The 67th edition of the documentary and animated film festival DOK Leipzig was exceptionally well received by audiences and members of the film industry. The festival drew a total of 55,000 filmgoers this year – more than ever before.

Last year, the festival welcomed 45,500 filmgoers. The previous record (48,000) was set in 2019, the year before the pandemic.

“DOK Leipzig 2024 drew well over two thousand accredited professionals, who boosted attendance at the festival cinemas and noticeably increased the popularity of the industry events,” explains Festival Director Christoph Terhechte. “But it’s undeniable that sales of individual and season tickets were up as well, enabling lively discussions in sold-out cinemas and memorable feedback for the numerous filmmakers who came here from all over the world. This is a good sign for cinema screenings of documentaries and animated films.”

The films in the Audience Competition, the short film reels and the feature-length animated films were particularly well received, and the high attendance figures for events such as the Animation Night, the Interactive Cinema at DOK Neuland and Animation Perspectives were satisfying. The free screenings at Leipzig Central Station were also particularly well attended. The DOK Neuland XR exhibition drew 2,500 visitors, more than twice as many as in the previous year.

At DOK Industry, keen interest was observed in the two-day DOK Exchange XR programme on interactive and immersive storytelling, as was an increase of one-on-one meetings at the DOK Co-Pro Market. The further events for networking and expanding knowledge with a focus on animation were also very well received.

DOK Leipzig 2024 presented 209 films and extended reality works from 55 countries over seven days. The seven Golden Doves and two Silver Doves as well as a number of partnership awards were presented on the Saturday of the festival.

The 68th edition of the festival will be held from 27 October to 2 November 2025.

The award winners of the 67th edition of DOK Leipzig have been announced. Seven Golden Doves, two Silver Doves, and various Partnership Awards were presented during two ceremonies at the Schaubühne Lindenfels in Leipzig on Saturday.

In the International Competition Documentary Film, the Golden Dove Long Film went to Dominique Cabrera for “La Jetée, the Fifth Shot” (Le Cinquième plan de La Jetée | France). The festival had also dedicated a homage to the director this year. In the award-winning film, Cabrera’s cousin recognises himself in Chris Marker’s classic short film “La Jetée” (1962), prompting an exploration of the family’s history.

“With precision and a light touch, the filmmaker takes us on an intimate journey ..., revealing new layers of meaning and emotion behind an enigmatic image of a boy and his family,” the jury said in its statement. The 10,000-euro Golden Dove is sponsored by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk. The award was presented by Jana Brandt, the director of the MDR Programme Directorate Halle.

The 3,000-euro Golden Dove Short Film went to celebrated British experimental filmmaker John Smith for “Being John Smith” (UK), a wry look at how having one of the most generic names in the English language has affected his life and career. The jury was impressed by Smith’s "willingness to share doubts and vulnerability" and “questions about what makes up our identity”.

The films that have earned Golden Doves in the International Competition Documentary Film qualify for nomination for the annual Academy Awards®, provided they meet the Academy’s standards.

The Silver Dove Long Film, sponsored by 3sat and awarded to the best feature-length documentary film by an up-and-coming director, went to Pierre Michel Jean for “Twice Into Oblivion” (L‘oubli tue deux fois | France, Haiti, Dominican Republic). The film deals with was known as the Parsley Massacre of 1937, which ended the lives of 20,000 Haitians living in the Dominican Republic. “By pursuing two distinctly compelling modes – testimonials from elderly survivors as well as improvisational performances by the young inheritors of these unhealed wounds – the film shows the persistence of the past, and the need to reckon with it in order for us to find a way forward,” the jury stated in praise of the film. Johannes Dicke, the head of programming at 3sat, presented the 6,000-euro award to the filmmaker.

The 1,500-euro Silver Dove Short Film, sponsored by the independent Saxon State Media Agency (SLM) and awarded to the best short documentary by an up-and-coming director, went to “What Goes Up” (Saudi Arabia, USA) by Samar Al Summary. In this film, the artist trampolines at a military airfield in Arizona – rebelling not only against gravity, but also against the patriarchy. The jury remarked: “Beginning with her own impossible return, the filmmaker invents a language to unearth the stories of others who left their own fragile traces in the landscape.” The award was presented by Thomas Neie from the SLM’s Media Council.

The winners of the International Competition Documentary Film were selected by Maria Bonsanti, Sylvaine Dampierre, Mark Edwards, Eric Hynes, and Avi Mograbi.

In the International Competition Animated Film, the 3,000-euro Golden Dove Long Film went to László Csáki for “Pelikan Blue” (Kék Pelikan | Hungary), about three broke friends in Hungary who forge train tickets to travel to the West after the fall of communism. “While we do not condone forging your way towards your dreams, we absolutely appreciated the manner in which the story was told, the visual language and, above all, the effortless personal and historical honesty it embraced,” the jury said.

The Golden Dove Short Film, which includes 1,500 euros, sponsored by the German Institute for Animated Film e. V. (DIAF), went to Anu-Laura Tuttelberg for “On Weary Wings Go By” (Linnud läinud | Estonia, Lithuania). In the film, a miniature girl made of delicate porcelain observes the onset of winter. “The boundary between the characters and the real environment gradually dissolves into an ambivalent world full of wonder and visual poetry, in which nature itself seems to be the protagonist,” the jury said. Dr. Volker Petzold (Chairman of the DIAF) addressed the audience at the award ceremony.

The film that earns the Golden Dove Short Film qualifies for nomination for the annual Academy Awards®, provided it meets the Academy’s standards.

Jury members Merlin Flügel, Isabel Herguera, and Nosipho van den Bragt gave a Special Mention to Heinrich Sabl for “Memory Hotel” (Germany, France).

In the German Competition Documentary Film, the Golden Dove Long Film went to “Tarantism Revisited” (Germany, Switzerland) by Anja Dreschke. The directors investigate the phenomenon of “tarantism”, which made numerous women in southern Italy in the 1950s dance uncontrollably, supposedly from the bite of a poisonous spider. “The myth repeats itself, always the same and always different, in the bodies that rebel against the poison of a patriarchal order by dancing or face the toxic legacy of exploitative land use. Between archival research and re-enactment, sound and text compositions, gender and genre, this film develops an idiosyncratic language, resistant in the best sense of the word,” commended the jury. This 10,000-euro award is donated by Doris Apell-Kölmel and Michael Kölmel.

The Golden Dove Short Film, which includes 1,500 euros, went to Leonard Volkmer for “The King of Spain” (Der König von Spanien | Germany), in which the director’s search for his own past takes him from Berlin darkrooms to clubs in the Spanish capital and into the archives of a provincial psychiatric ward. Jury members Tilman König, Katrin Mundt, and Susanne Sachsse noted that the film “confides personal matters in us and makes them cinematically tangible – not as illustration, but as a daring venture.”

The Golden Dove in the Audience Competition was presented to the documentary film “Once upon a Time in a Forest” (Havumetsän lapset | Finland) by Virpi Suutari. In this film, an environmentalist takes on the Finnish forestry industry. “Despite the urgency of climate change, the film takes the time to immerse itself in the magic of nature. The intimate portrait of the protagonists has touched and inspired us deeply,” emphasised jury members Linda Dombrowski, Maria Gallo, Sophie Görlipp, Maria Weiße, and Anna Wulffert. The 3,000-euro award is granted pro rata by the Leipziger Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Filmkunst e. V.

The award-winners of the Golden and Silver Doves at a glance:
 
 International Competition Documentary Film
 Golden Dove Feature-length Film: “La Jetée, the Fifth Shot” (Dominique Cabrera | FR 2024)
 Golden Dove Short Film: “Being John Smith” (John Smith | GB 2024)
 Silver Dove Feature-length Film: “Twice into Oblivion” (Pierre Michel Jean | FR, HT, DO 2024)
 Silver Dove Short Film: “What Goes Up” (Samar Al Summary  | SA, US 2024)

International Competition Animated Film
 Golden Dove Feature-length Film: “Pelikan Blue” (László Csáki | HU 2024)
 Golden Dove Short Film: “On Weary Wings Go By” (Anu-Laura Tuttelberg | EE, LT 2024)

German Competition Documentary Film
 Golden Dove Feature-length Film: “Tarantism Revisited” (Anja Dreschke, Michaela Schäuble | DE, CH 2024)
 Golden Dove Short Film: “The King of Spain” (Leonard Volkmer | DE 2024)

Audience Competition
 Golden Dove: “Once upon a Time in a Forest” (Virpi Suutari, FI 2024)

Partnership Awards for documentary and animated films in competition

++ Embargoed until this afternoon, 2 November, at 5:30 pm ++

Earlier, on Saturday afternoon, ten Partnership Awards were presented at the Schaubühne Lindenfels.

“The Family Approach” (Im Prinzip Familie | Germany) by Daniel Abma received the 2,000-euro ver.di Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness. This documentary, which focuses on the lives of five teenagers who live together and the social workers who look after them, also received the film.land.sachsen Prize for Film Culture in Rural Areas, presented in cooperation with the Filmverband Sachsen e.V.. It was also recognised with Gedanken-Aufschluss, awarded by a jury comprised of inmates at the Juvenile Detention Centre Regis-Breitingen. “The Family Approach” thus garnered the most awards at DOK Leipzig 2024.

The 4,000-euro DEFA Sponsoring Prize, granted by the DEFA Foundation, went to Jennifer Mallmann for “Moria Six” (Germany).

The 3,000-euro MDR Film Prize for an outstanding Eastern European documentary film went to Marie-Magdalena Kochová for “The Other One” (Ta druhá | Czech Republic, Slovakia).

The 2,000-euro Prize of the Interreligious Jury went to Pierre Michel Jean for “Twice into Oblivion” (L‘oubli tue deux fois | France, Haiti, Dominican Republic). This award is sponsored by the VCH Hotel Michaelis in Leipzig as well as the Interreligious Round Table and the Oratorium Leipzig.

The Young Eyes Film Award was presented to “Sisterqueens” (Germany) by Clara Stella Hüneke. This 2,000-euro award is sponsored by the European Foundation of the Rahn Dittrich Group for Education and Culture and presented by the youth jury in cooperation with LFD – Fachstelle für Medien und Bildung.

The Prize of the International Film Critics (FIPRESCI Prize) went to “Valentina and the MUOSters” (Valentina e i MUOStri | Switzerland, Italy) by Francesca Scalisi.

The mephisto 97.6 Award went to the short animated film “Simply Divine” (Pur și simplu divin | France, Romania) by Mélody Boulissière and Bogdan Stamatin.

The Film Prize Leipziger Ring honours Jennifer Mallmann’s “Moria Six” (Germany), an outstanding documentary film about human rights, democracy, or civil engagement. The prize, valued at 2,500 euros, is sponsored by the Stiftung Friedliche Revolution. The award will be presented on Sunday, 3 November, at 2 pm at the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB).

Industry awards at DOK Industry

Four awards were presented during the festival week as part of DOK Industry.

