Set against the beautiful backdrop of Kalamata and multiple cities across the Peloponnese region in Greece, our festival is an annual celebration of the art of documentary filmmaking. For over a decade, we have been bringing together bold filmmakers, engaged audiences, and powerful stories from every corner of the globe.
We are thrilled to announce that submissions for our 12th edition are now officially OPEN!
PelDocFest is a documentary festival. The Main Event takes place in the city of Kalamata, Greece, while part of the program is screened in several cities all over the Peloponnese region. The overall attendance every year reaches approximately 12.000 to 13.000 viewers.
The festival includes Special Events, masterclasses, retrospectives, educational screenings, seminars and so on.
🌟 This Year's Central Theme: Human Relationships
In a world that is constantly shifting, how do we connect? This year, we are turning our lens towards "Human Relationships". We are looking for documentaries that explore the complex, fragile, and resilient bonds between people.
Whether it’s family dynamics, romantic love, deep friendships, social divides, the relationship between the individual and the community, or the ways we interact with "the other" – we want to see stories that capture the essence of human connection. We welcome diverse perspectives, intimate portraits, and cinematic explorations of what it means to relate to one another.
(Note: While we have a central theme, we also welcome outstanding documentaries on various topics including environment, human rights, history, and the arts).
🤝 Why Submit to Us?
A Festival Made for Filmmakers: We pride ourselves on our warm hospitality and the true sense of community we build during the festival days.
Engaged Audiences: Our screenings take place across a network of cities, ensuring your film meets a wide, diverse, and deeply passionate audience.
Meaningful Dialogues: We love Q&As, masterclasses, and open discussions. We don't just screen films; we talk about them.
A Cinematic Journey in Greece: Experience the unique culture, history, and cinematic vibe of the Peloponnese.
Submit your film today and join our documentary family. Let's explore the human connection, together!
1. Audience awards for the best greek documentary (feature, short)
2. Audience awards for the best international documentary (feature, short)
3. Equality Award, for the film that best promotes gender equality (positive alternative gender relations or gender identities models, elimination/subversion of gender stereotypes, identification and removal of gender-based discriminations, promotion of the rights and struggles of women). Bestowed by a 3 members international committee.
4. Special Award, for the best documentary of each year's tribute. (3 members jury committee)
5. Honourable Mentions
Previous awards:
The Winners of the 11th Peloponnese International Documentary Festival
Equality Award: The Lost Season by Mehdi Ghanavati
(Special Mentions: Marching in the Dark by Kinshuk Surjan and The Day Iceland Stood Still by Pamela Hogan)
Best Greek Documentary – Feature Length: ’48 | Resisting The Big Settlement by Team 218
(Special Mention: Delta by Vivian Papageorgiou)
Best Greek Documentary – Short Length: The Outlaws by Ionas Efthymiou
(Special Mentions: Between a Rock And a Hard Place by Thanos Lymperopoulos and Anaklisis by Giannis Pothos)
Solidarity Tribute Award: Free Leonard Peltier by Jesse Short Bull and David France
(Special Mentions: The Day Iceland Stood Still by Pamela Hogan and Thelisis by Petros Sofikitis and Thanasis Spyropoulos)
Social Awareness Award: Innocence by Guy Davidi
Environment Award: Sheep by Ruud De Keyser
(Special Mention: Off The Mark by Wera Uschakowa)
Best International Documentary – Short Length: Free Words: A Poet From Gaza by Abdullah Harun İlhan
Audience Awards
Greek Documentary – Feature Length: Edo Milane gia Latreia by Vyron Kritzas
International Documentary – Feature Length: Free Leonard Peltier by Jesse Short Bull and David France
Greek Documentary – Short Length: Beware Of The Southern Stars by Christos Karteris
International Documentary – Short Length: Free Words: A Poet From Gaza by Abdullah Harun İlhan
--The 10th Peloponnisos International Documentary festival was held from November 22nd to December 3rd 2024 in 13 different cities of the Peloponnese
AUDIENCE AWARDS
Best International Documentary: A Day, 365 Hours, by Eylem Kaftan.
Best Greek Documentary: Belkî Sibê, by Alexis Ntaloumis
The Equality Award " Alexandra Skordaki": “Children of the Mist” by Ha Le Diem
Honourable mention award to the documentary Smoke Sauna Sisterhood by director Anna Hints.
Best Greek Documentary Award to the film Grief - Those who remain, by Mirto Patsalidou and Maria Louka.
Honorable mention to the film “Panellinion” directed by Spyros Mantzavinos and Kostas Antarachas
«CITIES OF THE WORLD” TRIBUTE AWARD
The Invisible Contract by Luciana Kaplan &
Kaugere: A Place Where Nobody Enters, by Stephen Dupont&
Lagunaria, by Giovanni Pellegrini
-- Τhe 9th Peloponnisos International Documentary Festival was held October 25 - November 5, 2023, in 8 different cities of Peloponnese.
