The article highlights the significance of the topic of socialproblems among young documentary filmmakers represented at the VGIKInternational Student Film Festival. The author analyzes the visual and soundtechniques used and reveals the interdisciplinary approach to creating an auteurdocumentary film.Young documentary filmmakers cannot stay away from the challengesposed by the global problems of modern humanity. In their works, they strive toreflect the most crucial social problems associated with ecology: environmentalpollution, climate change, poverty and preserving the authenticity of small ethnicgroups. For instance, the documentary film “Pirana” (12 min. Director NainishaDedhia, National Institute of Design, India) shows endless dumps leading toenvironmental disaster. The documentary “Dulhaji Dolena” (28 min. DirectorAnita Reza Zein, Indonesian Institute of the Arts Yogyakarta, Indonesia)presents human life in the context of an unresolved environmental problem: theconstant threat of flooding the village and its dwellings. Another example is thefilm “The End of Eternity” (10 min. Director Pablo Radice University of BuenosAires, Argentina) about the Amazonian community of Ese Echo, based in PalmaReal, Peru. If there is no forest, there will be no life and there will be no Ese-Echo,either. Ese-Echo is a language on the verge of extinction.Hence, the importance of social problems is highlighted in the above-mentioned films. Despite the geographic remoteness of the filming areas, thefilmmakers independently touch upon the pressing issues of modern mankind.Involvement in such topics is gaining international significance. In general,the festival gives an idea of the most disturbing themes among young filmmakers,allowing us to single out the main trends in the development of modern cinema.