Presented at DOK Co-Pro Market:

The Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director (5.000 euros): “Oh, Heart Don’t Be Afraid” (Georgia, Germany) by Ana Kvichidze
 Award sponsor: the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (SMWK)

The Unifrance Doc Award (comes with subtitling services sponsored by TitraFilm and a Unifrance membership for the film’s French producer): “Bitter Seed” (France, Algeria) by Camélia Gadhgadhi, produced by Antoine Goldet-Marciano (Amok Films)

Presented at DOK Preview Germany:

D-Facto Motion Works-in-Progress Prize (comes with post-production services valued at 10,000 euros): “Curtains” (Fassaden | Germany) by Alina Cyranek
 Award sponsor: D-Facto Motion GmbH

Presented at DOK Short n’ Sweet:

Square Eyes Festival Consultation Award (comes with a tailor-made consultation on festival strategy by Square Eyes): “Hypnagogy” (Hipnagogía | Chile) by Paula Ábalos Santibáñez 
 Award sponsor: Square Eyes

A total of 23 awards were handed out at DOK Leipzig. At the 67th edition of the festival, 209 films and XR works from 55 countries were presented at various venues in Leipzig.
 

You’ll find all the jury statements and awards, including Special Mentions, in the PDF file (see above)

Further information about the award-winning films: Films A–Z
Further information about all the DOK Leipzig juries: Awards & Juries
Further information about the screenings and events at the festival: Programme

DOK Leipzig opened on Monday, 28 October at the CineStar in Leipzig with the world premiere of Thomas Riedelsheimer’s documentary film “Tracing Light”. Further highlights of the evening included a screening of the short film “The Diffusion Pilot” by Aurelijus Čiupas and two pieces performed by musician Barbara Morgenstern, the protagonist in “Barbara Morgenstern – Doing It for Love”.

In his welcoming speech, festival director Christoph Terhechte emphasised the importance of film as a medium that facilitates understanding: “We aspire to be a festival guided by a willingness to listen to one other. We firmly believe that cinema allows us to tolerate opposing viewpoints and enables dialogue between them. Only by doing this can we can come together to promote peace and coexistence.”

Dr Skadi Jennicke, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Arts of the City of Leipzig, also spoke at the opening: “At a time when the world has in many respects become more complex, more conflict-ridden and more convoluted, DOK Leipzig has a pivotal role to play. The films screened here don’t explain the world to us; they show it to us. More than ever, we as a society must be prepared to look, listen and be receptive to the diverse perspectives that will once again be expressed in Leipzig this year.”

Claudia Maicher, Chairwoman of the Committee for Science, Higher Education, Media, Culture and Tourism in the Saxon State Parliament, then presented the 5,000-euro Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director to Ana Kvichidze for her project “Oh, Heart Don’t Be Afraid”. Filmed in the country of Georgia, this work follows Dachi, a 20-year-old queer, who stands out in their community as they grapple with their gender identity. Also Dachi's family, heavily influenced by the archbishop, struggles to accept their child. Through an unusual friendship, Dachi finds solace in magic and starts to explore their identity and aspirations.

The jury members Anna Berthollet, Themba Bhebhe and Eleni Chandrinou were impressed by the film’s originality and uncompromising approach, calling it “a powerful narrative of isolation and yearning for a place of acceptance that is steeped in a dream-like mysticism.” Projects by female directors selected for the DOK Co-Pro Market were eligible for this award  donated by the Saxon Ministry of Science, Culture and Tourism.

The opening event concluded with the screening of “Tracing Light” with the film team attending. This film explores the phenomenon of light, creating a dialogue between two disciplines – art and physics – that approach it in different ways.

Parallel to the opening event, “Simply Divine” by Mélody Boulissière and Bogdan Stamatin and “Flowers of Ukraine” by Adelina Borets were screened in the East Hall of Leipzig Central Station.

From now until Sunday, 3 November, DOK Leipzig is screening a total of 209 films and XR experiences from 55 countries. DOK Leipzig will once again be presenting some of the films free of charge in the East Hall of Leipzig Central Station and at the Polish Institute. The Golden and Silver Doves will be awarded on Saturday evening. Prior to this, numerous partnership awards will be presented in a first award ceremony in the afternoon.

Each day during the festival week, from 29 October to 3 November, films can be viewed online throughout Germany in the DOK Stream.

Further information on the festival programme can be found here: Programme

With the 67th edition of DOK Leipzig about to start, it’s time to thank our partners, sponsors and patrons, both long-standing and new. Their valuable support is crucial in enabling us to hold a cultural event of such prominence, which draws so much attention to the arts, the film industry and the city.

The City of Leipzig, as the proprietor of Leipziger Dok-Filmwochen, is the primary source of funding for the festival. The Free State of Saxony also provides significant financial support through the Saxon Ministry of Science, Culture and Tourism (SMWK). Alongside the institutional funding, project funds are allocated for programmes of inclusion in order to facilitate the participation of everyone interested in film. This measure is financed in part by tax revenue according to the budget adopted by the Saxon State Parliament.

At the EU level, DOK Leipzig is supported by Creative Europe Media and is involved in two funding programmes: one for the public side of the festival, the other for DOK Industry’s events for professionals. In addition, Creative Europe Media provides funding for the Doc Alliance documentary film festival network, of which DOK Leipzig is a founding member. The Central German Media Fund (Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, MDM) and the German government’s Commissioner for Culture and Media (Beauftragte für Kultur und Medien, BKM) provide crucial support to the festival and its events and activities for representatives of the industry. The Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony represents a further source of funding for DOK Leipzig. These subsidies are financed in part by tax revenue according to the budget adopted by the Saxon State Parliament. The festival’s retrospective is once again funded by the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany.

At the 67th edition of the festival, prize money and non-cash benefits totalling 70,250 euros will be awarded. Stalwart partners of DOK Leipzig include Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) and Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF). Since 2013, MDR has sponsored the 10,000-euro Golden Dove for the International Competition Documentary Film. Among the festival’s partnership awards, the broadcaster also awards the 3,000-euro MDR Film Prize, which honours an outstanding eastern European documentary film.

For the International Competition Documentary Film, 3sat is once again sponsoring the 6,000-euro Silver Dove Long Film, which honours the best documentary by a talented up-and-coming director. Since 1993, the broadcaster has supported auteur documentaries by being involved in their production and giving them airtime. 3sat reaffirms its commitment to talented international directors by sponsoring DOK Leipzig’s award for young filmmakers. The Silver Dove for the best short documentary film by a talented director of the next generation is provided by the Saxon State Media Authority (SLM) and is endowed with 1,500 euros. As a partner and award sponsor of DOK Leipzig, the SLM supports young filmmakers in particular as well as events aimed at promoting critical thinking and media literacy among viewers of all ages. It supports the organisation of the DOK master classes and the DOK Neuland XR event as well as the pedagogical activities at DOK Spotters and DOK Education.

For the International Competition Animated Film, the 1,500-euro Golden Dove Short Film award is sponsored by the Deutsches Institut für Animationsfilm e. V. Founded in 1993, the DIAF studies, preserves and showcases the legacy of German animated film. Doris Apell-Kölmel and Michael Kölmel are again supporting documentary filmmaking in Germany with 10,000 euros in prize money for the Golden Dove Long Film, which is presented in the German Competition Documentary Film. The Leipziger Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Filmkunst e. V. is co-sponsoring the Golden Dove in the audience competition.

Further partners are supporting DOK Leipzig through financial and non-cash contributions and are thus instrumental to its success. The Franco-German arts and culture channel ARTE is one of the long-standing partners, as is BIG Cinema, whose technical support makes possible the film screenings in the East Hall of Leipzig Central Station. Mo Systeme is supporting the festival’s events through its Modulbox systems, while Die Leipziger (L Gruppe) is generously providing DOK Leipzig with advertising services. Further supporters include German Films, die Promenaden Hauptbahnhof Leipzig and the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, which is home to the festival centre and parts of the DOK Neuland exhibition. The Polish Institute is also making its premises available to DOK Leipzig. The Regis-Breitlingen juvenile detention centre is providing DOK Leipzig’s most unusual venue and is actively involved in presenting an award.

The European Foundation of the Rahn Dittrich Group for Education and Culture is funding the 2,000-euro Young Eyes Film Award as well as the guidance of the youth jury from the standpoint of media education by the Landesfilmdienst Sachsen’s Centre for Media and Education. The statuette for the award was created by Leipzig artist Mona Ragy Enayat. The Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig supports the DOK Spotters youth editorial team in DOK Leipzig’s educational programme.

As part of the “film.land.sachsen” programme, the Filmverband Sachsen e. V. and DOK Leipzig are strengthening film culture in rural areas by offering a prize that is awarded directly by the cinema operators in rural Saxony. This programme receives financial support from the Saxon State Ministry of Science, Culture and Tourism.

Additional funding for partnership awards comes from ver.di, the Stiftung Friedliche Revolution, VCH Hotels Germany in cooperation with the VCH Hotel Michaelis in Leipzig, the Interreligious Round Table and the Oratorium Leipzig. The DEFA Foundation awards the DEFA Sponsoring Prize in accordance with the motto of its charter, “Rediscover the Past – Support the Future”, in order to support young filmmakers in their critical examination of contemporary issues.

DOK Neuland is part of the DOK young talent programme and is carried out in cooperation with the Saxon State Media Authority (SLM). Alongside support from the Museum für bildende Künste Leipzig, this innovative programme also receives generous funding from MDR Media, the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) and the US Consulate General Leipzig.

DOK Industry receives support at the European level from Creative Europe Media and at the national level from the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and the BKM. The Saxon Ministry of Science, Culture and Tourism supports with an endowment of 5,000 euros for the Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director. Unifrance provides support in kind for the presentation of the Unifrance Doc Award. D-Facto Motion also offers the Works-in-Progress Award, endowed with 10,000 euros in kind, for a DOK Preview Germany project. At the short film pitch DOK Short n' Sweet, Square Eyes supports with the Square Eyes Festival Consultation Award along with a tailor-made consultation on festival strategy by Square Eyes

The festival is also able to count on the commitment of a large number of patrons, sponsors and partners who help to make possible everything that the festival offers.

DOK Leipzig will be presenting 209 films and extended reality works from more than 55 countries from 28 October to 3 November this year. Opening the festival on 28 October will be the world premiere of “Tracing Light” by director Thomas Riedelsheimer (“Rivers and Tides”), who previously opened DOK Leipzig in 2004 with “Touch the Sound”. “Tracing Light” is a co-production of ZDF/3sat.

You can find an overview of DOK Leipzig partners and sponsors 2024 here.

You can find an overview of awards, award sponsors and juries 2024 here.

DOK Leipzig is showing selected films online throughout Germany during the festival week. A new film or a short film reel will be available via the festival website’s DOK Stream function every day from 29 October to 3 November. These titles will be available for 24 hours, from midnight to midnight.

On Tuesday, 29 October, anyone who can’t make it to to Leipzig for the premier of “Flowers of Ukraine” by Adelina Borets will be able to watch online. This warm, life-affirming portrait is part of our International Documentary Film Competition and follows a woman living in Kyiv who farms a small plot, even in war.

On Wednesday, 30 October, watch “Balomania” by Sissel Morell Dargis. This film from our Doc Alliance Award section tells the incredible story of the “Baloeiros”, an underground culture in the heart of Brazil's favelas, in which giant hot air balloons are made in secret.

In “Barbara Morgenstern—Doing It for Love” by Sabine Herpich, available online on Thursday, 31 October, viewers get an intimate view of the electronic living room pop pioneer’s creative process as she works on a new album. This documentary is screening in the German Competition.

