The Stefan Jarl International Documentary Award is Tempo Documentary Festival’s prestigious competition category for international feature-length documentaries. This year, eight distinctive films from around the world will compete, all having their Swedish premieres during the festival week, 2–8 March.
The winner of the Stefan Jarl International Documentary Award will be announced at the festival’s closing gala on 7 March. The director of the winning film will receive a prize of EUR 3,000. The competition is organised with the support of the Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation.
The Nominated Films Are:
A Fox Under a Pink Moon
Mehrdad Oskouei / 1 hr 17 min / Iran, France, United Kingdom, USA, Denmark / 2025 / Swedish Premiere
Sixteen-year-old Soraya is an Afghan artist who has spent five years trying to leave Iran and reach Europe. Through drawings, sculptures, and mobile phone footage, she depicts her attempts to escape, a life marked by violence, and an unyielding determination to shape her own future. The film places us at the centre of her reality—in the life-threatening flight, the prolonged waiting, and the act of creation, where art becomes a form of existential resistance. Winner of the Best Documentary Award at IDFA.
Better Go Mad in the Wild
Miro Remo / 1 hr 24 min / Czech Republic, Slovakia / 2025 / Swedish Premiere
On a weather-beaten farm in the Šumava Mountains live twin brothers František and Ondřej, seemingly outside of time and place. They converse with their bull, let their beards grow, and drink one rum too many. With a lightly absurd tone, the film portrays their quixotic dreams, everyday squabbles, and a way of life that defies contemporary norms. A Karlovy Vary award winner that balances observation and poetry.
How Deep Is Your Love
Eleanor Mortimer / 1 hr 41 min / 2025 / United Kingdom / Swedish Premiere
Twelve days from the nearest land, an expedition vessel travels toward the Clarion–Clipperton Zone, one of the least explored areas on Earth. The film follows marine biologists as they map life at extreme depths, while grappling with the question of whether their presence risks harming what they seek to protect. A visually hypnotic and existential journey straight into the planet’s unknown heart.
Kabul Between Prayers
Aboozar Amini / 1 hr 42 min / 2025 / Netherlands, Belgium / Swedish Premiere
On a hill overlooking Kabul, 23-year-old Taliban fighter Samin lays down his rifle to pray. In his home villages, younger brothers are growing up—still children, yet already drawn into the same world. With a direct and observational gaze, the film takes us deep into the everyday realities of radicalisation, in an Afghanistan where religion, violence, and innocence coexist in the same breath.
My Boyfriend el Fascista
Matthias Lintner / 1 hr 35 min / 2025 / Italy / Swedish Premiere
The director films his boyfriend Sadiel in the Italian Alps. They live a seemingly idyllic life, but political tensions grow as Sadiel becomes radicalised and begins campaigning for right-wing populism. A portrait of love, ideological fractures, and what happens when politics enters the most intimate of spaces.
After the screening on 4 March, Cinema Queer will host a bar takeover at Snövit’s basement.
Seeds
Brittany Shyne / 2 hr 03 min / 2025 / USA / Swedish Premiere
In monochrome, timeless images, Seeds portrays life among Black farmers in the American South. Decades pass, generations are born and die, while the struggle for land and rights continues after a century of systemic oppression. The film was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
Special Operation
Oleksiy Radynski / 1 hr 05 min / 2025 / Ukraine, Lithuania / Swedish Premiere
When Russian troops take control of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the occupation is documented by surveillance cameras. Using this material, the film opens a unique window onto the everyday reality of war—soldiers, workers, and a landscape charged with both historical trauma and immediate danger.
To the West, in Zapata
David Bim / 1 hr 15 min / 2025 / Cuba / Swedish Premiere
In the shadow of the pandemic, the film follows a man struggling for his family’s survival in Cuba’s swamp regions. Through hypnotic black-and-white imagery, it depicts labour, body, and nature in a life lived on the margins. A quiet yet deeply human story, where dignity and endurance shine through every movement.
The screening takes place in collaboration with Instituto Cervantes.
All nominated films will be screened during Tempo Documentary Festival, 2–8 March, in Stockholm. A selection of the festival programme will also be available digitally on Draken Film.
