FotoDoc Festival 2025
Horizons
Our common home is on fire. Global warming has ceased to be a distant trend and has become an accelerating reality—one we must confront, compounded by the growing weight of denialism. In the year Brazil hosts COP 30, Festival FotoDoc proposes a debate on the urgency of actions capable of clarifying our horizons—both political and social.
Photography can denounce and also propose new paths. By capturing and exposing reality, it can help transform it. It can also serve as a means for disseminating positive and transformative practices.
In its fourth edition, Festival FotoDoc 2025 took place from November 4 to 8 at Panamericana School of Art and Design in São Paulo (SP), with exhibitions open until January 10, 2026. This year, the exhibition featuring the winners of the FotoDoc Photo Contest expanded to include 25 works.
The festival also presented the exhibitions The Sacrifice Zone, by Dutch photographer Eddo Hartmann, and Water: Brazil, by Érico Hiller.
Festival FotoDoc also hosted Workshops and Portfolio Reviews, contributing to the education of emerging photographers, as well as Artescambo, a blind exchange of photographic prints, drawings, and engravings.
FotoDoc Festival 2025 Opening Trailer
Images from the Opening of FotoDoc Festival 2025:
FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025
Photographer Márcio Vasconcelos was selected as the overall winner of the FotoDoc Photo Contest 2025 with the Portfolio Bruxos e Curandeiros (Witches and Healers). The project revisits the shared imaginary of an ancient Africa re-signified in Cuba and Brazil, through a dense, careful, and poetic visual record of Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Caribbean popular religions.
The Jury of the FotoDoc Photo Contest—composed of Érico Elias, Artistic Director of Festival FotoDoc; Elcio Ohnuma, Photography Coordinator at Panamericana School of Art and Design; as well as Érico Hiller, Ivana Debértolis, and Mônica Zarattini—met in person in São Paulo. The jurors evaluated 60 finalist works and selected 25 winners, all featured in the exhibition.
The other winners selected by the Jury were:
-
Portfolio: Natalija Gormalova and Nilmar Lage
-
Photo Essay: Ana Palacios, Araz Hadjian, Francisco Fresneda, Melissa Ianniello, Patrick Arley, Sabrina Moura, and Vinicius Xavier
-
Single Image: Adriana Muñoz, Bruna Braz, Bruno Corisco, Dinho Rocha, Fernanda Eisfeld, Irina Ebralidze, Javier Goded, Júlia Braga, Juliana Bizzo, Maria Eugenia Nabuco, Martin Rojas, Mi’saw Zàwàruhu, nilo2anjos, Noilton Pereira, and Rodolfo Paz
With submissions closing on July 13, the contest received a total of 3,597 entries, from photographers residing in all 27 Brazilian states as well as abroad. This edition stood out for a significant increase in international submissions, coming from 31 countries.
Talks (Encontros)
One of FotoDoc’s hallmarks is the Talks—unique and memorable presentations in which two renowned photographers project their work and discuss their practices, guided by an interviewer. The audience is invited to discover complementary, divergent, or even opposing perspectives placed in dialogue.
In the 2025 edition, 5 Talks were held, involving 15 guests. Each session lasted 1 hour and 30 minutes, took place in the Gallery with 40 free in-person seats, and was later made available online via YouTube.
Sacred Rituals, Earthly Challenges
Érico Hiller and Márcio Vasconcelos — moderated by Nilo Biazzetto Neto
An Invitation to Memory and a Legacy of Struggle and Affection
Emidio Luisi and Camila Gauditano — moderated by Mônica Zarattini
Warning Signs
Eddo Hartmann and Yasemin Bagci — moderated by Paulo Marcos de Mendonça Lima
In the Streets and Beyond Them
Gustavo Minas and Sebá Reis — moderated by Paulo Marcos de Mendonça Lima
Complicity and Creativity
Ana Carolina Fernandes and Paulo Vitale — moderated by Ivana Debértolis
Portfolio Reviews
Portfolio Reviews consist of individual evaluations of photographers’ work. Participants present 15 to 30 printed images to a qualified professional, who analyzes the material and offers feedback aimed at the project’s development and market positioning. Each review lasts 20 minutes.
This activity is conducted in person only and is carried out by curators, editors, and gallerists. The Portfolio Review table was set up in the Gallery space.
A total of 48 slots were offered at a cost of R$ 90 each, with 50% of the slots fully subsidized based on socio-economic criteria.