“Blueberry Dreams” by Elene Mikaberidze, an Audience Competition film showing online on Friday, 1 November, portrays a family struggling with their blueberry harvest in the mountains of Georgia. At the same time, current crisis flare ups bring back memories of the Russo-Georgian War–-and worries about their children’s future.

On Saturday, 2 November, “Pelikan Blue” by László Csáki, a long animated film from the International Competition, will be screened online. In this gangster comedy, three friends in Hungary forge train tickets shortly after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc to travel to the West, sparking a business idea that rapidly expands.

Finally, a compilation of six documentary and animated short films will wrap up the festival week via DOK Stream on Sunday, 3 November.

Each of the films in the online program will be available on its respective day from 00:01 to 23:59. Viewers can find them in video-on-demand format via an embedded player directly on the respective film pages at dok-leipzig.de.

Online ticket sales start on 25 October. Each showing is 5 €.

Overview of all films: DOK Stream

Find the film programme incl. all dates here: DOK Leipzig Programme

This year’s programme of DOK Leipzig presents a range of engaging DOK Talks, open to the general public, that delve into various aspects of documentary and animated filmmaking, reflecting some of the overarching themes encompassed by the 67th festival edition. 

One such Talk, “The University Job – Ordeal or Jackpot?”, will focus on the synergy between filmmaking and educating others, examining how teaching can inspire one’s own creative process and how to balance the two. Moderated by Luc-Carolin Ziemann, the discussion will be held in German.

Another DOK Talk, “At Second Glance – On the Notion of the Political in Current Documentaries”, will examine the notion of the political in contemporary documentary film, particularly when the subject matter and aesthetics of a film are not readily recognisable as political. Filmmakers Paula Ďurinová (“Lapilli”, Camera Lucida), Francesca Scalisi (“Valentina and the MUOSters”, the International Competition Documentary Film), and Léonard Pongo (“Tales from the Source”, the International Competition Documentary Film), whose films will be screened at this year’s DOK Leipzig, will join moderator Borjana Gaković for this DOK Talk. The discussion will be held in English.

The Talk “animation@DOK Leipzig – Spotting, Sampling, Reconnecting” will dive into the exhilarating possibilities that archive material offers both as source material and a component for animation films, highlighting the hidden treasures in these archives that are waiting to be discovered and transformed. The discussion will be moderated by Franka Sachse and conducted in English.

 
Overview of all DOK Talks

• DOK Talk “The University Job – Ordeal or Jackpot?”
   29/10 | 16:00 | Zeitgeschichtliches Forum | Free Admission
   

• DOK Talk “At Second Glance – On the Notion of the Political in Current Documentaries”
   30/10 | 16:00 | Zeitgeschichtliches Forum | Free Admission
   

• DOK Talk “animation@DOK Leipzig – Spotting, Sampling, Reconnecting”
   31/10 | 16:00 | Zeitgeschichtliches Forum | Free Admission
   

Please find more information in our programme overview.

DOK Leipzig is once again bringing exciting international animated and documentary films for children and teenage viewers to the big screen during the week-long festival. From 29 October to 3 November, Kids DOK and Young Eyes will present films that will enchant and entertain viewers while broadening their horizons and breaking with conventional viewing habits. These are films that will introduce children to distinctive cinematic styles and make them think instead of just passively consuming content.

Three age recommendations, two programmes of short films, four feature-length films

Lina Dinkla, the curator of Kids DOK and Young Eyes, has once again put together an age-appropriate selection of long and short animated and documentary films for kindergarten and pre-school children from age 4, schoolchildren from age 6 and young people from age 12 – from the Little Sandman’s trip to where dream-inducing sand is made for the youngest viewers to a clique of girl rappers whose rhymes express what’s on the minds of their generation. Depending on the target age group, the international films are subtitled in German, have a German voiceover or do without dialogue.

Kids DOK offers six short international animated films for kindergarten and preschool children aged four and up. They’re about a little bear who has to find “his” tree (“Pompon Little Bear: The Dream of the Totem Tree”), about rubber boots that are afraid of puddles (“Achtung Pfütze!”) and about two cells who are friends exploring “their” organism („Toti“). The children spend a sunny winter’s day ice-skating with a pig and a cow in the forest (“Hoofs on Skates”), accompany an otter and a child on their quest to find the forest’s water source (“Mû”) and watch a brand-new anniversary episode of The Little Sandman (“Unser Sandmännchen: Die Reise zur Traumsandmühle”).

A programme of four short films is available for ages six and up. Three of them are imaginatively drawn animated films – about a shooting star that turns out to be a bat with a penchant for glitter (“Filante”), the wanderlust of a bear (“The Bear and the Bird”) and the pleasure found in winter sports (“Freeride in C”) – while the fourth is a wonderful documentary about a miniature pig that strangely morphs into a giant beast that annoys the neighbours by “being a hog” (“Nelson the Piglet”).

For schoolchildren and young people aged 12 and up, Young Eyes is presenting four outstanding films from the international film festival scene that address topics relevant to youth on their level and that provide fresh insight into the lives of others. These are: a documentary film about three girls (aged 9, 11 and 12) who, as the rap crew Sisterqueens, raise poignant questions about self-determination and identity; an animated film about a boy who suddenly has a problem with his weight; a portrait of a group of young pupils caught between lessons, childhood and adulthood; and a film about a brave young girl whose family fled from Afghanistan to Iran and who in her new home country gives all she can to fulfil her dream of becoming a professional boxer. At the end of the festival, this year’s Young Eyes jury will choose a winner from among these four films.

On the importance of media literacy – DOK Education’s events for teachers and students

In addition to its lineup of films, DOK Education offers schoolchildren and teachers opportunities to improve their media literacy and to acquaint themselves with documentary and animated filmmaking as a form of cinematic expression. The events range from school screenings of selected festival films to DOK Spotters, a youth project that immerses young people in the goings-on at the festival as a youth editorial team, to Teachers’ Day, a training course for teachers on documentary film education, which will be held this year on 31 October.

“The great thing about DOK Education is meeting the filmmakers in the cinema and having follow-up discussions with the school classes,” says Tina Jany, who assumed responsibility for the festival’s educational section this year. “It’s super-exciting to see how young people approach films and respond to them. Particularly now, at a time when social media content is forming people’s opinions, such an informed approach to media is extremely important.”

This year’s school screenings offer an in-depth look at two selected festival films. On 30 October at 11:30 a.m., the documentary “Im Prinzip Familie” by Dutch director Daniel Abma will be screened, and on 1 November at 11:00 a.m., the documentary “Lichter der Straße” will be presented with director Anna Friedrich attending. After the film, the school classes will be able to talk to the filmmakers in a moderated discussion. In addition to the film screening, the school screenings consist of a preparatory or follow-up module. Educational material is also provided for individual preparation and follow-up of the screening.

The entire Kids DOK and Young Eyes selection of films can be found on our website

The advanced tickets are on sale now.

An overview about all offers concerning DOK Education you find here.

Registration for the ‘Teachers Day’ is still possible until 18 October. Information can be found at: https://www.dok-leipzig.de/en/dok-education

Information on registrations for school classes: bildung [at] dok-leipzig [dot] de (bildung[at]dok-leipzig[dot]de).

You can request your press accreditation on our website.

Film stills: on request to presse [at] dok-leipzig [dot] de (presse[at]dok-leipzig[dot]de)

DOK Leipzig has announced the films that will be screened in competition at the 67th edition of the festival. Now that all the short and feature-length films have been nominated for the four competitions, the lineup is complete. The festival will present a total of 209 films and XR works from 55 countries.

“It is hard to reduce the films of DOK Leipzig 2024 to a common denominator, and that is a good thing,” says festival director Christoph Terhechte. “They bear witness to a diverse and complex world. Many of them point out alternatives to the status quo. They give hope. They do not deny the looming destruction of our natural resources; instead they are dedicated to examining what we want to preserve.”

This year, 73 feature-length and short films, including 33 world premieres, are competing for the Golden and Silver Doves.

The International Competition Documentary Film is presenting eight feature-length films from Argentina, France, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Mexico, the United States and Colombia. Among them is the latest film by renowned French director Dominique Cabrera, to whom the festival is dedicating a homage this year. In “La Jetée, the Fifth Shot”, Cabrera’s cousin recognises himself in a shot from Chris Marker’s classic film “La Jetée” (1962), prompting an exploration of the family’s history. The majority of the feature-length films in competition are by emerging directors. These films tell the story of a woman who, against all odds, cultivates a small plot of land in Kyiv (“Flowers of Ukraine” by Adelina Borets), portray gender identity and socioeconomic background as facets of everyday life (“Luciano” by Manuel Besedovsky), or are dedicated to the legacy of a Catalonian architect (“Miralles” by Maria Mauti). They observe gold mining in Venezuela (“Morichales” by Chris Gude) and an attempt to understand one’s grandmother by arranging objects reminiscent of her (“Things of a Lifetime, Intimate Archeological Exercises” by Céline Ségalini), deal with the mass murder of the Haitian population in the Dominican Republic in 1937 (“Twice into Oblivion” by Pierre Michel Jean) and scrutinise the effects of a US satellite communication system in Sicily on the people living there (“Valentina and the MUOSters” by Francesca Scalisi).

The eleven short films in this competition, each nominated for a Golden Dove and a Silver Dove, offer a wide range of creative perspectives, for example on people’s longing for a place to call home and be accepted, our approach to “nature”, the colonial past and the cultural significance of the birthday cake (see the list of films).

Five works have been nominated in the International Competition Animated Film for the Golden Dove Feature-Length Film, which was introduced in 2023. “Pelikan Blue” by László Csáki, based on a true story, is about three broke friends in Hungary who forge train tickets in order to travel to the West after the fall of communism. “Olivia & the Clouds” by Tomás Pichardo Espaillat visualises the complexity of romantic relationships by using a variety of artistic techniques. In “Ghost Cat Anzu” by Yôko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita, an eleven-year-old girl makes friends with a giant talking cat and is ultimately led to hell by the god of poverty, while “Animalia Paradoxa” by Niles Atallah follows a human-amphibian hybrid in search of water in a post-apocalyptic world. “Memory Hotel”, which director Heinrich Sabl spent more than 20 years completing, is dedicated to the German-Soviet history of guilt and coming to terms after the Second World War.

The 20 short films in this competition are fascinating in their artistic approaches, individual creative styles and moving narratives that examine the body and its associated power structures or the relationship between man and machine (see the list of films).

The German Competition brings together nine feature-length documentary films, all of them world premieres. In addition to Thomas Riedelsheimer (“Tracing Light”, the opening film in 2024), director Daniel Abma is also returning to the festival with his latest film. “Im Prinzip Familie” observes a community of young people in the care of social workers and how they relate to them. “Lichter der Straße” by Anna Friedrich reveals what a nomadic life in Germany entails. “Barbara Morgenstern und die Liebe zur Sache” by Sabine Herpich accompanies the titular singer and composer during the production of her latest album. In “Spielerinnen”, Aysun Bademsoy returns to her former protagonists, female Turkish-German footballers in Berlin. “Tarantism Revisited” by Anja Dreschke and Michaela Schäuble and “Sonnenstadt” by Kristina Shtubert look at various forms of religion and spirituality. “Moria Six” by Jennifer Mallmann deals with EU migration policy by reflecting on the fire in the refugee camp on Lesbos. And in “Truth or Dare” by Maja Classen, the protagonists explore sex-positive interactions and talk about lust and personal boundaries.