👫 Audience awards 👫
"Musicalement Autre ▪️ Director: Nicolas Moïssakis
"Women Fighters – Triple Liberation" ▪️ Director: Leonidas Vardaros
🎼 Best Music Documentary 🎼
"Improvisations in parallel mode" ▪️ Director: Petros Kolotouros
"Kapr Code" ▪️ Directors: Lucie Králová
👏 Equality Awards- Alexandra Skordaki👏
"Obsessive Hours at the Topos of Reality" ▪️ Director: Rea Wallden
"Destiny" ▪️ Director: Yaser Talebi
Special Mentions
"Sexual Healing" ▪️ Director: Elsbeth Fraanje
"Maka" ▪️ Director: Simone Brioni
-- The 8th Peloponnisos International Documentary Festival was held on April 8-17, 2022, in 12 different cities of Peloponnese.
The Awards:
Equality Award given by the Equality Committee:
Two equal first places:
I am Samuel by Peter Murimi
I am Belmaya by Sue Carpenter
✨ Special Mention: Ultraviolette and the blood-spitters gang by Robin Hunzinger
"Sub-Saharan Africa" Tribute Award given by a group of students from the University of Peloponnese:
The Golden Wolf of Balole by Chloé Aicha Boro
Audience's Choice Award - Best International Documentary:
I am Belmaya by Sue Carpenter
Audience Choice Award - Best Greek Documentary:
Through the Window Glass, Three Acts by Christos Barbas
-- The 7th Peloponnisos International Documentary Festival was held online (exceptionally, because of COVID-19) between 5-14 of the past February, while the physical event took place in open-air cinemas from the 18th of June till the 28th of July 2021, in 11 different cities of Peloponnese.
The Audience Award - Best International Documentary was split between:
Lost Lives, by Michael Hewitt & Dermot Lavery and Photographer of War, by Boris Benjamin Bertram
Jury Prize (Laura Cini, Director, Anne Kjersti Bjørn, Director, Panagiotis Evangelidis, Screenwriter / Director) for Best Equality Documentary:
First Prize: Judy versus Capitalism by Mike Hoolboom
Honourable Mention: Ninosca, by Peter Torbiörnsson
Student Award of the University of Peloponnese for the Best Documentary of the "Claiming Freedom" thematic tribute: Scars, by Agnieszka Zwiefka
Best Greek Documentary - "Sparta Award" was split between:
-The Music of Things by Menios Carayannis and
-The Fourth Character by Katerina Patroni
Honourable Mentions:
-1000 Square Meters of Time by Maro Anostopoulou
-The Weavers by Dimitris Koutsiampasakos
-Sundays by Alethea Avramis
For more information check our official site: https://www.peloponnisosdocfestival.com/en/
-- The 6th Peloponnisos International Documentary Festival was held from January 17th to January 27th 2020. The awards
Audience Award for the Best International Documentary
--- The Silence of Others / El Silencio de Otros ----
by Almudena Carracedo, Robert Bahar
Audience Award for the Best Greek Documentary
---- Happy Princes- Príncipes Felizes by Panos Deligiannis
The Awards of the Festival's Equality Committee. The Jury members Iara Lee, Robert Rombout and Stella Theodorakis, in films that highlight the issue of gender relations. The Jury saw the 14 films competing with great interest and appreciated their multifaced response to extremely difficult issues concerning humanity and undermining Equality and its legal order.
1. Maid in Hell (Why Slavery Series) by Søren Klovborg's
2. What colour is this world by Ralitza Dimitrova
Honourable mentions to two of the films
«Dancing with Monica» by Anja Dalhoff
«Hell and hope» by Amish Srivastava
In 1017 for best foreign documentary went to the documentary Ketermaya by Lucas Lejderzak and for best Greek documentary to “ The longest run” by Marianna Oikonomou.
in 2018 for best foreign documentary went to the documentary Canto a la vita by Nathalie Rossetti, Turi Finocchiaro and for best greek to «Thessaloniki 1917: the fire that gave birth to a city» by Gregory Vradarinos
In 2019 the audience award for best foreign documentary went to the film A woman captured by Bernadet Tuza Ritter and for best greek to "A tree remembers" by Constantinos Follas. The two awards by the Secretary of equality went to “I itsai Romni” by Evaggelia Goula (Greece) and “Belle de Nuit” by Marie-Eve de Grave ( France) and a special mention to “Punishment Island” by Laura Cini “(Italy).
2 special awards by the committee of the University students went to “Guerrilla Voices” by Sjoerd van Grootheest (Colombia) and “ Painting by Ioanna Neofytou (Greece)
