The impressive growth of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Film Festival in recent years has been recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. MDAG has been included in the prestigious list of Oscar® Qualifying Festivals in the category of Best Documentary Feature! This is a huge achievement for the entire team, as this exclusive list has remained barely unchanged for decades and includes only the most important and largest film events, such as Berlinale and the Cannes Film Festival. Millennium Docs Against Gravity, which has grown to become the second-largest documentary film festival in Europe, has gained significance due to its scale and program, becoming a key venue for world and international premieres, as well as a starting point for films on their way to major awards. This recognition has been reflected in the letters of recommendation from experts.
MDAG is also a founding member of Doc Alliance, a federation of seven European documentary film festivals, and a member of the European Film Academy. The opportunity to pave the way for a winning film to the Oscars® is a crowning achievement of the festival’s 21-year history.
MDAG Paves the Way to the Oscars®
From the 22nd edition in 2025, the Grand Prix – Bank Millennium Award winner will have a clear path to the Oscars®, meaning it will no longer need to fulfill the additional conditions required to compete for the world’s most prestigious film award (all requirements are available here: https://www.oscars.org/oscars/rules-eligibility). According to the rules set by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, only films that have had a continuous 7-day distribution in the U.S. (meeting several additional conditions), titles nominated by their countries in the Best International Feature Film category, or those works that have won at one of the qualifying festivals are eligible for the award. As MDAG is now on this list, the prestige and importance of the festival’s main prize has significantly increased.
“World-Class Program”
The path to such a great honor—being on the list of Oscar® Qualifying Festivals—was made by many thoughtful actions taken by the MDAG team. Over the years, the festival has hosted the Polish, European, and international premieres of many films that later received Oscar® nominations, such as Jonas Poher Rasmussen's Flee in 2021. The director wrote the following in his letter of recommendation: “When I follow the programme of the festival I can see an incredible plethora of films – many of which are only starting their festival adventure, but many of which end up being shortlisted for the most prestigious awards and for the ones given by the Academy. I was impressed not only by the artistic level of the festival but also the fact that the programming focused on gender representation and equality and tackled a multitude of social issues”.
In 2024, the festival hosted the international premiere of Sugarcane (directed by Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie), which had its world premiere at Sundance, where it won the award for best directing. It is currently among the top Oscar® predictions by major film outlets such as Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and IndieWire.
Academy Members on MDAG
In recent years, the jury of the Millennium Docs Against Gravity Main Competition has included many Oscar® winners or nominees. Among them is Polish Oscar® winner Paweł Pawlikowski, who celebrates the festival's success: "On a personal note, as a Polish filmmaker I am thrilled that my country has produced such a stylish, confident, well-judged and “cool” film event and I would love to welcome in Warsaw other members of the Academy from around the world every year”.
The jury has also included American director David France, who praised the festival highly: "The program selections were world-class, the competition exciting, and the jury – both for Grand Prize and for other categories – was topshelf, comprised of leading figures from across Europe and North America. It is a stellar place to premiere any awards-worthy film”.
Oscar®-nominated producer Sigrid Dyekjær also recognizes the success of the bold strategy positioning documentary films as an attractive offering for mass audiences, which the festival has pursued for years: “MDAG became one of the biggest World's Documentary Film Festivals which surpassed the publicity and audience number of the feature film festivals in Poland”.
For more information about MDAG, including specific data on audience development, events, awards, year-round film cycles, publication numbers, and the festival's media reach and value, visit https://www.communication.mdag.pl/english-menu.
The 22nd edition of Millennium Docs Against Gravity will take place from May 9 to 18, 2025, in cinemas and online from May 20 to June 2 at mdag.pl! The festival’s title sponsor is Bank Millennium (https://www.bankmillennium.pl/).