The ten German short films reflect (dys)functional family relationships, the capabilities of technology and algorithms, the inscription of history in buildings and monuments, and the first East Germans to visit Mallorca after the Wall came down (see the list of films).

In the Audience Competition, a five-member jury comprised of audience members from Leipzig will award a Golden Dove. Ten feature-length documentary films have been nominated, some of which have premiered at prominent international festivals (such as “Wishing on a Star” by Peter Kerekes, “Elementary” by Claire Simon, “Sabbath Queen” by Sandi DuBowski and “The Battle for Laikipia” by Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi).

The world premieres at DOK Leipzig include “Naima” by Anna Thommen, about a 46-year-old Venezuelan woman who starts a new life when she moves to Switzerland. “Blueberry Dreams” by Elene Mikaberidze also observes a daring step into the unknown as a family from the country of Georgia decide to cultivate blueberries. A number of entries tell of powerful endeavours. In “Marching in the Dark” by Kinshuk Surjan, the widows of men who committed suicide find solidarity despite being disadvantaged in India’s patriarchal society. In “Once upon a Time in a Forest” by Virpi Suutari, an environmentalist takes on the Finnish forestry industry. Last but not least, two of the films in the competition reflect on the conflict in the Middle East and tell of efforts to achieve reconciliation (“I Shall Not Hate” by Tal Barda and “There Was Nothing Here Before” by Yvann Yagchi).

All screening times can be found on our website starting today, with tickets going on sale online at the same time.

DOK Leipzig will be held in Leipzig from 28 October to 3 November. Additionally, a film will be available online each day for 24 hours in the DOK Stream.

Lists of all competition titles: Film Lists Competitions

Find the film programme incl. all dates here: DOK Leipzig Programme

At the 67th edition of DOK Leipzig, three juries formed by esteemed filmmakers and arts professionals, along with a jury of audience members, will award short and feature-length animated and documentary films in competition. 

The 2024 jury for the International Competition Documentary Film consists of Maria Bonsanti, Sylvaine Dampierre, Eric Hynes, Avi Mograbi, and Mark Edwards. The five jury members will present a Golden Dove to both the best feature documentary and the best short documentary, chosen from the 8 nominated feature-length and 11 short documentary films. A Silver Dove will also be awarded to the best feature-length documentary and the best short documentary by an up-and-coming director.

Maria Bonsanti has a long history working with international film festivals, including the Locarno Film Festival, Festival dei Popoli, and Cinéma du Réel, where she served as artistic director for five years. In 2017, she took on the role of programme director at EURODOC, and in early 2022, she was appointed deputy director of Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, a position she held until May 2024. Her fellow jury member is Sylvaine Dampierre, a Paris-based documentary filmmaker of Guadeloupe origin. Her films often “explore the motif of anchoring, of trace” — as she has put it — and have enjoyed success at festivals around the world, including FIDMarseille, FIDOCS, DOK Leipzig, and IDFA. Her latest feature documentary "Words of Negroes" earned the FIPRESCI prize at DOK Leipzig in 2021. Senior Curator of Film at New York’s Museum of the Moving Image (MoMI), Eric Hynes heads the annual First Look Festival and oversees year-round programming. A seasoned critic and journalist, he has contributed his writing to the New York Times, the Washington Post, Sight & Sound, and Reverse Shot, where he has been a staff writer since 2003. Regarded as one of Israel’s most distinguished filmmakers Avi Mograbi, now based in Portugal, is known for his unwavering commitment to social, cultural, and political justice in the Middle East, as well as his experimental approach and innovative contributions to cinematic language. His latest films, “Between Fences” (2016) and “The First 54 Years: An Abbreviated Manual for Military Occupation” (2021), both screened at Berlinale Forum.

An update on the jury for the International Competition Documentary Film:

Due to personal reasons, Akram Zaatari is unfortunately unable to fulfil his jury duties this year. DOK Leipzig thus welcomes Mark Edwards as a new member of the jury for the International Competition Documentary Film. The producer and broadcaster, originally from New York and living in Paris since 1995, served as the director of the USC Shoah Foundation in France — founded by Steven Spielberg — for four years before transitioning to work as an independent producer across Europe. He was a commissioning editor for international co-productions of documentaries at ARTE France and later led the European feature documentary slate at Netflix. Since 2024, Edwards has resumed his role as a producer and media consultant, while also lending his expertise as a member of several film commissions and teaching at top-tier educational institutions in France.

This year’s jury for the International Competition Animated Film includes Merlin Flügel, Isabel Herguera, and Nosipho van den Bragt. During the week-long festival, the jury members will view 5 nominated feature-length films and 20 short films and select the recipients of a Golden Dove for the best animated feature-length film and the best animated short film.

An animation director and visual designer from Berlin, Merlin Flügel has produced short films, which have garnered awards at international film festivals, including “ECHO”, which screened in competition at the Berlinale in 2013, and “Rules of Play”, which picked up the Jury Award at the Festival d’Animation Annecy in 2018. Along with Jonatan Schwenk and Marc Rühl, Flügel is part of the Gogo Tanda animation collective and is a co-founder of the Sweat&Tears Animation Filmfest Frankfurt. Esteemed Spanish animation film director Isabel Herguera, one of the two filmmakers to whom DOK Leipzig pays homage this year, has helmed a number of short films, including “Blindman’s Bluff” (2005), which was nominated for a Goya Award, and “Winter Love” (2015), among others. Herguera’s much-anticipated first animated feature, “Sultana’s Dream”, screened in the main competition of the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Her fellow jury member Nosipho van den Bragt is a co-founder of the award-winning high-end animation and VFX studio in South Africa, Chocolate Tribe. Under her leadership, Chocolate Tribe has not only produced work of the highest calibre but has also focused on harnessing young talent in the animation and VFX industry, including through its AVIJOZI initiative. Van den Bragt’s vision extends far beyond commercial success, as she is dedicated to social responsibility and community development, also mentoring women in animation globally. 

Titles that win a Golden Dove for the best animated short film and those that receive a Golden Dove in the International Competition Documentary Film qualify for nomination at the annual Academy Awards, provided they meet the Academy’s requirements.

The jury for the German Competition Documentary Film will present a Golden Dove to the best feature-length documentary and the best short documentary. The jury members are Tilman König, Katrin Mundt, and Susanne Sachsse, who will choose a winner from the nominated 9 feature-length and 10 short documentary films from Germany. 

Undertaking various roles in the field, including the curation of the Leipzig Experimental Film Festival ‘The Night of the Radical Film’ from 2006 to 2013, Tilman König has directed a number of notables works, including the documentary “Sour Strawberries” about the experiences of ‘guest workers’ in Japan, which he co-directed with Shingo Matsumura, and his 2024 documentary “König hört auf” (“Pastor Lothar Stops”), which received a nomination for the Grimme Prize. He is currently writing on a series and collaborating with Hanna Schygulla on an experimental documentary. Artistic Director of the European Media Art Festival in Osnabrück, Katrin Mundt has previously organised exhibitions and developed film and performance series for the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart and the HMKV in Dortmund. She has also collaborated with various international festivals, serving on the selection committee for Duisburg Film Week and as a curator for Videonale in Bonn, goEast in Wiesbaden, and the 25FPS festival in Zagreb. Based in Berlin, actress Susanne Sachsse has worked with such artists as Yael Bartana, Zach Blas, Vaginal Davis, Ligia Lewis, and Natascha Sadr Haghighian, among others. She received the Premio Maguey Queer Icon Award at the Guadalajara International Film Festival in Mexico, and has starred in five films by Canadian queer filmmaker Bruce LaBruce. 

Film enthusiasts and festival goers once again have the opportunity to serve on the jury for the Audience Competition. This year, the jury members are Linda Dombrowski, Maria Gallo, Sophie Görlipp, Maria Weiße, and Anna Wulffert. They will present a Golden Dove to one of the 10 nominated feature-length documentary or animated films.

The Golden and Silver Doves will be awarded to the winning films on Saturday, 2 November, at the Schaubühne Lindenfels in Leipzig.

Overview of all jury members at DOK Leipzig 2024: Awards & Jurys

Change is an opportunity and a force—with this optimistic view, the 2024 DOK Neuland programme presents eleven works from the fields of VR, AR, 360° film, gaming, installation and participatory film. The exhibition runs from 29 October to 3 November and is spread across four locations in Leipzig: in the Museum of Fine Arts (MdbK), at the main station, in the Galerie KUB and in the Cinémathèque Leipzig.

“Change is not only unavoidable, it is indispensable. Change is our life force, and without it we cease to exist. The key is deciding where we want to go,” says artist and filmmaker Dana Melaver, who began curating DOK Neuland this year. Under the exhibition title “Fluxusopolis”, she’ll present works that are constantly evolving, that generate “realities” that are not (or no longer) real, and that challenge our idea of art. Some of the works are vehicles for placing ourselves in other bodies and worlds (“Finally Me”, “Glitschbodies”), experiencing the world in a non-human way (“Nut Universe”), or becoming part of a life that otherwise remains distant and intangible due to our everyday habituation to news (“Tales of a Normadic City”, “Murmurnation”). 

Other works will also play with our common understanding of art and creation: “Nothing Can Ever Be the Same” invites us to engage with the “imaginations” of a machine that endlessly generates new worlds of images and sounds from Brian Eno's visual archive and music. “AR Character Run” only becomes a work through the cooperation of visitors to the exhibition—a film for everyone, constantly changing. “Minitourism” explores the ideas of creating (artistic) worlds and virtual reality as a medium using a miniature park.

A work such as “Reconstruction Home”, on the other hand, allows realities suffered in the real world to be changed in the virtual world. In it, a house destroyed in the war is reanimated with the memories of its former inhabitants and augmented reality. And in “Oto's Planet”, we encounter the fragile existence on our world with the distance of cheerfulness and black humor. 

"In this time of violence, of xenophobia and dehumanisation, it is necessary to forge a path towards change which is derived from empathy. To become a force for change, rather than have change forced upon us,” says curator Melaver of this year’s DOK Neuland motif. “We must learn to become a force for change ourselves instead of helplessly surrendering to it.”

DOK Neuland: Interactive Cinema this year will also include a participatory film as part of the exhibition. “Traces of Responsibility” takes viewers to Rwanda, 30 years after the genocide. With the help of an app, the audience will vote at the screening on which narrative threads they wish to follow. 

DOK Neuland is free of charge. For Interactive Cinema tickets are required (ticket sale starts on 10 October). The exhibition takes place with thanks to Dana Melaver (curation), Johanna Gerlach (production), and Ingmar Stange (technical production). The scenography was created in collaboration with Robin Metzer.

Overview of the XR works at DOK Neuland: List of XR experiences at DOK Neuland

DOK Exchange XR Expands to Two Days, XR Prototyping Zone Makes Debut 

DOK Industry is extending its DOK Exchange XR format in response to the growing relevance of immersive media and the rapid advancements in digital technology shaping the industry. The Industry programme for interactive and immersive storytelling with a focus on XR works, DOK Exchange XR, is now expanding into two full days for the first time, taking place on 31 October and 1 November. Alongside XR Conference and XR Showcase, this year’s programme also marks the debut of XR Prototyping Zone, a space dedicated to testing projects and bridging creators with audiences, XR experts, and distributors.

