The European Film Award for Best Documentary or Prix Arte has been awarded annually since 1989 by the European Film Academy. Special Mentions were presented alongside the winner of the award until 1993, since 1999 a set of nominees are presented out of which a winner is chosen.
Criteria Documentary films taken into consideration must have a minimum length of 70 minutes. They must have either had a theatrical release in at least one European country, at a European competitive feature film festival accredited by FIAPF or been screened at one of the following documentary festivals: Cinéma du Réel (France) Copenhagen International Documentary Festival (Denmark) Doclisboa (Portugal) Dok Leipzig (Germany) International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (The Netherlands) Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival (Czech Republic) Kraków Film Festival (Poland) Sheffield Doc/Fest (UK) Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (Greece) Visions du Réel (Switzerland)
Winners and nominees The winners are in a yellow background and in bold.
1980s Year English title Original title Director(s) Production country1989(2nd) Recsk 1950-1953: The Story Of A Secret Concentration Camp In Communist Hungary Recsk 1950–1953, egy titkos kényszermunkatábor története Géza Böszörményi, Lívia Gyarmathy A Story of the Wind Een verhaal van de wind Joris Ivens & Marceline Loridan The Road to God Knows Where Alan Gilsenan Pictures of the Old World Obrazy starého sveta Dušan Hanák
1990s Year English title Original title Director(s) Production country1990(3rd) The Crossroad Šķērsiela Ivars Seleckis Step Across the Border Nicholas Humbert & Werner Penzel 1991(4th) Hear My Cry Usłyszcie mój krzyk Maciej Drygas Crimes and passions - the scar Crimes et passions - la cicatrice Mireille Dumas The Wall Die Mauer Jürgen Böttcher 1992(5th) Earth of the Blind Neregiu zeme Audrius Stonys Dostoyevsky’s Travels Paweł Pawlikowski Lovers on Trial Les amants d'assises Manu Bonmariage 1993(6th) Misfits To Yuppies Det sociala arvet Stefan Jarl The Man Who Loves Gary Lineker Ylli Hasani, Steve Sklair 89mm from Europe 89mm od Europy Marcel Łoziński 1994(7th) Angels of Sarajevo Anđeli u Sarajevu Saga-Group Sarajevo 1995(8th) Viva Stalin Jens Meurer 1996(9th) Vendetta - Blood Revenge in Albania Vendetta - Blutrache in Albanien Jerzy Sladkowski, Stanislav Krzeminski 1997(10th) Gigi, Monica... and Bianca Gigi, Monica... et Bianca Yasmina Abdellaoui, Benoît Dervaux , 1998(11th) Painting with Falls Tableau avec chutes Claudio Pazienza , 1999(12th)Buena Vista Social ClubPBS presents Buena Vista Social Club Wim Wenders , , , , Mr Zwilling und Mrs Zuckermann Herr Zwilling und Frau Zuckermann Volker Koepp My Best Fiend Mein liebster Feind - Klaus Kinski Werner Herzog Bach in Auschwitz La chaconne d'Auschwitz Michel Daeron The Truth Commission La commission de la vérité André van In Mobutu, king of Zaire Mobutu, roi du Zaïre Thierry MichelPripyat Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Jury Special Award Special Mention
2000s Year English title Original title Director(s) Production country2000(12th) The Gleaners and IThe Gleaners And I/Les Glaneurs et la glaneuse - Film - European Film Awards Les glaneurs et la glaneuse Agnès Varda Calle 54 Fernando Trueba Gulag Goulag Iossif Pasternak, Hélène Châtelain Working Women of the World Ouvrières du monde Marie-France Collard Home Game Heimspiel Pepe Danquart One Day in September Kevin Macdonald 2001(13th)Black Box BRD Andres Veiel 2002(14th) To Be and to Have Être et avoir Nicolas Philibert 2003(16th) S21: The Khmer Rouge Death Machine S-21, la machine de mort Khmère rouge Rithy Panh , The Five Obstructions De fem benspænd Lars Von Trier, Jørgen