Posted: May 20
Spring 2025 has kicked off with an exciting wave of recognition for Java Films’ documentary catalogue, with numerous awards and official selections for our titles at film festivals across the world. Here are some of our Spring 2025 highlights:
Prolonging last year’s winning streak, Peter Porta’s The Click Trap (2024) continues to make waves, having been awarded Most Valuable Documentary of the Year at the Cinema For Peace Doves 2025 in Berlin. The film has accumulated international recognition at film festivals, with screenings at Canada’s ReFrame Film Festival and Salt Spring Festival,Frozen River Film Festival (USA), Voices, European Festival of Journalism & Media Literacy (Croatia), and Czech Republic’s AFO International Festival of Science Documentary Films.
Our slate of films exploring digital threats and the misuse of A.I. has also garnered critical attention. At New Zealand’s International Fraud Film Festival, three documentaries – Lie to Me (2024), Your Face is Ours (2023), and Hackers: Identity Theft (2023) – were officially selected. Meanwhile, at Italy’s Festival internazionale Segni della Notte 2025, two titles took home some of the highest honors: Main Award in the Documentary section: Lie to Me; Edward Snowden Award: Flash Wars (2023) by Daniel Andrew Wunderer. Wunderer’s chilling exposé on autonomous weapons was also screened at Frozen River (USA), Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (Greece), and Segni della Notte (Italy).
Elisa Jadot’s The Social Trap: 5 Women vs the Big 5 (2024), which covers a trial against major social media giants and the push to introduce legislation to protect users – especially children – from harmful online content and predators, continues to impress at festivals. The film received the Special Jury Mention (International Competition – more than 40 minutes) and Youth Jury Prize at FiGRA 2025 (France), as well as being nominated for both the Human Rights Award and Audience Award at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival.
Environmental documentaries addressing the worsening climate crisis have never been more pertinent. Duty of Care (2022) and The Forgotten Nuclear Victims (2023) have been selected for Taiwan’s Climate Tipping Point Festival (April–May 2025).
At Switzerland’s Festival du Film Vert, five of our titles were selected, including: Tax Wars (2024), Climate Emergency: When the Young Radicalize (2024), Turbulent Times: The Future of Aviation (2023), Indonesia: Sinking into Disaster (2024), and Outgrow the System (2023). Outgrow the System went on to win the Public Eye Award at the festival’s 20th-anniversary opening ceremony.
In the Jury’s words:
‘‘This [film] stood out from the crowd. We have awarded it because we feel it is particularly important to develop alternative economic development models capable of replacing the deadly capitalism we are aiming for – a system that seems to consider the planet’s resources to be infinite and perceives nature as an externality at the service of the economy. ‘Outgrow the system’ is a kind of toolbox. It gives a voice to researchers and economists who, far from being utopians or ideologues, reflect on other concepts and practices in the field of economic development.’’
Zelensky (2025) was screened at Cannes Film Festival on the day of the its opening ceremony, 13th May, as part of its ‘Ukraine Day’ in which three films ‘fo Ukraine’ were featured.
Yi Chen’s Dissidents (2024), which documents China’s pursuit of overseas critics and the fight for democracy, won Best Feature Documentary at the DC Independent Film Festival 2025 and was selected for Boston’s Global Cinema Film Festival.
Our titles also saw considerable success in France this season. At Les Lauriers de l’Audiovisuel, International Adoptions: A Global Scandal (2024) and Gaza: Trapped in Hell (2024) were both selected, while Haiti: The Iron Grip of the Gangs (2024) won the Laurier de l’Audiovisuel for Best Grand Reportage of 2025.
In Belgium, The Forbidden Call: Women Priests (2024) – which challenges misogyny in the Vatican – was honored with the Special Jury Award for Most Powerful Social Impact at the Millennium Festival 2025.
At FiGRA 2025, Java was well represented, with seven films screening this April. Among them, Israel: Ministers of Chaos (2024) was awarded the Arnaud Hamelin SATEV-FiGRA Award in the International Competition (more than 40 minutes) category.
We are incredibly proud of the achievements of the filmmakers we represent and the impact these powerful stories are having around the globe. Thank you to everyone involved in bringing these documentaries to life and to the audiences, juries, and festival programmers who continue to champion them. Here’s to more successes to come in 2025.