The 2024 DOK Exchange XR’s roster of events will centre on the unbounded potential of immersive and spatial sound, delving into the art of crafting spatial audio narratives, diverse immersive sonic worlds, 3D soundscapes, and voice storytelling. The programme will further burrow into the creative process of creating spatial audio experiences in documentaries and artistic XR projects, examine various forms of spatial audio storytelling beyond XR, and weigh in on the ethical quandaries of AI in sound and voice creation, among other topics.

The 2-day XR Conference (31 October and 1 November) will comprise ten keynote presentations and two panel discussions. The invited speakers will address various aspects of spatial audio in immersive storytelling in their keynote presentations, ranging from sound design psychology and sound as dramaturgy to de-territorialised listening in spatial audio narratives and immersive sound curation, to name a few. The panel discussion ‘Spatial Sound Across Art Forms: The Best Practices for Integrating Immersive Audio in Film, XR, Interactive Media, and Storytelling’ will be moderated by Dr. Markus Zaunschirm and joined by Anan Fries, Malu Peeters, Shervin Saremi, and Oliver Kadel. The second panel ‘From Prototype to Perfection: Lessons from Audience Testing and the Importance of Feedback in the Prototyping Process’ will be led by Dr. Weronika Lewandowska (DOK Exchange XR Coordinator), with the participation of  Laurien Michiels (“The Room of Resonance”) and Anne Fehres and Luke Conroy (“Revival Roadshow”).

At XR Showcase (31 October), six cutting-edge projects in development will be presented to an audience of professionals. The presentation of the XR works-in-progress, moderated by Dr. Joanne Popińska, will be followed by a feedback session with 30 experts from the fields of research, funding, distribution, as well as arts and technology. The 2024 XR Showcase project selection features “BOUGHT/BROKEN” (USA), “Scratching the Surface” (Germany), “LID-SCAPE” (Colombia), “Snow, Tiger, Reunion” (UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland), “YerbaBruja” (Mexico), and “ENTROPY” (Montenegro).

In XR Prototyping Zone, running from 31 October to 1 November, two prototypes—“Revival Roadshow” (the Netherlands) and “The Room of Resonance” (Germany)—will be showcased onsite, allowing for direct audience engagement and testing of XR projects, including the probing of their interactive elements and narrative solutions, as well as onboarding and offboarding experiences in spatial conditions.

DOK Leipzig has revealed further highlights of the DOK Industry Programme for the 67th festival edition (28 October - 3 November), in addition to the already announced Animation Lab DOK Leipzig, the DOK Co-Pro Market Selection, Ex Oriente Film workshop, and Generation Ukraine showcase. This year’s DOK Industry Programme boasts an array of events and activities that foster creative exchange and provide a platform for filmmakers to present their projects and connect with industry peers and potential collaborators. Find the entire Industry Programme on the festival’s website.

The DOK Industry Talk ‘Doc/Fiction’ probes the relevance of the documentary/fiction binary. The talk, moderated by director of the Documentary Association of Europe (DAE) Brigid O’Shea, will dive into the possibilities of collapsing conventional distinctions between the two, contemplating how it may affect films’ production and distribution, and what this entails in times of (post) truth. 

At the DOK Project Presentation ‘Generation Africa 2.0’, four African filmmakers Babucarr Manka (“Standing Up”, The Gambia), Fagamou Ndiaye (“Floods in Sotrac Keur Massar”, Senegal), Samira Vera-Cruz (“Plastic Atlantis”, Cabo Verde), and Karanja Ng’endo (“Forgotten Land”, Kenya) will showcase their projects as part of Generation Africa 2.0, an initiative of the non-profit South African media company STEPS that seeks to amplify African voices in the unfolding climate crisis by producing up to 30 films (short, medium, and long) from 21 African countries. Don Edkins, Executive Producer of STEPS, will join the event, offering an overview of the initiative along with its objectives and strategies for audience reach and impact. STEPS returns to Leipzig with ‘Generation Africa 2.0’, following its 2021 presentation of the initiative ‘Generation Africa’, which focused on advancing new narratives on migration from the perspective of African filmmakers.

DOK Industry maintains its focus on archives and archive research at this year’s edition, hosting a string of DOK Archive Market Screenings and Talks. Along with the screening of the GDR-produced TV documentary “Namibia – The Forgotten Colony” (Sabine Katins, 1976) about the Namibian struggle for independence, a panel discussion titled ‘Archives of Colonialism and Socialism: The GDR, Namibia, and the Film Heritage of Today’ will be held. The panel will delve into the archive politics of (neo)colonialism, raising critical questions about story ownership—as the portrayed struggle was lensed by a Western crew and later edited in East Berlin—and how the GDR’s political climate shaped the narrative. Moderated by researcher and filmmaker Laura Horelli, the talk will feature cinematographer of “Namibia – The Forgotten Colony” John Green, Namibian filmmaker Naomi Beukes, vice president of Germany’s Bundesarchiv Dr. Andrea Hänger, and director of the Namibia Library and Archives Service Sarah Negumbo (Negumbo will address the panel via a video statement).

Another DOK Archive Market Talk ‘How Did They Do It? Researching and Producing “Stasi FC”’ will centre on the meticulously researched and archive-rich Sky Documentary’s production “Stasi FC” (the FOCAL 2024 award for “Best Use of Footage in a History Feature”), which features rare materials unveiling how the GDR’s secret service sought to subvert football in East Germany in the late 1970s. Moderated by producer, visual researcher, and clearance specialist Elizabeth Klinck, the panel will include archive producers Vanessa Christoffers-Trinks and Stephen Maier, along with producer Erik Winker (CORSO Film). The panellists will detail their working process, from researching archive materials to budget planning and the licensing process. “Stasi FC” will be screened at the DOK Archive Market. 

The DOK Archive Market Talk ‘Archive Producers: What’s Next? Discussing the Trends and Developments From the Inside’ will examine current industry developments and what the future holds for archive producing, particularly in light of the rising use of AI in this work. Archive producer and founder of GRAP e.V. (German Researchers and Archive Producers) Monika Preischl will be in conversation with Canadian archive producer Elizabeth Klinck.

DOK Exchange XR, the festival’s exhilarating programme on interactive and immersive storytelling with a focus on XR works, this year will revolve around the topic of “immersive sound”. Short n’ Sweet, the festival’s short film pitch, has announced this year’s selection of projects. The crop of projects features a variety of narrative and artistic approaches, and includes short documentaries, animated documentaries, animated films, and series. The selection of projects for DOK Preview Germany and DOK Preview International will be announced on the website shortly.

The Industry Programme also comprises a number of events, organised by DOK Leipzig’s trusted partners. AG DOK will present their new mentoring initiative and reflect on the use of AI in documentaries during the respective panels (held in German). ARD will host speed meetings for serial storytellers and hold their TopDocs finale, where the five finalists for 2024 will showcase their projects. AG Animationsfilm will run a panel, ‘Twentysomething – The Shift to Medium Length Film in Animation’, focusing on the emerging trend toward longer formats in animation films, along with the possibilities and challenges that arise from this shift, which affect the way these films are financed, produced, and distributed.

At Industry Intros, accredited guests will have the opportunity to gain insights into the specific roles in the documentary industry, such as producers, sales agents, and distributors, as well as their work practices. Industry Connections will offer accredited guests the chance to have one-on-one or roundtable meetings with experts in the field. The list of available experts and meeting request forms will be accessible shortly before the festival. Prior registration for the meetings is required. 

The DOK Toolkit for First Timers will help newcomers navigate the assorted festival and DOK Industry offerings and learn more about the international markets. Toolkit sessions are led by seasoned industry professionals, and accredited guests can choose to either join an online session ahead of the festival or an onsite session during the festival. 

Find the full Programme: DOK Industry Programme A-Z

All dates and events: DOK Industry Timetable

DOK Leipzig is proud to announce the first films to be officially selected for the festival. Feature-length films submitted to the Camera Lucida and Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe sections do not compete for the Golden and Silver Doves, but may be nominated for partnership awards.

“Camera Lucida” is a collection of documentaries that feature bold artistic styles of the kind that film aficionados in particular appreciate. The five films in the programme this year deal with the sixth great mass extinction (“Just Above the Surface of the Earth”), explore rock formations as a metaphor for grieving (“Lapilli”), and take us to an Argentinian zoo (“Collective Monologue”), a trailer park next to Berlin’s Ostkreuz station (“The Garden Cadences”) and a salt lake in the United States that was once an nuclear testing ground (“Among the Palms the Bomb, or: Looking for Reflections in the Toxic Field of Plenty”).

DOK Leipzig’s “Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe” section provides a platform for films from Central and Eastern Europe – a region with strong historical ties to the festival. The programme is comprised of works from Georgia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Poland and Croatia, and includes a world premiere (“A Year of Endless Days” by Renata Lučić).

The five documentaries in this section deal with such topics as the mass exodus of women from rural areas along the Croatian-Bosnian border (“A Year of Endless Days”), an attempt to reconcile family responsibilities with one’s own dreams (“The Other One”) and a reflection on strict parenting methods (“Ever Since I Knew Myself”). “wo/men” portrays “burrneshas”, women in the social roles of men in Albania, and “A Year in the Life of the Country” uses found footage to tell of Poland in the early 1980s, when it was caught between the Solidarność movement and the recent imposition of martial law.

Continuing with a special focus on Central and Eastern Europe, DOK Industry presents a number of events and activities, brought about through collaboration with the festival’s valued partners. The second session of the 2024 Ex Oriente Film workshop, a three-module creative lab of the Institute of Documentary Film (IDF) supporting creative documentary features and docuseries from Central and Eastern Europe, will once again take place in partnership with DOK Leipzig on 26 - 30 October. 17 projects in development and early production will participate in the second session, receiving tailored guidance on honing the narrative and visual style of their projects, developing a robust financing and distribution strategy, and finding international co-producers and partners. The tutors joining the workshop are Iikka Vehkalahti, Filip Remunda, Diana El Jeiroudi, Christian Popp, Per K.Kirkegaard, Ruth Reid, Chris Westendorp, and Eleonora Savi, among others.
 
The programme of Ex Oriente Film x DOK Industry will also feature a slate of offerings that are also open to DOK Industry accredited guests, including masterclasses, case studies, and lectures covering diverse aspects of documentary filmmaking, production, and distribution. Addressing episodic storytelling in documentary series, writer and director Chris Westendorp (co-directed “Hidden” alongside Mea Dols de Jong) will give a hands-on lecture on script writing in series, while Fandango’s Eleonora Savi will discuss daunting aspects of producing documentary series. DOK Industry accredited guests will also have the opportunity to attend a masterclass by esteemed film editor Per K. Kirkegaard (“Accused”, “Chuck Norris vs. Communism”), who will delve into the artistic collaboration in the editing room. A masterclass on artistic language in documentary film and a special way of working as a director-cinematographer will be given by filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheimer (2024 DOK Leipzig’s Opening Film “Tracing Light”). Lastly, international sales agent Anna Berthollet of Lightdox will guide us through the current landscape of sales and distribution for creative documentaries.

