The Official Jury awards the City of Viana do Castelo Prize. It was established to recognize non-fiction cinema and to honor the city that hosts DOC[iN] – International Documentary Film Festival.
The DOC[iN] Official Jury awards the prize to the films' directors; it consists of a trophy and a cash prize distributed as follows:
Birgitte Stærmose is an internationally acclaimed Danish writer-director whose work spans award-winning short films, feature films and international television. Her feature films include Værelse 304, Darling, Camino and Afterwar. Afterwar, the result of a 15-year artistic collaboration with four young people she first encountered as children in postwar Kosovo, world-premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale in 2024 and has been awarded at international festivals. Over the past eight years, Stærmose has also worked internationally as lead director on drama series for HBO, Starz and Netflix. Stærmose is currently in the final stages of developing her next feature film, Sin, a fiction film she has written using the same unique interview process she developed for Afterwar, this time basing the script on a hidden history from her own family.
Irene Cardona was nominated for the Goya Award for Best New Director for the narrative feature Un novio para Yasmina (A Boyfriend for Yasmina), winner of three Silver Biznagas (Best Film, Audience Award, and Best Actress) at the Málaga Film Festival, the Fundación Borau Award for Best Debut Film at the Nantes Spanish Film Festival, and the Audience Award at the Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival, among others. The documentary Espelho meu (Mirror of Mine, 2011) is a collective work shot alongside three other female filmmakers from Brazil, Iran, and Mozambique, exploring the cultural construction of women's image. It won, among other accolades, the Best National Film Award at DOCUMENTAMADRID. She wrote and directed the short films Varada, La cigüeña, and Amigas íntimas, as well as a documentary series about the Spanish Civil War in Extremadura. Irene graduated in film directing from the International Film and Television School (EICTV) in Cuba, holds a degree in Audiovisual Communication from the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), and trained as an actress at the Estudio Corazza para el Actor. She is a member of the Spanish Film Academy and the Extremadura Film Academy, and a member of CIMA and DOCMA, where she currently serves as president.
Julian Etienne is a cultural organizer, film programmer, and producer dedicated to fostering diversity and independence in media. He co-lead the Climate Story Unit at Doc Society, where supports filmmakers & storytellers throughout their production and impact journeys. Since 2009, he has been involved in exhibition projects showcasing independent cinema across the United States, Mexico, and now Spain. From 2018 to 2020, he served as programmer and later programming co-director at Ambulante Documentary Film Festival, where he currently sits on its Advisory Board. In 2025, he co-founded Luz y Fuerza Iberoamericana, a micro-project supporting emerging documentarians across the Iberian peninsula and Latin America. He is a member of DAE and the Spanish Association of Documentary Cinema (DOCMA), where he serves on its board and its film series' programming team.
Rosalind Murphy is a media strategist, producer, and curator specializing in film, content strategy, immersive media, and creative storytelling. Formerly Head of Media and Event Strategy at Netflix Animation, she led global marketing initiatives, industry partnerships, and festival events. She also held executive engagement leadership roles at Microsoft, developing strategic communications and experiences for global audiences. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Culture Studies at Universidade Católica Portuguesa, where her research explores animation, cinematic futures, and immersive media. A former board member of New York Women in Film & Television, Rosalind is also a member of Women in Film Los Angeles and Women in Animation.
Sérgio Rizzo was born in São Paulo in 1965. With a degree in Journalism from the Methodista University of São Paulo (class of 1986), he completed his Master's degree in Arts/Cinema in 1994 at the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo, where he also earned his PhD in Audiovisual Media and Processes, defending his thesis in 2011. As a journalist, his career includes experience in magazine publishing houses (Ed. Abril, Ed. Segmento) and book publishers (Ed. Nova Cultural, Ed. Brasiliense), daily newspaper newsrooms (Folha de S. Paulo, A Gazeta Esportiva, Valor Econômico, O Globo), radio stations (Band News), TV channels (Arte 1), internet portals (UOL, Yahoo!), and corporate communications. A university professor since 1991, he has taught in the Communication departments at Methodista, the University of Mogi das Cruzes, Cásper Líbero College, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, and FAAP University Center.
