A Photographer Losing His Sight Turns the Camera on What Remains
Arnaud Alain's debut documentary 'The Hidden Face of the Earth' follows a photographer confronting progressive vision loss, premiering at the 76th Berlinale's Panorama Dokumente section on February 17.
Feb 16, 2026, 11:43 AM
On a winter afternoon in Paris, a man raises a camera to his eye and waits. The sounds of the street — footsteps, a passing scooter, a murmured conversation — tell him when to press the shutter. For Dimitri, a French photographer whose sight has been deteriorating for years, the act of taking a picture has become something closer to listening than looking. His story is the subject of The Hidden Face of the Earth (La Face cachée de la Terre), a 68-minute French documentary that will have its world premiere on Tuesday, February 17, in the Panorama Dokumente section of the 76th Berlin International Film Festival ‘The Hidden Face of the Earth’ Focuses on a Photographer Losing His Eyesight (Exclusive Berlin Trailer)hollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryPhotography and film interact and converge in The Hidden Face of the Earth (La Face cachée de la Terre), the feature documentary directorial debut of Arnaud Alain about a photographer losing his eyesight. Alain wrote and directed the film, which was produced by Mathilde Raczymow, and also handled the cinematography. The Hidden Face of the Earth world premieres on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlin International Film Festival..
The film is the feature directorial debut of Arnaud Alain, who also wrote the screenplay and served as cinematographer . Produced by Mathilde Raczymow of Les Films du Bilboquet, a Paris-based production company, the documentary follows Dimitri through the streets of Paris, New York, and other cities as he photographs friends, lovers, and strangers — all while confronting the knowledge that his remaining vision is finite ‘The Hidden Face of the Earth’ Focuses on a Photographer Losing His Eyesight (Exclusive Berlin Trailer)hollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryPhotography and film interact and converge in The Hidden Face of the Earth (La Face cachée de la Terre), the feature documentary directorial debut of Arnaud Alain about a photographer losing his eyesight. Alain wrote and directed the film, which was produced by Mathilde Raczymow, and also handled the cinematography. The Hidden Face of the Earth world premieres on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlin International Film Festival.. Outplay Films, the French sales agency, is handling international distribution ‘The Hidden Face of the Earth’ Focuses on a Photographer Losing His Eyesight (Exclusive Berlin Trailer)hollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryPhotography and film interact and converge in The Hidden Face of the Earth (La Face cachée de la Terre), the feature documentary directorial debut of Arnaud Alain about a photographer losing his eyesight. Alain wrote and directed the film, which was produced by Mathilde Raczymow, and also handled the cinematography. The Hidden Face of the Earth world premieres on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlin International Film Festival..
What makes the project unusual among documentary debut features is its double-layered structure. As Dimitri captures his subjects, Alain's film camera captures him. The result is a documentary about seeing and being seen, about the relationship between a photographer's gaze and a filmmaker's. "Dimitri has a unique way of capturing the world around him," Alain said in a director's statement released alongside an exclusive trailer . "He found in photography a language that allowed him to turn his gaze toward others" ‘The Hidden Face of the Earth’ Focuses on a Photographer Losing His Eyesight (Exclusive Berlin Trailer)hollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryPhotography and film interact and converge in The Hidden Face of the Earth (La Face cachée de la Terre), the feature documentary directorial debut of Arnaud Alain about a photographer losing his eyesight. Alain wrote and directed the film, which was produced by Mathilde Raczymow, and also handled the cinematography. The Hidden Face of the Earth world premieres on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlin International Film Festival.. Hidden behind his camera, Alain explained, Dimitri "feels at peace. His role as a photographer distances him from his visual impairment" ‘The Hidden Face of the Earth’ Focuses on a Photographer Losing His Eyesight (Exclusive Berlin Trailer)hollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryPhotography and film interact and converge in The Hidden Face of the Earth (La Face cachée de la Terre), the feature documentary directorial debut of Arnaud Alain about a photographer losing his eyesight. Alain wrote and directed the film, which was produced by Mathilde Raczymow, and also handled the cinematography. The Hidden Face of the Earth world premieres on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlin International Film Festival..
The film's emotional weight derives from its refusal to treat Dimitri's condition as a tragedy to be narrated from the outside. Instead, Alain embeds himself in Dimitri's daily routine, walking alongside him as he navigates both physical spaces and the shifting terrain of his own perception. Along the way, they encounter Pierre, a friend who lost his eyesight twenty years ago — a quiet reminder of what the future may hold THE HIDDEN FACE OF THE EARTH - Outplay Filmsoutplayfilms.com·UnverifiedDocumentary / 68 minutes / France / 2026 Dimitri loves photographing friends, strangers, lovers. Over the years, images have slipped away from his sight. Behind his camera, he gathers light and bodies, inviting me to gaze toward the hidden face of the Earth. Dimitri loves to photograph the people around him. But for years, images have been slipping away from his sight. He knows that one day, he will no longer see. He can’t take photos as he used to.. According to the official synopsis, Dimitri relies on ambient sound to know when the moment is right to press the shutter THE HIDDEN FACE OF THE EARTH - Outplay Filmsoutplayfilms.com·UnverifiedDocumentary / 68 minutes / France / 2026 Dimitri loves photographing friends, strangers, lovers. Over the years, images have slipped away from his sight. Behind his camera, he gathers light and bodies, inviting me to gaze toward the hidden face of the Earth. Dimitri loves to photograph the people around him. But for years, images have been slipping away from his sight. He knows that one day, he will no longer see. He can’t take photos as he used to.. It is a detail that reframes the entire practice of photography: not as a visual art alone, but as something that engages all the senses.
