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DOKUECHO
Best Documentary about Nature,
the Ecosystem of our Mother Earth
If Not You | Charlotte Weinreich, Rosa-Lena Lange | Germany | 0:33:23
Synopsis:
When Jannis learns that his father, Karl, plans to join the radical climate activist group The Last Generation in blocking highways, he is confronted with a familiar emotional dilemma. Ever since childhood, Karl's uncompromising political activism has cast a long shadow over their relationship. Having repeatedly pushed the boundaries of civil disobedience through environmental protests—and served several prison sentences as a result—Karl remains unwavering in his convictions.
Once again, Jannis finds himself assuming the role of the responsible son, worried about his father's choices and their consequences. As he struggles to care for Karl, he must also navigate his own search for identity and define his personal beliefs about climate activism and the future they both face.
Krakatoa | Carlos Casas | France, Poland, Spain, United Kingdom | 1:18:00
Synopsis:
The film follows the last day of Kesuma, a young Bagan fisherman who lives on a bamboo fishing platform near Krakatoa. After a night with no catch, he tends to his nets, unaware of the disaster about to strike. A massive eruption and tsunami destroy everything, leaving him stranded on a deserted island. Wandering in search of food and water, he traverses barren coasts, lush jungle, and encounters strange life. Seeking refuge in a cave, he descends into a hallucinatory journey through geological eras, lava rivers, and abstraction itself—until an unimaginable climax awaits.
Like Any Other Mortal | Maria Molina Peiró | Netherlands, Spain | 1:33:00
Synopsis:
On a distant planet, a robot explores the landscape in search of minerals and signs of life. Light-years away, in one of the oldest mines in the world, its inhabitants live surrounded by buried towns under mountains of mineral waste, while astrobiologists investigate a hidden biosphere that raises a disturbing evolutionary hypothesis. Weaving together documentary, flamenco and science fiction, Como Todo Mortal excavates the social, historical and speculative strata of a landscape between exploration and exploitation, between Andalusia and Mars.
Parasisi | Zaïde Bil, Sébastien Segers | Belgium, Suriname | 1:01:00
Synopsis:
Along the Lawa River, on the border between Suriname and French Guiana, the Wayana people live amid a landscape shaped by ancestral history and ongoing outside intrusion. Parasisi—named after the Wayana word for "parasite" or "intruder"—offers a quiet, lyrical portrait of a community confronting the lasting impact of colonial extraction. From illegal gold mining that poisons the river with mercury to missionary influence and imposed medical systems, the film reveals how external forces continue to reshape Indigenous life, identity, and the fragile balance between tradition and survival.
Saury Seaweed: Whisper of the Sea | June-ho Lee | South Korea | 0:45:05
Synopsis:
Honored with South Korea’s equivalent to the Pulitzer and Peabody Awards—the 17th Korea Broadcasting Journalist Grand Prize—this work was newly born as a cinematic piece for film audiences worldwide. It is not a predictable ecological documentary; it is a geopolitical underwater thriller. It begins with a chilling absence and escalates into a relentless 200-kilometer underwater manhunt. Pushing to the heavily armed edge of the DMZ, it captures the sole visual testament of a dying mythic heritage—a climate refugee trapped by an impassable border—delivering a raw and undeniable cinematic experience.
The Berm | Agustin Dominguez Cordero | Spain | 1:30:00
Synopsis:
La Berma tells the story of Yauguiha Mohamed Embarec, a young Sahrawi refugee who clears landmines along the world's longest active military barrier. Stretching 2,720 kilometers and concealing more than 10 million mines, it is the most heavily mined region on Earth.
Our Journey with Gray Whales | Natalia Sokol | Russian Federation | 0:26:43
Synopsis:
Today, only two known populations of gray whales remain in the world. One of them, the Okhotsk–Korean population, migrates each summer to feed in the shallow waters off the northeastern coast of Sakhalin Island. Once driven to the brink of extinction by commercial whaling, this population is now protected through conservation efforts. To help ensure its survival, the gray whale is included in the Red Data Book of Russia as a protected species.
Wisdom of Gunung Sewu | Ira Setiawati | Indonesia | 0:51:37
Synopsis:
"Humans are not masters of nature but integral parts of a web of interdependence."
Set in the UNESCO Gunung Sewu Geopark on the southern coast of Java, the film explores a community whose daily life is deeply intertwined with nature. Through farming, rituals, songs, and oral traditions, it reveals a living cosmology in which humans are part of an interconnected world rather than its masters.
As tourism, mining, and environmental change gradually transform the landscape, long-standing relationships between people, the land, and sacred places begin to shift. Rich in sound, silence, and observation, the film invites viewers to experience an enduring ecological wisdom and reflect on the fragile balance between cultural heritage and modern development.
Three Sisters | Lolita Ismailova | Russian Federation | 0:26:10
Synopsis:
Centuries have passed, yet the Udege people remain children of the forest, believing that bears and Amur tigers are their mythological ancestors. This film offers an intimate glimpse into the simple yet profoundly rich lives of the Udege communities living in the most remote reaches of the Far Eastern taiga.
The film's heroines are women well into their sixties, but in spirit they remain playful girls. Despite the hardships of life in the wilderness, they have preserved a youthful heart, an enduring love of life, and the rare ability to find joy in the smallest moments and happiness in life's simplest pleasures—qualities that have become all too rare in the modern world.
