The Lisbon International Documentary Film Festival, DOCLisboa 2025, concluded its 23rd edition by honoring the film The Night Is Fading Away (La noche está marchándose ya), by Argentine filmmakers Ezequiel Salinas and Ramiro Sonzini, as the festival’s top winner. The film received the Grand Prize Cidade de Lisboa in the International Competition, the festival’s highest award.

According to the jury, The Night Is Fading Away — titled in Portuguese A noite está a acabar — “celebrates cinema as the ultimate collective adventure, where imagination and solidarity illuminate the path in darkness.”

The film tells the story of a solitary projectionist who, after losing his home and being demoted at work, begins secretly living in the cinema where he worked. There, he transforms the space into a refuge for himself and for homeless people, rediscovering purpose and a sense of community. When his secret is discovered, the protagonist faces the authorities in a struggle to reclaim this symbolic space, in a story that pays homage to the seventh art as a place of resistance and connection, especially in difficult times in contemporary Argentina.

The awards ceremony took place at Culturgest in Lisbon and was followed by the screening of The Tree of Knowledge, directed by Eugène Green, the festival’s closing film.

In the International Competition, the Jury Prize went to Tell Me a Fairy Tale (Cuéntame un cuento de hadas), by Turkish filmmaker Ebrû Avci, described by the jury as “an elegant, honest, and disarming film in its simplicity, finding depth in silent gestures and truth in restraint.”

The Doctors Without Borders – Portugal Award for Best Direction was given to Isabel Pagliai for Fantasy (France), “an intimate and visceral portrait of grief, love, and nostalgia, a raw poetry that remains alive in its fragility.”

In the Portuguese Competition, the DOCLisboa Award for Best Film went to Água Mãe, by Hiroatsu Suzuki and Rossana Torres, while the Portuguese Authors’ Society Award honored As Estações, by Maureen Fazendeiro, for its “tactile and immersive character, blending a discovered past with a present almost out of time.”

The ETIC School Award went to Explode São Paulo, Gil, by Maria Clara Escobar, and Complô, by João Miller Guerra, received an honorable mention.

In the Green Years Competition, dedicated to emerging filmmakers, the Conserveira de Lisboa Award for Best Film was awarded to Ping Pong, by Tianji Yu, while the Pedro Fortes Award for Best Portuguese Direction went to Se Eu Não Morresse Nunca! by David Falcão. I Lit the Fire!, by Valeria Lemeshevskaya, received a special mention.

In the cross-category competition, the Revelation Award for Best First Feature went to Under the Flags, the Sun, by Paraguayan filmmaker Juanjo Pereira, with an honorable mention for Do You Love Me, by Lana Daher (France, Qatar, Lebanon, Germany).

The Best Short Film Award was given to Baumettes Studio, by Hassen Ferhani (France), and the “Safe and Healthy Workplaces” Award, from the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, went to Wishful Filming, by Sarah Vanagt (Belgium).

The Legal Partners Rights and Freedoms Audience Award went to Aurora, by João Vieira Torres, while Soco a Soco, by Diogo Varela Silva, won the TVCine Award for Best Portuguese Film as voted by the public.

Over the festival’s eleven days, DOCLisboa drew more than 20,000 spectators through screenings, filmmaker talks, and public meetings. The edition also paid tribute to filmmaker, editor, and actress Patrícia Saramago, who passed away last Thursday.

Special screenings of the awarded films will take place from Monday to Wednesday at Cinema Ideal in Lisbon.

DOCLisboa will return in 2026, from October 15 to 25, with Greece as the guest country.