"Redlight to Limelight" wins this year’s Doxumentale Award for Best Documentary Film, "Trade Secret" and "Miss Jobson" got a special mention – and you can still watch all of the films in Berlin till Sunday.
From powerful documentaries and immersive VR to podcasts and non-fiction books, this year's award winners show just how wide and exciting documentary storytelling can be. Announced on Thursday evening, the prizes celebrate works that open up new perspectives and get people talking.
As Festival Director Anna Ramskogler-Witt put it: “The juries repeatedly highlighted the power of these works to create empathy. This is exactly what we experienced at the festival: people coming into conversation with one another through stories.”
The award for the best documentary film went to “Redlight to Limelight” by Bipuljit Basu. The film, which had its German premiere at Doxumentale a couple of days ago, follows sex workers in Kolkata's red-light district as they launch their own film production company. As they begin staging their own lives, the lines between reality and fiction start to blur - creating a documentary that is both playful and deeply empowering.
The jury praised the film for giving the story back to the people who live it: “Redlight to Limelight does what only the best documentary filmmaking can. It hands the story back to the people living it. With warmth, humor, and an unflinching gaze at one of society's oldest and most persistently thematised professions, this film transforms its subjects from objects of debate into full, luminous protagonists. It is a film about agency, resilience, and the radical act of being seen on your own terms”, said the jury in their statement.
A special mention went to Trade Secret by Abraham Joffe and Miss Jobson by Amanda Sans Pantling.
“Trade Secret reminds us that the most unsettling revelations aren't the ones we never suspected. They're the ones that overturn exactly what we believed we already knew", says the jury. “Miss Jobson is a rare thing: a film that celebrates two women living without regret, and somehow makes that feel like the most subversive act imaginable.”
If you're in Berlin, there is still time to experience Doxumentale 2026 until Sunday, 7 June. The festival continues in neighbourhood cinemas and open-air venues across the city, with several standout screenings still ahead. So if you have been meaning to go, this weekend is your last chance to catch the festival on the big screen.
Apart from the documentary award, we also honored books, podcasts, and VR experiences.
Best Non-Fiction Book: Paranoia in Hollywood
The Best Non-Fiction Book award went to Paranoia in Hollywood by Jan Jekal. The book looks at the McCarthy era in Hollywood and shows how questions of political pressure, solidarity and exclusion still feel surprisingly current today. The jury especially praised its nuance and "sensitivity to ambivalence." (Watch the live-reading on Youtube)
Best Podcast: Stories from the Beauty Parlor
The award for Best Podcast went to Stories from the Beauty Parlor by Annamaria Olsson. Set in beauty salons around the world, the podcast tells stories of women whose daily lives are shaped by social and political conflict. The jury highlighted its mix of strong journalism and personal closeness, calling it "an invitation to feel and to learn." (Watch the live-podcast on Youtube)
Best VR Project: Less Than 5Gr of Saffron
In the Best VR Project category, the prize went to Less Than 5Gr of Saffron by Négar Motevalymeidanshah. The immersive work explores memory, loss and displacement among Iranian migrants through a visual world inspired by graphic novels. The jury highlighted the project's emotional strength and striking visual language: “The VR experience portrays both the universal story of memory - a Proustian Madeleine moment - and the personal suffering of fleeing by Iranian migrants.”
The Festival Continues Online Too
Doxumentale also goes beyond the cinema.
The award-winning VR project Less Than 5Gr of Saffron will tour Berlin cinemas from 5 June, readings by the nominated non-fiction authors are available on YouTube, and all podcasts remain available to listen to.
And if you miss a screening, there is still an online option: 22 films are available through the Doxumentale video-on-demand program until 30 June. Check our full program and get tickets now - the festival runs until Sunday.
