ABOUT BKK DOC

Bangkok International Documentary Awards (BKK DOC) is the documentary international award competition and film festival based in Bangkok, Thailand.

BKK DOC is the first ever documentary international award competition organized in Thailand with a worldwide reach.

Created during the first year of the Pandemic by Stephane Lambert, Producer and founding member of the Thai Documentary Filmmakers Association, and also founder and organizer of Asian Side of the Doc Bangkok, the first ever professional trade show for documentary professional held in Bangkok, BKK DOC brings light to the Asian documentary scene in general and the thai documentary filmmakers in particular. 

ASIAN SIDE OF THE DOC 2016 -> 300 documentary professionals in Bangkok Main partner:    MCOT, Sunny Side of the Doc, EU Media Creative Fund   
Best asian project « The Six » directed by Arthur Jones
Best asean project « Hope Frozen » directed by Pailin Wedel

BKK DOC 2020 -> 400 films in competition from 20 Countries
Main partner: Goethe-Institut, Wishtrend Thailand
Best feature documentary: « Be Natural » produced by Jodie Foster
Best Thai documentary: « Floating Village Asylum » by Preecha Srisuwan

BKK DOC 2021 -> 140 judges from 20 Countries
Main partner: Goethe-Institut, Alliance Française, Wishtrend Thailand
Best feature documentary: « The Six » produced by James Cameron
Best Thai documentary: « Hornbill Lady » by Yupa Petcharit

Over the first two years, BKK DOC gathered support from professionals from Asia and other parts of the world:

Centre for Assistance & Development of Movie Talents (TPD) / Vietnam Indocs / Indonesia
CNEX / Taiwan
Film Development Council of The Philippines / Philippines
Cambodia Film Commission (CFC) / Cambodia
Ananda Intellectual Property / Thailand
Epidemic Sound / Thailand
Goethe-Institut / Thailand
Alliance Française de Bangkok / Thailand
Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand / Thailand
Thailand Documentary Filmmakers Trade Association (TDFA) / Thailand
Thailand Film Office / Thailand
Archive Valley / France
DocRoads / Grece
CoPro / Israel
Filmfestivals.com / France
Filmdoo / UK
Doc'NRoll /UK
Filmocracy.com / USA
Viddsee / Singapore

BKK DOC is first of all an award competition running from January to June.

We commit to bring the documentaries submitted to the eyes of decision makers and professionals, to advertise the film nominated to a wider exposure and the award winners to the attention of a large audience in Thailand and around.

Film submitted online are, screened and judged by the members of the International Jury (140 from 20 countries). They are Documentary aficionados, handpicked by Stephane for the diversities for their background, careers, current activities in order to provide the competition with a wide array of opinions and points of view on the films in competition. They are actors, directors, producers, distributors, journalists...


The Official Selection is announced live online on social medias and during a Press Conference in October.


Each Award categories features 2 to 5 nominees.

Award Winners are revealed in November during a Special event in Bangkok with professionals, journalists, celebrities and also streamed live on social medias.


The Festival takes place physically in Bangkok mid-December and during the whole of December online.


It features the Award winning films, the documentaries nominated to the Official Selection, Q&A with the Filmmakers, Opening and Closing screening events.


Currently the physical Festival is hosted by the Goethe-Institut, the Alliance Française and the Foreign Correspondant Club of Thailand for a series of screening and Q&As.

The online Festival is available from our streaming partner. FilmDoo.com in 2020, filmocracy.com in 2021

After each screenings, the filmmakers are participating to a lively Q&A with the audience.

BKK DOC is also about education and opportunities.

Networking to create opportunities:

We organize networking events before and during the Festival binging together Filmmakers, Members of the International Jury, Partners. Due to the health crisis, the first two editions focused on online events.

Education to increase chances of success:

Thanks to the support of our Partners, we organize a series of webinars opened to filmmakers nominated to the official selections

-Music licensing 101 for Documentary filmmakers by Henrik Ahlgren, Epidemic Sound

-Online Distribution in Asia by Nikki Loke, Viddsee—VOD and other broadcasting options for Documentary films by Weerada Sucharitkul, FilmDoo

-Archive licensing 101 for Documentary filmmakers by Melanie Rozencwajg, Archive Valley

-The Art Of Pitching by George Kalomenopoulos, Doc Roads

-Using Archives for global audience and streaming platforms by Jhava Chikli, Archive Valley

-Why you need to be screened at Festivals by Bruno Chatelin, FilmFestivals.com

 A LOOK BACK AT BKK DOC 2020

For its first edition, BKK DOC registered almost 400 submissions in 15 categories from 49 Countries. The 40 documentaries Nominated to the Official selection were chosen thanks to a Jury of 62 documentaries professionals from 14 Countries.

The Official Selection was revealed on November 28th, 2020 at Paul Spurrier's Friese-Greene Club and streamed live on BKK DOC youtube page.

While the judges gathered online for an epic "virtual networking party",  BKK DOC partnered with ArchiveValley.com, EpidemicSound.com, Viddsee.com and Filmdoo.com and organized 4 webinars open exclusively to the 40 Filmmakers part of the Official Selection.

On December 17th, 2020, BKK DOC 2020 festivals gathered around 100 documentary enthousiastes at the Goethe-Institut Bangkok and announced the names of the winners of the first ever BKK DOC Documentary Awards.

STEPHANE LAMBERT, founder of the Bangkok International Documentary Awards (BKK DOC) and BKK DOC 2020 festival director welcomed the participants (plus hundred online viewers) and delivered an opening speech making a point on the importance of diversity of views and opinions and how documentaries contributes to a richer debate.

Mrs MAREN NIEMEYER, Director of the Goethe-Insitut opened the event with a speech celebrating Documentary and Cultural diversity in Thailand.

Mr ANAN WONGBENJARAT, the Director-General of the Department of Tourism under Ministry of Tourism & Sport of Thailand was offered an original Print autographed, signed and numbered 20/20 by Stephff, the artist who design "BKK DOC Thai Dancer Award"

Thai Filmmaker Mr PREECHA SRISUWAN was on stage and receive the BKK DOC 2020 Best Thai Documentary Award for his Documentary "Floating Village Asylum".

The Award was offered by Mr PISET CHIYASAK, former President of Thai National Broadcaster MCOT and member of the Board of the The Thai National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents (MPC). He was also offered an original Print autographed, signed and numbered 01/20 by Stephff, the artist who designed "BKK DOC Thai Dancer Award".

Early 2021, BKK DOC brought some of the awarded filmmakers to the prestigious Foreign Correspondant Club of Thailand (FCCT) for "Beyond the Docs" a series of screening with Q&A.