Following last year’s success, DOK Leipzig will hold a showcase of six Generation Ukraine projects, with the participation of the film teams. The six projects are presently in the rough-cut stage and are nearing completion, looking for festival premieres and distribution. Generation Ukraine is an initiative of the ARTE Group and its European partners, which was rolled out in 2023 as part of a collective effort to champion uncompromising voices from Ukraine and support local documentary filmmakers and production structures by co-producing 12 documentaries that examine Ukrainian reality since the onset of the full-scale invasion. 

A number of completed films from the Generation Ukraine collection have already enjoyed success at major international film festivals. Olha Zhurba’s unflinching audiovisual diary of the effects of war “Songs of Slow Burning Earth” premiered at the Venice Film Festival to critical acclaim. Premiering at Berlinale Forum, Oksana Karpovych’s harrowing film “Intercepted” received two Special Mentions for the Ecumenical Jury Prize and the Amnesty International Film Award, further screening at more than 30 festivals.​ Svitlana Lishchynska’s intimately personal film “A Bit of a Stranger” (DOK Co-Pro Market 2022) celebrated its world premiere at Berlinale Panorama, while Roman Blazhan’s “The Basement” made its debut across the globe at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI). 

Film Lists:
Camera Lucida
Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe

Overviews of the Projects: Ex Oriente Film and Generation Ukraine

Ex Oriente Film 2024: Features

• Be Realistic, Demand the Impossible | Director: Vanja Juranić | Production: Vanja Jambrović, Tibor Keser (Restart, Hungary)
• Blue Sweater With a Yellow Hole | Director: Tetiana Khodakivska | Production: Elena Saulich (Pronto Film, Ukraine)
• Cooperative | Director: Mikhail Volkov | Production: Roman Blazhan (Minimal Movie, Ukraine)
• Gone Guy | Director: Andrei Dăscălescu | Production: Ligia Ciornei (Filmlab, Romania)
• The Island of Freedom | Director: Haruna Honcoop | Production: Haruna Honcoop (Be Water My Friend, Czech Republic)
• My Father, the Iceman | Director: Łukasz Kowalski | Production: Anna Mazerant (4.30 Studio, Poland)
• Once We Were Heroes | Director: Oliwia Tonteri | Production: Aino Halonen (Kompot, Finland, Poland)
• Operation Champion | Director: Mariam Nikolaishvili | Production: Irina Gelashvili (Radium Films, Georgia)
• Parallel Polis 2.0 | Director: Martin Piga | Production: Tereza Tokárová (CinePunkt, Slovakia)
• Retrospective | Director: Gabrielė Urbonaitė | Production: Uljana Kim, Migla Butkute (Studio Uljana Kim, Lithuania)
• Slava  | Director: Soňa G. Lutherová | Production: Maroš Hečko, Peter Veverka (Azyl Production, Slovakia)
• Virtual Girlfriends | Director: Barbora Chalupová | Production: Pavla Klimešová (Helium Film, Czech Republic)

Ex Oriente Film 2024: Series

• Cradle To Grave | Director: Stanislav Donchev | Production: Teodora Doncheva (Bulgaria) 
• Forever Young | Director: Đuro Gavran | Production: Miljenka Čogelja (Pipser, Croatia)
• Frozen Ocean | Director: Viktória Dénes | Production: Julianna Ugrin (Éclipse Film, Hungary)
• Near Light | Director: Niccolò Salvato | Production: Mara Cracaleanu (Melancholia Pictures, Romania)
• One Inch Eastward | Director: Irina Maldea | Production: Brendan Culleton (Akajava Films, Ireland)

The Ex Oriente Film training programme is supported by Creative Europe MEDIA, the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, and the Czech Film Fund.
 

Overview of the six Generation Ukraine projects presented at DOK Leipzig 2024:

• Another Man's Diary | Director: Oleksandr Tkachenko | Production: Illia Gladshtein (Phalanstery Films, Ukraine) | Co-production: Antoine Goldet (Amok Films, France)
• The Blessed | Director: Andrii Lysetskyi | Production: Olha Beskhmelnytsina, Gennady Kofman (MaGiKa Film, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Uldis Cekulis (VFS Films, Latvia), Erik Winker (CORSO Film, Germany)
• Palingenesion (WT) | Directors: Alina Gorlova, Yelizaveta Smith, Simon Mozgovyi | Production: Eugene Rachkovsky (TABOR, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Ralph Wieser (Mischief Films, Austria)​, Nabil Bellahsene (Les Valseurs, France)
• Queens of Joy | Director: Olga Gibelinda | Production: Ivanna Khitsinska (Quatros Group, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Louis Beaudemont (Les Steppes Productions, France), Hana Blaha Šilarová (Films & Chips, Czech Republic)
• Silent Flood | Director: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk | Production: Karina Kostyna (TABOR, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer (Elemag Pictures, Germany)
• Women Occupied | Directors: Tetiana Hanza, Zoia Volk | Production: Oksana Ivantsiv, Regina Maryanovska Davidzon (Real Pictures, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Zoia Volk (ZOVA Films, Germany)

“We all think we know what light is. But if we take a closer look, we realise that we don’t,” the film “Tracing Light” tells us. DOK Leipzig will open at the CineStar in Leipzig on 28 October with the world premiere of this latest film by Thomas Riedelsheimer (“Rivers and Tides”). This renowned German filmmaker previously opened the Leipzig festival in 2004 with his film “Touch the Sound”.

In “Tracing Light”, co-produced by ZDF/3sat, Riedelsheimer now explores the phenomenon of light, creating a dialogue between two disciplines – art and physics – that approach it in different ways.

From the Outer Hebrides in Scotland to the Advanced Research Centre at the University of Glasgow to the Max Planck Institute in Erlangen, the film accompanies leading scientists and such internationally prominent artists as Ruth Jarman, Joe Gerhardt, Julie Brook, Johannes Brunner and Raimund Ritz. Between super slow motion, laser table football, “firestacks” and quantum theory, they aim to find out: What kind of a material is light? How do photons behave? How do we perceive the world around us – and through what means?

“Thomas Riedelsheimer’s documentaries are a delightful celebration of light and sound,” says festival director Christoph Terhechte. “They sharpen our senses. Twenty years after opening our festival with ‘Touch the Sound’, we’re proud to be doing it again with ‘Tracing Light’.”

Thomas Riedelsheimer has received multiple awards, including the German Film Award and the Adolf-Grimme-Preis, for his work as a director and cinematographer. In 2008, he co-founded the production company Filmpunkt GmbH with Stefan Tolz, after having been a partner in the production platform Filmquadrat for several years. He is a member of the German and European Film Academies and has been a lecturer at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg since October 2006. Since 2018, Riedelsheimer has overseen “dok.art”, a programme he devised to develop content for documentaries by first-time directors. He will discuss the programme in a public DOK Talk.

Riedelsheimer will also hold a master class at the Ex Oriente Workshop at DOK Leipzig.

"Tracing Light" website: sonjahenrici.com/films/tracinglight/

Titled “Third Ways in a Divided World. Utopia and Subversion”, the DOK Leipzig Retrospective will focus on the formation of the ideological fronts of the Cold War. This section will feature a compilation of films that reflect various aspirations of autonomy or view communist and socialist doctrine through a different lens. In this vein, the Retrospective also brings up DOK Leipzig’s own history as a festival.

The impact of the GDR maxim “If you’re not for us, you’re against us” was felt at what was then known as the International Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week particularly in the wake of the “purging plenary session” of the SED leadership in 1965. Thus, one of the questions explored in this Retrospective is the extent to which films were—or were not—screened in Leipzig that didn’t conform to a dualistic view of the world, such as those that revealed a liberalisation in the domestic and cultural policies of the “fraternal socialist countries”. Works by Jean Rouch, Peter Voigt, Dušan Makavejev, and Volker Via Lewandowsky will be screened in this programme, which was curated by film critic Sylvia Görke. The section opens with “The Truth About Fidel Castro Revolution” by Victor Pahlen (1959), an endorsement of the Cuban Revolution by US Hollywood star Errol Flynn, which was screened at the third edition of the Leipzig festival in 1960.

The “third ways” described in the Retrospective include communism in Cuba following the revolution, the Black Waves in Yugoslavia and Poland that were significant movements in film history, and positions taken on the Middle East conflict as the boundary between the ideological blocs. Furthermore, all of these “third ways” reflect a voluntary commitment to “anti-imperialism” and watershed moments in the politics of the Leipzig festival. With this in mind, the Retrospective also looks at films whose makers or protagonists were connected to revolutions, such as “Chile” (1975) by Juan Forch, or that took a critical approach to the excessive bureaucratisation of their own socialist environment, such as “Black Film” (1971) by Želimir Žilnik and “Refrain” (1972) by Krzysztof Kieślowski.

In some cases, the dissident potential of these films only becomes apparent when looking back at them. An example of this is Karlheinz Mund’s “15.000 Volt” (1963), in which Wolf Biermann’s “Frühjahrslied der Eisenbahnerin”, a song about a society hoping for change, can be heard—more than a decade before Biermann was expatriated from the GDR. Another example is “Hello Cubans” (1963) by Agnès Varda, which earned the Silver Dove in Leipzig in 1964, even though it portrayed a different kind of real-world socialism that fascinated but also annoyed the local ideological allies. The educational film “Something Self Explanatory (15x)”  (1971) by Hartmut Bitomsky and Harun Farocki and “Associations” (1975) by British director John Smith probe another, playful kind of “third way”. Neither film was screened in Leipzig at the time of its release—one reason presumably being their facetious and satirical aspects.

“If we were to connect the geographic locations that this programme traverses, we’d end up with a pretty wild map—certainly not a purely East-West axis,” says curator Sylvia Görke. She also sees a correlation to current events in the way the films align with each other: “Terms such as ‘third way’ and ‘alternative’ came about in a context of removing ideological barriers, and people shouldn’t be allowed to simply appropriate them in order to advocate for new restrictions.”

This year’s Matinee Saxon State Archive will once again echo the theme of the Retrospective. Titled “So Comrades, Come Rally! The GDR in Solidarity”, this programme curated by Konstantin Wiesinger will present examples of local and regional amateur filmmaking. These works focus on the demonstrative solidarity of the GDR with the “oppressed peoples” of the world, that is, solidarity with the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, Chilean President Salvador Allende, and the Palestine Liberation Organization. The historical footage, created by film enthusiasts in youth organisations, companies, and clubs, shows interactions with people from other countries, such as during friendship visits and the World Youth Festival.

“Albeit unintentionally, this often led to skewed comparisons, blind spots, and co-opting attributions,” says Wiesinger. “Fortunately, film as a medium—just like filmed reality—usually turns out to be more powerful than the intended script. Disparities are clearly revealed through unintentional looks and inadvertent tragicomedy.”

The complete schedule for DOK Leipzig, including all dates and times, will be published on 10 October. Tickets will also go on sale at that time.
 

Please find the list of films in the programmes described above here:
Film Lists Retrospective + Matinee

The Retrospective is funded by the Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany. DOK Leipzig would like to thank the Saxon State Archives for their support of the Matinee.

The 20th edition of the DOK Co-Pro Market welcomes 35 documentary projects from 30 countries that will have the opportunity to find international financing and co-production partners. This year sees a further increase in the number of entries, totalling 366 projects. 