The collaborative dimension of the project extends beyond director and subject. Alain has described the creative process as a mutual exchange rather than a conventional documentary portrait. "Throughout the film, our images echo each other," he said. "Our imaginations intersect, our sensibilities meet and sometimes collide. Dimitri invites us to look at what we don't see, towards the hidden face of the Earth" ‘The Hidden Face of the Earth’ Focuses on a Photographer Losing His Eyesight (Exclusive Berlin Trailer)hollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryPhotography and film interact and converge in The Hidden Face of the Earth (La Face cachée de la Terre), the feature documentary directorial debut of Arnaud Alain about a photographer losing his eyesight. Alain wrote and directed the film, which was produced by Mathilde Raczymow, and also handled the cinematography. The Hidden Face of the Earth world premieres on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlin International Film Festival.. The title, then, is not merely poetic. It is a proposition: that the world contains layers of experience that sighted people routinely overlook, and that losing one's vision might paradoxically sharpen one's awareness of them.
The Panorama Dokumente section, which hosts the premiere, has long served as one of the Berlinale's key platforms for documentary cinema that pushes formal boundaries. This year's selection of twelve documentaries includes works addressing war, exile, artistic identity, and gender. Section head Michael Stütz has characterized the 2026 programme as one defined by contrast, noting that its films have the capacity to reshape how audiences perceive the world beyond the cinema. The strand's documentary offerings range widely: from Alisa Kovalenko and Marysia Nikitiuk's Traces, about Ukrainian women breaking their silence on wartime sexual violence, to Patric Chiha's A Russian Winter, about friends forced into exile by the Kremlin, to Pete Muller's Bucks Harbor, about boys grappling with rigid codes of masculinity in coastal Maine. Industry publications have highlighted The Hidden Face of the Earth among the strand's artist-focused selections, alongside portraits of American author Siri Hustvedt and Scottish Turner Prize winner Douglas Gordon.
The Berlinale's own press materials placed the film in the context of queer cinema, describing it alongside Viv Li's Two Mountains Weighing Down My Chest as a work that offers documentary insight into contemporary queer experience. This framing adds another dimension to the project: Dimitri's photographs of "the boys he meets" and "passing lovers," as Alain described them ‘The Hidden Face of the Earth’ Focuses on a Photographer Losing His Eyesight (Exclusive Berlin Trailer)hollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryPhotography and film interact and converge in The Hidden Face of the Earth (La Face cachée de la Terre), the feature documentary directorial debut of Arnaud Alain about a photographer losing his eyesight. Alain wrote and directed the film, which was produced by Mathilde Raczymow, and also handled the cinematography. The Hidden Face of the Earth world premieres on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlin International Film Festival., are not merely artistic exercises but records of intimacy and desire, captured by someone for whom the visual world is gradually receding. The film's premiere arrives during a year in which the Berlinale is also celebrating the 40th anniversary of the TEDDY AWARD, its longstanding prize for queer cinema.
Not everyone, however, will find the film's approach equally compelling. Documentary purists may question whether Alain's dual role as director and cinematographer creates a narcissistic feedback loop rather than genuine insight into his subject's experience. The 68-minute runtime is notably lean for a festival documentary ‘The Hidden Face of the Earth’ Focuses on a Photographer Losing His Eyesight (Exclusive Berlin Trailer)hollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryPhotography and film interact and converge in The Hidden Face of the Earth (La Face cachée de la Terre), the feature documentary directorial debut of Arnaud Alain about a photographer losing his eyesight. Alain wrote and directed the film, which was produced by Mathilde Raczymow, and also handled the cinematography. The Hidden Face of the Earth world premieres on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlin International Film Festival., and some critics of the personal-essay documentary form argue that such films prioritize aesthetic self-indulgence over substantive engagement with their subjects' lives. The question of whether artistic intimacy produces genuine revelation or merely beautiful images has dogged this subgenre for decades, from Chris Marker's Sans Soleil to more recent first-person documentaries that populate European festival sidebars.
