• Exhibition of Documentaries

In the running for the Jean-Loup Passek Award. MDOC will select documentaries that reflect the author’s point of view on social, individual and cultural issues related with identity, memory and border.

• Jean-loup Passek Award
for best film

The Official Jury, which in 2021 will assign a trophy plus a monetary prize to the winners::
− Best international feature film – 3000 Euros;
− Best international short or medium-length film – 1500 Euros;
− Best Portuguese documentary (Portuguese production / direction) – 1000 Euros.

• D. Quixote Award

Awarded by the Jury of the International Federation of Film Clubs. The Don Quixote Prize from the IFFS – International Federation of Film Clubs consists of a diploma plus the worldwide promotion of the winning film throughout the network of film clubs.

• Jean-loup Passek Award
for best film poster

Promoted by the Melgaço Museum of Cinema– Jean-Loup Passek and MDOC – Melgaço International Documentary Festival. The award will be attributed to an original poster created to promote a documentary, animation or fictional film with Portuguese or Galician production and is worth 2,000 Euros (two thousand Euros), assigned to the winning designer or creative team. The Jury of the Jean-Loup Passek Award for best film poster will be nominated by the MDOC organization committee and consists of three renowned personalities linked to design, cinema and communication.

• Off Screen summer course

A meeting for reflection, debate and development of research and creative practices in the fields of Cinema, Social Sciences, Arts and Communication Sciences.
The Summer Course 2021 focuses on the general theme of the Melgaço International Documentary Festival - Identity, Memory and Border and addresses issues of cinema and Visual Anthropology from research projects and audiovisual production and digital narratives. It also intends to articulate and bring together creative experiences from diverse backgrounds – filmmakers, scientific and artistic associations, university researchers and cultural producers, different countries and continents.
The Summer Course is coordinated by José da Silva Ribeiro and is an initiative of AO NORTE, through its Group of Film Studies and Digital Narratives in collaboration with the Municipality of Melgaço.

• Frontal Shot Film and Photography Residencies

Residencies that produce documentaries and photographic projects about the region in each edition of the Festival. Its main objectives are the promotion of documentary film and the emergence of new technical and artistic teams; and contribute to an audiovisual archive about Melgaço and its territory, whilst providing the Memória e Fronteira Museum with films about the region’s intangible heritage.
Frontal Shot is addressed to all those who have recently completed their education or final-year students attending Higher Education Film and Audiovisual Schools.
Pedro Sena Nunes is the director / tutor with a long professional and pedagogical experience, who will guide the directing of documentaries, coordinate the planning of tasks and provide a systematic reflection on the work produced on a daily basis. These processes will be supported by a technical and operational team from the AO NORTE Association.

• Who Are We Here?

Is a project that interrogates the geographic space and local society, this year dedicated to the Union of Parishes of Castro Laboreiro and Lamas de Mouro, in the municipality of Melgaço.
The project’s visibility will use the following resources:

• Audiovisual record – Spoken Photographies
• An exhibition of documentary photography, to be inaugurated at Casa da Cultura in Melgaço during MDOC – Melgaço International Documentary Festival
• A catalog on the documentary photography exhibition
• The collection and digitalization of photographs from family albums of inhabitants of Castro Laboreiro and Lamas de Mouro
• A photography exhibition based on family albums, opening in the parishes of Castro Laboreiro and Lamas de Mouro
• A publication about all work undertaken in the project. Produced by AO NORTE, this project will be coordinated by Álvaro Domingues, executive produced by Rui Ramos and will have the collaboration of Albertino Gonçalves, Carlos Eduardo Viana, Daniel Maciel, Miguel Arieira, Daniel Deira and João Gigante.