority Swiss coproductions NUIT OBSCURE – “AIN’T I A CHILD?” by Sylvain George and GEN_ by Gianluca Matarrese. GUERRA E PACE by Massimo D'Anolfi and Martina Parenti – also a minority coproduction – is part of the Dead Angle section, which examines institution this year.

The XR Project ARTIFICIAL SEX (EP. 1 & 2) by Anan Fries celebrates its world premiere in the IDFA DocLab Competition for Digital Storytelling, and Lasse Linder’s AIR HORSE ONE has been selected for the IDFA Competition for Short Documentary.

The award-winning short animated documentary MAWTINI by Tabarak Abbas will be screened as part of the school programme accompanied by IDFA.

Swiss participants at IDFA industry events

Parallel to the festival, IDFA is also an important meeting place for the international documentary film industry. A total of 51 international projects has been invited to this year’s IDFA Forum, the international coproduction and cofinancing market. The Swiss production SWEET BELONGING by director Benjamin Bucher and producer Olivier Zobrist (Langfilm) has been selected for the Rough Cut Presentations category.

Two producers from Switzerland are taking part in the IDFAcademy Talent programme (November 13-16, 2025): short film producer Milena Pellegrini and producer Sophia Rubischung at Aaron Film, who is also participating in the IDFA Project Space with Joel Jent’s project REBELIÓN DE LA MEMORIA.

SWISS FILMS and the Visions du Réel Festival in Nyon are hosting a networking lunch during IDFA. Sales agents, international distributors and festival delegates will have the opportunity to network with producers and filmmakers.

SWISS FILMS Docs Fall Line-Up

The newly curated Docs Fall Line-Up provides information about other current Swiss documentary films, projects nearing completion and the latest documentary projects in production.