L'Œil d'or
Cannes Film Festival documentary film award
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L'Œil d'or ([lœj dɔʁ], "The Golden Eye") is a documentary film award created in 2015. It is awarded to the best documentary presented in one of the sections of the Cannes Film Festival (Official Selection, Directors' Fortnight, Critics' Week, and Acid).[1]
- Civil Society of Multimedia Authors
- Institut national de l'audiovisuel
- Cannes Film Festival
| L'Œil d'or | |
|---|---|
2026 recipient: Pegah Ahangarani | |
| Awarded for | Best Documentary |
| Location | Cannes |
| Country | France |
| Presented by |
|
| First award | 2015 |
| Currently held by | Pegah Ahangarani for Rehearsals for a Revolution (2026) |
| Website | https://loeildor.scam.fr/en/ |
History







Initiated by the Civil Society of Multimedia Authors (SCAM - Société Civile des Auteurs Multimédia) and its president Julie Bertuccelli, the prize is awarded in partnership with the Institut national de l'audiovisuel with the support of Cannes Film Festival and its General Delegate Thierry Frémaux.[2] Since 2017, the Audiens Cultural Personal Joint Group has also been a partner.[3]
The €5,000 prize is presented to the director of the winning film at an official ceremony in Cannes.[4] It was presented for the first time on 23 May 2015 at the Palais des Festivals.[4]
The jury is usually headed by renowned documentary filmmakers, which generally also award a special mention to the runner-up film.
Marcia Tambutti Allende's Beyond My Grandfather Allende, selected to the Directors' Fortnight section, was the first winner at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
Jury Presidents
| Year | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Rithy Panh | Cambodia |
| 2016 | Gianfranco Rosi | Italy |
| 2017 | Sandrine Bonnaire | France |
| 2018 | Emmanuel Finkiel | |
| 2019 | Yolande Zauberman | |
| 2021 | Ezra Edelman | United States |
| 2022 | Agnieszka Holland | Poland |
| 2023 | Kirsten Johnson | United States |
| 2024 | Nicolas Philibert | France |
| 2025 | Julie Gayet | |
| 2026 | Mstyslav Chernov | Ukraine |
Winners
2010s
| Year | English Title | Original Title | Director(s) | Country of Production | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Beyond My Grandfather Allende | Allende, mi abuelo Allende | Marcia Tambutti Allende | Chile, Mexico | [5][6] |
| 2016 | Cinema Novo | Eryk Rocha | Brazil | [7] | |
| 2017 | Faces Places | Visages Villages | Agnès Varda and JR | France | [8] |
| 2018 | Samouni Road | La strada dei Samouni | Stefano Savona | Italy | [9] |
| 2019 | For Sama | من أجل سما | Waad Al-Kateab and Edward Watts | Syria, United Kingdom | [10] |
| The Cordillera of Dreams | La Cordillère des songes | Patricio Guzmán | France, Chile | ||
2020s
| Year | English Title | Original Title | Director(s) | Country of Production | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | A Night of Knowing Nothing | Payal Kapadia | India | [11] | |
| 2022 | All That Breathes | Shaunak Sen | India | [12] | |
| 2023 | Four Daughters | بنات ألفة | Kaouther Ben Hania | Tunisia, France, Germany | [13] |
| The Mother of All Lies | كذب أبيض | Asmae El Moudir | Morocco, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia | ||
| 2024 | Ernest Cole: Lost and Found | Raoul Peck | France, United States | [14] | |
| The Brink of Dreams | رفعت عيني للسما | Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir | Egypt, France, Denmark, Qatar, Saudi Arabia | ||
| 2025 | Imago | Déni Oumar Pitsaev | France, Belgium | [15] | |
| 2026 | Rehearsals for a Revolution | خاطرات ایران | Pegah Ahangarani | Iran, Czech Republic, Spain | [16] |
Special Mention
In addition to the main winners of L'Œil d'or, some films have received a special mention:
| Year | English Title | Original title | Director(s) | Country of Production | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Ingrid Bergman: In Her Own Words | Jag är Ingrid | Stig Björkman | Sweden | [5][6] |
| 2016 | The Cinema Travellers | Shirley Abraham and Amit Madheshiya | India | [7] | |
| 2017 | Makala | Emmanuel Gras | France | [8] | |
| 2018 | Libre | Michel Toesca | [9] | ||
| The Eyes of Orson Welles | Mark Cousins | United Kingdom | |||
| 2025 | The Six Billion Dollar Man | Eugene Jarecki | United States, Germany, France | [15] | |
| 2026 | Tin Castle | Alexander Murphy | Ireland, France | [16] | |