There is also a broader question about representation that the film cannot entirely avoid. Films about disability — particularly those made by non-disabled filmmakers — have faced increasing scrutiny from disability rights advocates who argue that such projects too often aestheticize suffering rather than centering the perspectives of disabled individuals themselves. Alain's film appears to navigate this tension more carefully than most, given its collaborative structure and Dimitri's active role in shaping the narrative ‘The Hidden Face of the Earth’ Focuses on a Photographer Losing His Eyesight (Exclusive Berlin Trailer)hollywoodreporter.com·SecondaryPhotography and film interact and converge in The Hidden Face of the Earth (La Face cachée de la Terre), the feature documentary directorial debut of Arnaud Alain about a photographer losing his eyesight. Alain wrote and directed the film, which was produced by Mathilde Raczymow, and also handled the cinematography. The Hidden Face of the Earth world premieres on Tuesday, Feb. 17, in the Panorama Dokumente section of the Berlin International Film Festival.. But the absence of any public statement from Dimitri himself, at least in the promotional materials released so far, leaves open the question of how much creative control he exercised over the final product.
The 76th Berlinale runs from February 12 through February 22. The Panorama Audience Award, presented in cooperation with radioeins and rbb television, will be announced on the festival's final day at the Zoo Palast. Whether The Hidden Face of the Earth connects with audiences beyond the festival circuit may depend on the appetite of international distributors for a quiet, formally ambitious French documentary about vision and its absence — a subject that, in Alain's telling, turns out to be about far more than what the eye can see.
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Why This Topic
The world premiere of a debut documentary at the Berlinale's Panorama Dokumente section is a culturally significant event within the international film festival circuit. The film touches on multiple underreported themes — progressive vision loss, the intersection of disability and artistry, queer identity in documentary cinema, and the ethics of representation. The 76th Berlinale is one of the three major European A-list festivals, making its programming inherently newsworthy for culture coverage. This piece fills a gap in coverage of documentary cinema that mainstream outlets often overlook in favor of competition titles and celebrity-driven narratives.
Source Selection
Two cluster signals from The Hollywood Reporter inform this article: (1) the exclusive trailer premiere feature and (2) the exclusive clip feature, both by Georg Szalai, which together provide the only published director's statement from Arnaud Alain, detailed production information (producer Mathilde Raczymow, Les Films du Bilboquet, Outplay Films handling sales), the complete synopsis, and production specifications (68-minute runtime, French language). Additional contextual framing about the Panorama Dokumente section, other documentary selections, the TEDDY AWARD anniversary, and Michael Stütz's curatorial statement draws on publicly available Berlinale press materials and industry preview coverage, presented as editorial context rather than cited claims.
Editorial Decisions
This article covers the world premiere of Arnaud Alain's debut documentary at the 76th Berlinale. Primary sources are the two Hollywood Reporter features (trailer and clip exclusives by Georg Szalai). Contextual information about the Panorama Dokumente section, other selections, and the TEDDY AWARD anniversary draws on the Berlinale's published press materials and Screen Daily's preview coverage. Critical perspectives on the personal-essay documentary form and disability representation are included for balance.
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Sources
- 1.hollywoodreporter.comSecondary
- 2.outplayfilms.comUnverified
- 3.screendaily.comUnverified
- 4.hollywoodreporter.comSecondary
Editorial Reviews
1 approved · 0 rejectedPrevious Draft Feedback (1)
• depth_and_context scored 4/3 minimum: The piece gives useful background on the film, director, festival context and related works, and explains why the film matters (questions of perception, disability, queer framing). To improve to a 5, add more specifics: festival reactions, quotes from reviews or interviews, and concrete details about Dimitri’s history and photographic practice. • narrative_structure scored 4/3 minimum: The lede is evocative and the nut graf quickly establishes the story; the body follows a logical arc (film details, themes, context, critique) and ends with a festival-forward wrap. To reach excellent, tighten transitions and provide a stronger closing line or takeaway rather than a conditional note about distribution appetite. • filler_and_redundancy scored 4/3 minimum: Overall concise without obvious repetition; most paragraphs add new information or perspective. To eliminate the remaining mild redundancy, trim some sentences that rephrase the same thematic point (e.g., multiple lines about seeing/being seen) into a single, sharper passage. • language_and_clarity scored 4/3 minimum: Writing is evocative and clear, with careful use of labels (queer, disability) and supporting context; however, a few phrases lean toward generalization (e.g., 'documentary purists') — replace with specific critics or evidence to avoid vague labeling. Warnings: • [article_quality] perspective_diversity scored 3 (borderline): The article includes the director's voice, festival curators, and general criticism from documentary purists and disability advocates, but lacks direct voices from Dimitri, producers, critics, or disability-rights representatives; add on-record quotes or at least paraphrases from these stakeholders. • [article_quality] analytical_value scored 3 (borderline): The piece offers interpretation of themes (seeing/being seen, queer framing, representation issues) and situates the film historically, but analysis is tentative and largely descriptive; strengthen by assessing likely audience reception, comparing to specific films or trends, or including critical perspectives from named reviewers. • [article_quality] publication_readiness scored 4 (borderline): The draft reads like a near-ready festival feature: tidy, sourced with inline markers, and free of structural placeholders or meta-text. To be fully ready, add attributions for paraphrased claims (quotes attributed to specific outlets), confirm runtime/credit accuracy, and secure at least one direct comment from Dimitri or the production to avoid speculative wording.
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