This year’s selection features a number of projects that lens intimate family stories to examine broader themes marking nations, from societal shifts to events of profound socio-political consequence, such as civil wars and military conflicts. Joël Jent’s “Rebellion of Memory” zeroes in on a family of three from different camps of Peru’s last armed conflict. In “Kafka in Belgrade” (WT), Maša Nešković trains her lens on her stepfather and notable filmmaker, Goran Marković, navigating the familial ties against the backdrop of Serbia’s turbulent history. Three projects from Algeria offer layered personal narratives, embedded in the country’s troubled history. In “My Dad’s a Farmer”, filmmaker El Kheyer Zidani returns to Algeria, revisiting his family's struggles during the country’s 90s civil war. The theme of return to Algeria is also dominant in the two French-Algerian co-productions, Camélia Gadhgadhi’s “Bitter Seed” (Amok Films, “Wake Up On Mars”) and Assia Tamerdjent’s “Hana, Algeria and Me”.

Some projects depict liberation struggles and assorted forms of resistance against oppressive forces. In the vein of exploring new ways to tell a larger story, Esther Vital uses animation as a documentary language in her visually striking animation documentary “If I Die” to reveal the horrors of a clandestine torture centre of the Brazilian military dictatorship. Following former pacifists in Myanmar, including a celebrated poet and human rights activist, Aung Naing Soe’s “When a Poet Goes to War” sheds light on the tragic realities of war as they take up arms to fight the military junta. Delving into the theme of activism, “The Wind’s Thirst” by Alejandro Valbuena chronicles the struggle of Wayuu leaders facing the threat of wind turbine installations on their lands. A tonally different but no less critical story is explored in Manuel Inacker’s “The Land We Breathe” (Restart, which was at the Co-Pro Market 2018 with “Museum of the Revolution”) traces the endeavour of a devoted trio trying to protect Dalmatia on the Croatian coast amid the onslaught of tourists and looming climate collapse.

Several titles in this year’s lineup approach the theme of sports as an element of healing, empowerment, and community-building. In Jacopo De Bertoldi and Petna Ndaliko Katondolo’s “Fists of Peace”, former child soldier Kibomango morphs an abandoned stadium into a boxing gym in the DRC’s Goma for war-scarred youths. Kan Muftic’s “Blackbelts” contemplates the human condition and disability, inserting the viewer into the lives of persons, often sidelined by society, as they turn to taekwondo. Another poignant story featuring sports comes from Nupur Agrawal and Shivajee Biswanath. In their project “Downhill Kargil”, unfolding in a remote Himalayan town in India, two Muslim teenage girls are set on playing ice hockey in the face of the changing environmental and socio-political milieu.

Presenting topically different narratives, a number of projects in the selection embrace the theme of music and singing. Walter Fasano’s “Popol Vuh: A Cosmic Journey” takes us on a sonic voyage with the iconic German band of Popol Vuh, using expansive archival material, while Nona Giunashvili’s “Sacred Songs” crafts a choral portrait of four female singers straddling tradition, religion, and artistic expression in a Georgian village. Emotive testimony is at the heart of another project relating to music, Amine Boukhris’ “Solo”, which tells an incomprehensibly personal story of Solo Akmal, a young rapper in Tunisia who was abandoned by his mother to live among Daesh (IS).

This year’s lineup also showcases three compelling documentary series projects: Daphné Leblond and Lisa Billuart-Monet’s “The Free Speech Rises” (Les Films d’Ici, co-produced by Iota Production), ​​Rafael Valdeavellano and Nicolas Acuña’s true crime series “Letelier File” (La Ventana Cine), and Philipp Diettrich and Sara Woldeslassie’s “From Here”.

The selection includes five promising projects that the DOK Industry team scouted at trusted partner training initiatives and film markets: Andrei Kutsila’s “Letters”, Amílcar Patel’s “Africa AI”, Emmanuelle Mayer’s “Woman in White”, Kan Muftic’s “Blackbelts”, and Yuriy Shylov’s “Entr’actes”.

Some of the directors and producers invited to this year’s Co-Pro Market have previously had their projects presented and/or their films screened at DOK Leipzig. Stefilm (Co-Pro Market 2017 with “Exemplary Behaviour”, a Golden Dove winner at DOK Leipzig 2019) is returning to the festival with their new project “Queerinale, Who Will Take Care of Me? by Matteo Castellino, which follows a group of gay seniors in Rome creating a safe space for LGBTQ+ people in difficulty. Filmmaker from the US Milton Guillén (Co-Pro Market 2019 with “On the Move”) will introduce his new project “My Skin and I”, co-directed with Fiona Guy Hall. German filmmaker Marita Stocker (DOK Leipzig 2019 with “What to Do With All This Love”) will return to the festival with her new project “Sitting the Month” (Eikon Media).

The 20th edition continues to see immense international interest from beyond the European borders, welcoming this October directors and producers from the US, five countries from Central and South America, five Asian countries, and five African countries. 

The DOK Co-Pro Market 2024 is set to take place from 28 October to 29 October in Leipzig, with complementary online meetings on 5 November.

This year’s selection process was carried out by Jia Zhao (Chinese-Dutch film producer, founder of Muyi Film and Silk Road Film Salon), Marcella Jelić (founder of Split Screen), and Ümit Uludağ (producer and CEO of CORSO), with Brigid O’Shea (director of DAE), Guevara Namer (coordinator of the DOK Co-Pro Market), and Nadja Tennstedt (director of DOK Industry).

Overview of Selected 35 Projects:

Africa AI | Director: Amílcar Patel | South Africa | KAMVA Collective
Bitter Seed | Director: Camélia Gadhgadhi | France, Algeria | Amok Films, Libre Image
Blackbelts | Director: Kan Muftic | Switzerland | PANIMAGE
BOOM! | Director: Laura Plancarte | UK | The Republic of Park Royal, LP Films
Chunyu: A Death Foretold | Director: Fan Yang | China, Canada | Walking in the Mountains, Electric Shadow
Downhill Kargil | Directors: Nupur Agrawal, Shivajee Biswanath | India | AutumnWolves Media
Entr’actes | Director: Yuriy Shylov | Ukraine | Alarm Productions
Fists of Peace | Directors: Jacopo De Bertoldi, Petna Ndaliko Katondolo | Italy, DR Congo | AntropicA, Alkebu
The Free Speech Rises | Directors: Daphné Leblond, Lisa Billuart-Monet | France, Belgium | Les Films d’Ici , Iota Production
From Here | Directors: Philipp Diettrich, Sara Woldeslassie | Germany | PINKY SWEAR FILM
From Radvanka | Director: Tomi Hazhlinsky | Ukraine | Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema
The Gary Project | Director: Luchina Fisher | USA | Little Light Productions
The Goldfather | Director: Decio Matos Jr. | Brazil | CAPURI
Hana, Algeria and Me | Director: Assia Tamerdjent | France, Algeria | Making of Films, Urubu Films
Hope is a Word | Director: Maria Galliani Dyrvik | Norway, Nigeria | Smau media
If I Die | Director: Esther Vital | Brazil, France, Spain | O Par Produções, Marmitafilms, Midralgar
Kafka in Belgrade (WT) | Director: Maša Nešković | Serbia | Marienbad film
The Land We Breathe | Director: Manuel Inacker | Croatia, Germany | Restart
Left Behind | Director: Nasib Mahamud Farah | Denmark | Emjay Productions
Letelier File | Directors: Rafael Valdeavellano, Nicolas Acuña | Chile | La Ventana Cine
Letters | Director: Andrei Kutsila | Poland, Germany | DocEdu Foundation, DOCDAYS Productions
My Dad's a Farmer | Director: El Kheyer Zidani | Algeria, Germany | Z§K Production, jip Film & Verleih
My Skin and I | Directors: Milton Guillén, Fiona Guy Hall | Nicaragua, Germany, USA | Mayana Films, Solaris Film
not-yet-here | Director: Giorgio Bosisio | Italy | Studio x01
Oh, Heart Don’t Be Afraid | Director: Ana Kvichidze | Georgia, Germany | Moonbow Production, parabellum film
Popol Vuh: A Cosmic Journey| Director: Walter Fasano  | USA | Good ‘n Proper
Queerinale, Who Will Take Care of Me? | Director: Matteo Castellino | Italy | Stefilm International
Rebellion of Memory | Director: Joël Jent | Switzerland, France, Peru | Aaron Film, Les Films d’Ici, Amazona Producciones
Sacred Songs | Director: Nona Giunashvili | Georgia | 17|07 Productions
Sitting the Month | Director: Marita Stocker | Germany | eikon media
Solo | Director: Amine Boukhris | Tunisia, France, Qatar | Donia Films, Dynamo Production
Umbrellas of the Acrobats | Director: Mukesh Subramaniam | India | Elsewhat
When a Poet Goes to War | Director: Aung Naing Soe | Thailand, Hong Kong | Singing Cicadas, 101fps
The Wind’s Thirst | Director: Alejandro Valbuena | Colombia | Curare Films
Woman in White | Director: Emmanuelle Mayer | Israel | Emmanuelle Mayer Films

Amid optical-kinetic wonders, existential musings and shadow parades on the phenakistiscope, this year DOK Leipzig once again presents big names and exciting insider tips from the animation film industry.

At Animation Perspectives, curator André Eckardt will bring two internationally acclaimed young female animation artists to the stage to present their works and share insights into their studios and methods. At first glance, Gudrun Krebitz and Moïa Jobin-Paré’s styles could not be more different. Work by Krebitz, who was born in Graz and lives in Berlin, ranges from freely drawn animated films to expansive installations, while her masterfully laconic and poetic texts lead viewers into the idiosyncratic inner lives of her mostly female characters. Montreal-based Jobin-Paré, who also works as a sound artist, approaches from the opposite direction, editing photos discovered on her adventures with animating traces like layer scrapings.

What they have in common is the intensity and sensuality with which they describe their protagonists, through which they also comment on the world around them. Jobin-Paré and her shadowy proxies creatively appropriate the world by carving bright colours into the images of a dreary cityscape, breathing life into the wasteland. Krebitz's characters strive to orient themselves in the haze of other people's voices and opinions, ultimately preferring to dream at home, entrusting their thoughts to the moon. They are as self-confident as they are elusive, and as stubborn as they are poetic—rounded out by a cigarette's length of existentialism.

On Friday evening during the festival week, DOK Leipzig invites you to Animation Night at the Schaubühne. Also curated by André Eckardt, this night is all about one of the delightful beginnings to animation art: the phenakistiscope, a combination camera and record player. Initially used for the scientific visualisation of a pumping heart, the 19th century technique has long since become part of contemporary club culture. From the hallucinatory visualisation of an electronica track by Max Cooper, to early works of computer animation, all the way back to historical 19th century thaumatrope optical illusion toys, this event will offer fascinating glimpses into the possibilities of animation. To top off the evening, British artist duo Sculpture, who collage snippets of found magnetic sound tapes, will perform a live set.