Leth , , , Whose Is This Song? Chia e tazi pesen? Adela Peeva , Eat, Sleep, No Women Essen, schlafen, keine Frauen A Species' Odyssey L'odyssée de l'espèce Jacques Malaterre, Javier G. Salanova , , , , The Day I Will Never Forget Kim Longinotto The Story of the Weeping Camel Die Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel Byambasuren Davaa, Luigi Falorni , Hush! Tishe! Viktor Kossakovsky 2004(17th)Darwin's NightmareDarwin's Nightmare|Film Reviews|Film|Spirituality & Practice Hubert Sauper , , Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer Nick Broomfield, Joan Churchill Addicted to Acting Die Spielwütigen Andres Veiel Basque Ball, Skin Against Stone La pelota vasca, la piel contra la piedra Julio Medem The World According to Bush Le monde selon Bush William Karel Checkpoint Mahssomim Yoav Shamir The Last Victory John Appel Touch the Sound Thomas Riedelsheimer , , 2005(18th) The Pipeline Next Door Un dragon dans les eaux Nino Kirtadzé Stroke Am seidenen Faden Katarina Peters The Devil's Miner Berg des Teufels Richard Ladkani, Kief Davidson Dreamland Leiputrija Laila Pakalnina , Raw Youth Ungdommens råskap Margreth Olin , Melodias François Bovy Before Flying Back to the Earth Pries parskrendant i zeme Arunas Matelis , Workingman's Death Michael Glawogger , Rehearsals Repetitioner Michal Leszczylowsky, Gunnar Källström The Swenkas Jeppe Rønde , Viva Zapatero! Sabina Guzzanti , 2006(19th) Into Great Silence Die Grosse Stile Philip Gröning 37 Uses for a Dead Sheep Ben Hopkins Dreaming by Numbers Anna Bucchetti Grandmother's House La casa de mi abuela Adán Aliaga Maradona, the Golden Kid Maradona, un gamin en or Jean-Christophe Rosé The Cemetery Club Moadon beit hakvarot Tali Shemesh The Fisherman and the Dancing Girl Rybak i tantsovshitsa Valeriy Solomin Our Daily Bread Unser täglich Brot Nikolaus Geyrhalter 2007(20th) Paper Cannot Wrap Up Embers Le papier ne peut pas envelopper la braise Rithy Panh To the Limit Am Limit Pepe Danquart , Belarusian Waltz Andrzej Fidyk Forever Heddy Honigmann Echoes of Home Heimatklänge Stefan Schwietert , 9 Star Hotel Malon 9 Kochavim Ido Haar The Monastery Pernille Rose Grønkjær Divorce Albanian Style Razvod Po Albanski Adela Peeva The Champagne Spy Meragel Hashampaniya Nadav Schirman , Where is the Love in the Palmgrove? Où est l'amour dans la palmeraie? Jérôme Le Maire 2008(21st)René Helena Trestikova Durakovo – Village of Fools Durakovo – Le village des fous Nino Kirtadzé Fados Carlos Saura , Children. As Time Flies. Kinder. Wie Zeit vergeht. Thomas Heise The Mother La mère Antoine Cattin, Pavel Kostomarov Man on Wire James Marsh , Stranded: I've Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains Naufragés des Andes Gonzalo Arijón Citizen Havel Obcan Václav Havel Pavel Koutecký, Miroslav Janek Shadow of the Holy Book Pyhän kirjan varjo Arto Halonen The Dictator Hunter Klaartje Quirijns 2009(22nd) The Sound of Insects – Records of a Mummy Das Summen der Insekten – Bericht einer Mumie Peter Liechti Cooking History Ako sa varia dejiny Peter Kerekes , , Pianomania Lilian Franck, Robert Cibis , Below Sea Level Gianfranco Rosi , Burma VJ Anders Østergaard The Heart of Jenin Das Herz von Jenin Leon Geller, Marcus Vetter The Damned of the Sea Les damnes de la mer Jawad Rhalib Defamation Yoav Shamir , , , The Woman with the 5 Elephants Die Frau mit den 5 Elefanten Vadim Jendreyko , The Beaches of Agnès Les plages d'Agnès Agnès Varda
