7. Midnight Traveler (Hassan Fazili, Afghanistan)
What makes “Midnight Traveler” stand out is its approach towards a subject that has been presented a number of times since 2015: forced immigration due to war. However, Fazili's effort does not focus on the dramatic aspect of his situation, but instead functions as a kind of home video of a family that struggles, but also knows how to laugh and enjoy the few good moments they experience in their travel. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
6. Finding Yingying (Jiayan “Jenny” Shi)
“Finding Yingying” is quite an impactful documentary about the abduction and murder of Yingying Chang. Emotional gripping and quite disturbing at times, Jiayan “Jenny” Shi has managed to make a film about the repercussions of the case on Yingying's family as well as the effect it had on the image of the USA for many students coming from Asia to start an academic career abroad. (Rouven Linnarz)
5. 76 Days (Hao Wu, Weixi Chen and Anonymous)
Featuring unprecedented access to the hospitals that first had to deal with the virus on an international level, “76 Days” is one of the most significant documentaries of the year, particularly for the bravery of its directors in their effort to present the truth. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
4. Reiwa Uprising (Kazuo Hara)
Kazuo Hara follows Ayumi Yasutomi, a cross-dressing Tokyo University professor, as she embarks on a campaign for the Diet's Upper House, as member of the Reiwa Shinshengumi, a political party led by Taro Yamamoto, a former actor whose 63 credits include “Battle Royale” and “Izo”… If you have four and a half hours to spend and you enjoy sociopolitical documentaries, do yourselves a favor and watch “Reiwa Uprising”, it is a truly great documentary. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
3. I: Documentary of the Journalist (Tatsuya Mori)
Tatsuya Mori discovered a more than interesting subject in the face of Isoko Mochizuki, which also allowed him to deal with a number of sociopolitical topics that torment Japanese society. The result is impressive in one of the best documentaries of the year. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
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2. A Thousand Cuts (Ramona S. Diaz, Philippines)
The documentary unfolds in five axes, all of which are presented through Ressa's life, with the approach highlighting the view of the insider in the best fashion. The first axis revolves around the practices of Duterte since he was a mayor, including both the war on drugs and the spreading of fake news and his overall media campaign, which brings us to the second and essentially most central axis. The fact that Duterte has appointed pop star Mocha Uson as Assistant Secretary of the Presidential Communications Operations Office, highlights his approach in that regard as much as how a regime can use pop-culture to spread its message. The fact that Uson is frequently spreading fake news also adds to that comment, while the whole concept, and particularly how libel is communicated through the internet and how “real” journalists are having a really hard time communicating the actual truth through all the lies, is as shocking as the cruel pragmatism of Duterte… “A Thousand Cuts” is a great documentary that analyzes all its themes in the most thorough fashion, and definitely one of the best of the year. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
1. Khatemeh (Hadi Zarei, Mehdi Zarei, Iran)
The concept of “real-life exceeds fantasy” finds one of its apogees here, since it is doubtful any scriptwriter could come up with a story as cinematic as the actual one we see unfolding in front of our eyes. Taking things from the fact that Khatemeh's family wants to marry her to a man who was the cause of her sister's suicide, and continuing to the circumstances of the actual marriage (Khatemeh states that her husband had forceful sex with her 10 times in her wedding night while he insists it was just 5, among other extreme situations) a truly nightmarish setting begins to appear to the viewer. (Panos Kotzathanasis)
