The DX Festival, which takes places in Washington, DC, focuses this year on “what happens to a democracy when the record itself is under assault.”
The four-day event will showcase 25 feature-length and short-form documentaries that shine new narrative light on urgent topics in North America and far beyond.
Celebrating filmmakers who use original sources and investigative techniques to tell hidden stories, here are the shortlisted documentaries for the DIG Awards this year.
Each year the jury for the DIG Festival scours hundreds of submissions to find the best investigative films and podcasts from around the world.
In “Under Poisoned Skies,” an award-winning investigation from BBC News Arabic, reporters headed to southern Iraq to explore the impact of gas flaring on the environment and public health.
From a film investigating the attempted murder of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny to a stark cautionary tale about how climate change is playing out on the Arctic coast, see the Oscar-nominated documentary shortlists.
In 2022, many of GIJN’s original stories focused on reporting techniques relevant to global threats that grew or emerged this year — including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, democratic decline, growth of far-right populism, the challenge of accountability journalism in the Arabian Gulf, abuse of migrants and minorities, and the exiling, assault, and legal harassment of independent media.
Films that captured ‘the death of democracy’ headlined the 2022 Double Exposure documentary festival in the US. In a parallel symposium, investigative reporters and directors stressed the importance of visual storytelling to describe the current, global erosion of democratic freedoms, and shared tips on how to capture this mass theft of human rights.
From a one-hour French documentary about the Russian Wagner group of mercenary fighters to a short film about the final, desperate phone calls of a Tunisian president facing an uprising, many of the winning entries from this year’s DIG festival focus on exposing stories about the powerful and what happens behind closed doors.
The 2022 Academy Award nominees for Best Documentary explore a range of global topics, including a forgotten celebration of US Black cultural history, the long-term psychic toll refugees can suffer from human trafficking, and an in-depth look at a groundbreaking investigative journalism project.
In 2001 GIJN was born, as investigative journalists from around the globe met for the very first time to share ideas, tips, and best practices to strengthen their reporting in a world where journalism was increasingly under threat.
Today the threat has multiplied, and at GIJN we find ourselves under the same pressures as our member organizations. Most urgently: available funding for investigative journalism has been impacted as some longtime funders who supported journalism in the past are no longer doing so or have closed. Yet our work continues, more important than ever before.
GIJN serves as the global hub for the world’s investigative reporters. Our core mission is to support and strengthen investigative journalism—with special attention to those from repressive regimes and marginalized communities.
We are embarking on our first-ever campaign initiative to help us expand our revenue by the end of the year through individual donors. If you have ever joined one of our free webinars, used one of our free resources, learned a new skill thanks to a GIJN training, or simply believe that press freedom is essential to civil society, we ask you to show your support for GIJN’s work with a donation of your choosing. Called “Friends of GIJN,” this campaign includes a more personalized experience, starting in 2027, for individuals who answer the call to join with us during this unprecedented time.
Truth and democracy are under attack around the world. You can fight back by helping GIJN support investigative journalists with free access to the latest tools and techniques — so they can foster justice and hold accountable those who abuse the public trust.
With a staff based in 24 countries, GIJN works in a dozen languages each day, linking together the world’s most enterprising journalists, offering state-of-the-art training, webinars, tip sheets, and a Help Desk that responds to 2,000+ requests for assistance each year. More than 84% of GIJN’s operating budget goes directly to our program work.
Please make a gift today to support journalists on the front lines of the fight for accountability and human rights.