Portfolio reviewers involved: Marcelo Greco, Monica Maia, Nilo Biazzetto Neto, Paulo Marcos de Mendonça Lima, and Valdemir Cunha.
Workshops
FotoDoc Workshops aim to disseminate technical, aesthetic, and market knowledge, supporting both amateur and professional photographers interested in developing authorial projects.
Each workshop lasted 2.5 hours and focused on practical and theoretical knowledge related to photographic production and its commercial possibilities. A total of 6 Workshops were held, each with 30 in-person spots, priced at R$ 190, with 50% of the slots fully subsidized based on socio-economic criteria:
-
The Documentary Photography Journey, with Érico Hiller
-
The Archive as Raw Material – Creative Process and Colorization in Photography, with Fernando Banzi
-
The Fiction of the Real – Objectivity, Subjectivity, and the Construction of Portrait Essays, with Paulo Vitale
-
Visual Grammar – Technique in the Service of Photographic Narrative, with Eddo Hartmann
-
The City as a Mirror – Street Photography, with Gustavo Minas
-
Passion and Complicity in Photojournalism, with Ana Carolina Fernandes
Bookshop
Recognizing the importance of the book as a vehicle for disseminating photographic work, Festival FotoDoc 2025 created a large Bookshop space on the rooftop of Panamericana School of Art and Design.
Curated by Origem, featuring titles from various publishers, the Bookshop hosted a series of Author Talks, where photographers presented their photobooks and discussed creative processes and publishing strategies. The program featured 10 photographers:
11/05
Pablo Pinheiro – Vaqueiro de Gibão
Nilo Biazzetto Neto – Onde
Márcio Vasconcelos – Visões de um poema sujo
Érico Hiller – Água: Brasil
11/06
Maria Eugenia Nabuco – Conrado
Emidio Luisi – Imagens de um tempo
11/07
Paulo Vitale – Chefs
Seba Reis – Translúcida
11/08
Ana Carolina Fernandes – Prainha
Eddo Hartmann – The Sacrifice Zone
Artescambo
An activity dedicated to the blind exchange of photographic prints, illustrations, and engravings among festival participants, including artists invited by the festival and by Panamericana School.
Beyond being a social gathering, Artescambo encourages collecting practices and artistic exchange. It took place on Saturday, November 8, from 2 PM to 4 PM, on the school’s rooftop, marking the festival’s closing.
Participants could submit 1 to 3 prints and received the corresponding number of vouchers, which could be exchanged for works displayed on panels. Authorship was revealed only at the end.
Partnership with the Consulate General of the Netherlands
Thanks to the partnership with the Consulate General of the Netherlands, through the Cultural Connections program, Festival FotoDoc 2025 welcomed two guests from the Netherlands.
Photographer Eddo Hartmann presented his most recent work, The Sacrifice Zone, exhibited in the main gallery. He also participated in the Talks, Artescambo, Author Talks, and led the workshop Visual Grammar – Technique in the Service of Photographic Narrative, with all 30 free slots fully booked.
Curator Yasemin Bagci participated in the Talks, presenting her work at the FOAM Museum, Amsterdam.
Blue Moon Lounge
Grupo Heineken Brasil, sponsor of Festival FotoDoc 2025 through ProAC-ICMS, carried out a Blue Moon brand activation on the rooftop of Panamericana School, creating a lounge where beer was served to festival guests over 18 years old.
After each Talk, the audience was invited to gather at the Blue Moon Lounge for informal conversations about photography, accompanied by high-quality craft beer. The lounge also hosted the Bookshop and Artescambo, fostering an atmosphere of exchange and sociability.
Accessibility
Panamericana School of Art and Design offers wide spaces, ramps, and elevators, ensuring accessibility for wheelchair users and people with reduced mobility. Braille versions of the Festival and Exhibition presentation texts were produced and installed below the corresponding banners.
A guided tour of the exhibitions, open to the general public and led by Artistic Director Érico Elias, included two Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS) interpreters, who also promoted the event on their personal social networks.
FotoDoc 2025 — By the Numbers
-
20 Guests
-
5 Talks recorded and made available online
-
3 Free exhibitions, open until January 10, 2026
-
10 Author Talks at the Bookshop
-
48 Portfolio Reviews, with 50% free slots
-
180 workshop slots across 6 workshops, with 50% free slots
-
Artescambo – free artistic exchange activity