2010s Year English title Original title Director(s) Production country2010(23rd) Nostalgia for the Light Nostalgia de la luz Patricio Guzmán , , Armadillo Janus Metz , Steam of Life Miesten vuoro Joonas Berghäll, Mika Hotakainen , 2011(24th)Pina Wim Wenders Position Among the Stars Stand van de sterren Leonard Retel Helmrich ¡Vivan las Antipodas! Viktor Kossakovsky , , , 2012(25th) Winter Nomad Hiver Nomade Manuel von Stürler London – The Modern Babylon Julien Temple Tea or Electricity Le thé ou l'électricité Jerome Lemaire , , 2013(26th) The Act of Killing Jagal Joshua Oppenheimer , , Stop-Over L'escale Kaveh Bakhtiari , The Missing Picture L'image manquante Rithy Panh , 2014(27th)Master of the Universe Marc Bauder , Just the Right Amount of Violence Jon Bang Carlsen Of Men and War Des hommes et de la guerre Laurent Bécue-Renard , Sacro GRA Gianfranco Rosi , Waiting For August Teodora Ana Mihai , We Come as Friends Hubert Sauper , 2015(28th)Amy Asif Kapadia Dancing with Maria Ivan Gergolet , , A Syrian Love Story Sean McAllister , The Look of Silence Senyap Joshua Oppenheimer , , , , Toto and His Sisters Alexander Nanau 2016(29th) Fire at SeaFire at Sea/Fuocoammare - Film - European Film Awards Fuocoammare Gianfranco Rosi , 21 x New York 21 x Nowy Jork Piotr Stasik A Family Affair Tom Fassaertr , Mr. Gaga Tomer Heymann , , , S Is for Stanley Trent'anni dietro al volante per Stanley Kubrick Alex Infascelli The Land of the Enlightened Pieter-Jan De Pue , , , 2017(30th) Communion Komunia Anna Zamecka Austerlitz Sergei Loznitsa La Chana Lucija Stojevic , , Stranger in Paradise Guido Hendrikx The Good Postman Hyvä postimies Tonislav Hristov , 2018(31st) Bergman: A Year in a LifeEuropean Film Awards (2018)- IMDb Bergman - ett år, ett liv Jane Magnusson , A Woman Captured Egy nő fogságban Tuza-Ritter , The Distant Barking of Dogs Simon Lering Wilmont , , Of Fathers and Sons Kinder des Kalifats Talal Derki , , , The Silence of Others El silencio de otros Almudena Carracedo & Robert Bahar , 2019(32nd)‘For Sama’, ‘Honeyland’ among 12-strong European Film Awards documentary longlist|News|ScreenFor Sama Waad al-Kateab, Edward Wat , Honeyland Медена земја Ljubomir Stefanov, Tamara Kotevska Selfie Agostino Ferrente , Putin's Witnesses Vitaly Mansky , , The Disappearance of my Mother Beniamino Barrese ,
2020s Year English title Original title Director(s) Country2020(33rd) Collective Colectiv Alexander Nanau , Acasă, My Home Acasă Radu Ciorniciuc , , The Cave Feras Fayyad , Gunda Viktor Kossakovsky , Little Girl Petite fille Sébastien Lifshitz Saudi Runaway Susanne Regina Meures 2021(34th) Flee Flugt Jonas Poher Rasmussen , , , Babi Yar. Context Sergei Loznitsa , Mr Bachmann and His Class Herr Bachmann und Seine Klasse Maria Speth Taming the Garden Salomé Jashi , , The Most Beautiful Boy in the World Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri 2022(35th) Mariupolis 2 Mantas Kvedaravičius , , The Balcony MovieFilm balkonowy Paweł Łoziński Girl Gang Susanne Regina Meures A House Made of SplintersБудинок із трісок Simon Lereng Wilmont , , , The March on Rome Mark Cousins 2023(36th) Smoke Sauna SisterhoodSavvusanna sõsarad Anna Hints Apolonia, Apolonia Lea Glob Four DaughtersLes Filles d'Olfa Kaouther Ben Hania Motherland Hanna Badziaka & Alexander Mihalkovich On the AdamantSur l’Adamant Nicolas Philibert 2024(37th) No Other Land Yuval Abraham Rachel Szor Basel Adra Hamdan Ballal Palestine, Norway Bye Bye Tiberias باي باي طبريا Lina Soualem France, Belgium, Palestine, Qatar Dahomey Mati Diop France, Senegal In Limbo W zawieszeniu Alina Maksimenko Poland Soundtrack to a Coup d'Etat Johan Grimonprez France, Belgium, Netherlands 2025(38th) Fiume o morte! Igor Bezinović Croatia, Italy, Slovenia Afternoons of Solitude Tardes de soledad Albert Serra France, Spain Riefenstahl Andres Veiel Germany Songs of Slow Burning Earth Olha Zhurba Denmark, France, Sweden, Ukraine With Hasan in Gaza مع حسن في غزّة Kamal Aljafari Germany
References
External links European Film Academy archive