DOK Leipzig Solidifies its Animation Industry Programme

Along with the thrilling events dedicated to the art of animation in the public programme, DOK Leipzig is further solidifying its programme of animation industry activities during the 67th festival edition. Coming prominently into focus with the dialogue series Animation Perspectives on Thursday, animation remains at the centre stage on the festival Friday. Visual artist and animation artist Isabel Herguera, to whom DOK Leipzig pays homage at this year’s edition, will hold a Masterclass, shedding light on an intriguing interplay between individual and dialogue-based creativity, using select clips from her body of work. A number of dedicated formats for animation film will further take place, including Animation Lab DOK Leipzig (which kicks off on the Monday of the festival in collaboration with CEE Animation), the networking event Animation Meets Doc (which boosts mutual exchange and networking opportunities between documentary and animation film professionals), and the Animation Night.

Underlying the festival’s continued strong focus on animation, director of DOK Industry at DOK Leipzig Nadja Tennstedt says: “Since 2023 DOK Leipzig has awarded a Golden Dove for a feature-length animated film. We are very excited about this extension and have taken it as an opportunity to further develop the animation offerings at DOK Industry this year.” Tennstedt notes, “The focus remains on artistic animation films with a distinctive style and perspective and, of course, on projects that blend animation and documentary elements. With our different offerings we particularly want to promote networking and collaboration between documentary and animation professionals.”

Following a successful inaugural edition, DOK Industry is once again partnering up with CEE Animation (CEE Animation Forum, the largest industry platform for European animated projects in the CEE region) to present the second edition of Animation Lab DOK Leipzig. Documentary producers developing their first animated documentary (short, feature, or series) will hone their knowledge of the production and distribution of animated documentaries in the four-day residential workshop. The workshop will be led by seasoned producer Jean-François Le Corre (Vivement-Lundi!, “Flee”) and multidisciplinary artist Uri Kranot (ANIDOX), accompanied by the CEE Animation team.

DOK Industry further expands its animation industry programme with a case study by Jean-François Le Corre, thus strengthening the focus on animation and connecting Animation Lab DOK Leipzig with the festival’s industry offerings. Le Corre will present a work-in-progress of “Suzanne”, an internationally co-produced animated documentary feature by Joëlle Oosterlinck and Anaïs Caura, which traces the life of the trailblazing Suzanne Noël, deftly using 2D animation and colorised archives. The event is open to accredited guests only.

Please find the full list of films in the programmes described above here: 
Film Lists Animation Perspectives + Animation Night

The 67th edition of DOK Leipzig will pay homage to the two esteemed women filmmakers, French director Dominique Cabrera and Spanish animation artist Isabel Herguera. The festival will also honour the memory of late German director and writer Thomas Heise with a lineup of films, an evening event, and this year’s DEFA Matinee.

Dominique Cabrera’s formidable career has spanned 40 years as has devoted herself to assorted forms of expression, alternating between fiction and documentary, short and long form films. Her films have been screened at numerous international film festivals and have garnered awards at Cannes, the Berlinale, Toronto, Locarno, among others.

Cabrera’s commitment to social issues is central to her documentary work. Her early documentaries have often focused on voices of marginalised people, such as those in France’s banlieues and nearby towns. Her sensitivity toward those she portrays is palpable, for example, in “Chronicle of an Ordinary Suburb” (1992).

Cabrera’s oeuvre consists entirely of personal films, some of which explore with various degrees of intensity her daily experiences and her Algerian-French background as a ‘pied-noir’. It is not uncommon for her films to tackle such complex issues as mental and physical illness, and mortality. Her first feature-length documentary, the video diary “Tomorrow and Again Tomorrow” (1997), deals with her own hopes and fears, yet it remains in all aspects universally relevant.

“Her films are consistently about recognising oneself in the other and the other in oneself,” notes festival director Christoph Terhechte.

Rounding out Cabrera’s retrospective are her feature film “The Milk of Human Kindness” (2001), which deals with ruptures within families, and her documentary “Hi Mister Comolli” (2023). In the latter, Cabrera bids farewell to her terminally ill friend Jean-Louis Comolli, a former editor of Cahiers du cinéma, who, akin to her, had to leave Algeria after the country gained independence. The two converse about life, death, love, and their shared fondness of cinema.

Cabrera’s masterclass on 31 October will be preceded by a screening of Chris Marker’s seminal experimental film “La Jetée” (1962). This film inspired Cabrera’s latest work “La Jetée: The Fifth Shot” (2024), which will celebrate its world premiere in this year’s International Competition Documentary Film at DOK Leipzig.

Isabel Herguera’s oeuvre incorporates such works as “Los Muertitos” (1994), “Ámár” (2010), and “Black Box” (2016), which offer a poignant take on socio-politically urgent themes. In 2023, Herguera presented her first feature-length animated film, “Sultana’s Dream”, as an out of competition title in DOK Leipzig’s section for international animated films. Curator Franka Sachse of the festival’s selection team notes how Herguera’s personal creative style makes her more recent films “visually unique”, detailing that “translucent colour fields [are] set off against porous ink strokes in rich black, unconventional perspectives and an expressive animation”. The composition and mood of Herguera’s films also reflect her background in the fine arts. She studied in Düsseldorf under Fluxus pioneer Nam June Paik, specialising in animation only later. DOK Leipzig’s Hommage to Herguera charts the trajectory of her work, with the first part of the Hommage dedicated to her short films, from her student days to her work as a co-creator, and the second—to her films that showcase her role as an inspirer and mentor. A professor of animation at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Herguera mentors students around the world, alongside collaborating with artists in the development of ideas and providing support to film projects as a producer.

On the festival Friday, 1 November, Herguera will hold a masterclass, discussing an interplay between individual and dialogue-based creativity, using selected documentary and making of clips.

With “Thomas Heise (1955–2024): Odds and Ends”, DOK Leipzig will pay tribute to the work of the celebrated German film director and author. The programme will include three feature-length documentaries, which all centre on fractured lives and which themselves represent fragments of Heise’s work that defies any categorisation.

In “The Iron Age” (1991), Heise reflects on his student project lensing four young people from Eisenhüttenstadt who rebelled against the ideology of the GDR. “Barluschke” (1997), one of Heise’s lesser-known films, portrays an enigmatic man who adopted a new identity for different employers and phases of his life: he was an agent for the Stasi, then the BND and the CIA; he was a trafficker of East German military hardware after the fall of the Berlin Wall; and he was also a father, a failing husband, and a homosexual. In his monumental final film, “Heimat Is a Space in Time” (2019), Heise turns to a narrative that encompasses not only his family’s history but also that of an entire country.

“We’re interested in watching these three works with the audience in Leipzig, a large part of which undoubtedly had experiences similar to those of Thomas Heise and his protagonists,” says Jan Künemund, a member of the selection committee for the German Competition, who worked alongside festival director Terhechte in putting together the section. “Heise’s films reveal an important quality of documentary filmmaking that can also be relevant in view of the current political state of affairs: seeing and examining circumstances without immediately trying to interpret or categorise them.”

On 1 November, DOK Leipzig will also host an evening in honour of Heise at the CineStar. Excerpts from the previously unreleased footage, which Heise was last working on, will also be screened. The event will be moderated by film publicist Ralph Eue, a former curator DOK Leipzig, and filmmaker and author Cornelia Klauß, who has helmed the Film and Media Arts section at Berlin’s Akademie der Künste since 2017.

The DEFA Matinee on 2 November will present Heise’s documentary “Volkspolizei” (1985) and his DEFA production “Imbiß Spezial” (1990). His long-time companion Peter Badel will be in attendance.

On 18 and 19 November, festival partner 3sat will broadcast Heise’s films “Stau, jetzt geht’s los” (1992) and “Heimat Is a Space in Time” (2019) as part of its regular programming.

The complete schedule for DOK Leipzig, including all dates, will be available on 10 October. Tickets will go on sale at the same time.

The DEFA Matinee was conceived in collaboration with the DEFA Foundation. The Thomas Heise programme is made possible with support from 3sat and German Films.

Please find the full list of films in the programmes described above here: Film List

DOK Leipzig is launching the fifth season of the DOK Industry Podcast on 3 July. From its start, the podcast are in collaboration with the Programmers of Colour Collective (POC2) and the What’s Up with Docs podcast, the seven new episodes will be released in the run-up to the festival in autumn.

The DOK Industry Podcast offers a dedicated space for dialogue and debate to meaningfully address the status quo of the film industry in terms of position of power and lack of representation.   Its episodes aim to create pathways into criticism, alternative perspectives and works from filmmakers, curators, artists and writers from marginalised groups.  It strives to act as a platform where listeners explore the nuances of a complex reality, engage,  empathise and seek courage through truthful conversations between sparring partners. 

“Since its first season five years ago, the DOK Industry podcast was conceived as an inspirational tool for change in the international documentary landscape,” reminds Nadja Tennstedt, head of DOK Industry. “In the current reality marked by harrowing wars and social, humanitarian, political and ecological crises, it can be difficult to not feel stuck but forge ahead in mapping possible futures. All the more, It’s a privilege and great pleasure to amplify the voices of our curators and speakers who envision and work towards a more just, inclusive and collaborative industry where access for marginalized professionals is a priority and decision-making power is genuinely redistributed.”

The curators of this year’s DOK Industry Podcast are Lucy Mukerjee, Themba Bhebhe, Toni Bell, Weronika Lewandowska, Shakira Refos, Meena Nanji, Sunil Sadarangani, Judy Kibinge, Mungai Kiroga, Emily Rogers, Erika Dilday and P. Mudamba Mudamba.

In the first episode of the new season, Shakira Refos talks to Lanaa Dantzler, scriptwriter, filmmaker and alumna of the  Black Girls Film Camp, about her experience in the training programme, the impact on her professional and personal journey and how she envisions her future as an emerging filmmaker in the film industry. The camp provides a mentorship programme where young Black women seek support in a dedicated, safe space for producing a (first) short film. The conversation continues with filmmaker Contessa Gayles stretching out more insights about the importance of pipeline programmes such as fellowships, art residencies and labs and how to find empowerment and success outside academia.  

Another episode turns the spotlight on filmmaking industry in India. Producer, journalist and festival curator Sunil Sadarangani invites producer Apoorva Bakshi, activist Srishti Bakshi and filmmaker Selvamani Selvaraj to discuss the current documentary film scene based on their experiences and the story arc of the documentary film "WOMB: Women of My Billion" and the documentary series "The Hunt for Veerappan".

Focusing on the Kenyan film industry, Judy Kibinge, Mungai Kiroga and P. Mudamba Mudamba talk about DOCUBOX,  an initiative that has been a dynamic hub supporting filmmakers from the region for more than ten years. They dive deep into  their journey as initiators of a grassroots movement that has created a wide range of opportunities for its independent filmmakers, including the first of its kind film grant in sub-Saharan Africa for creative documentaries, the East African Documentary Film Fund. 

Inney Prakash, Jean-Marie Teno, Pratibha Parmar and Meena Nanji examine initiatives from Cameroon and the United States for creating discursive spaces for films outside the commercial structures that have an impact on  the visibility and narratives in the content of streaming services and established festivals. Together they discuss new ways of presenting, sharing and distributing films that are experimental and more radical than those of mainstream cinema.

American Documentary is a well-known nonprofit media arts organization in the United States. Part of their programming is POV, the longest-running showcase for independent nonfiction films broadcast on PBS. Emily Rogers and Erika Dilday, part of the AmDoc editorial team, invite BIPOC filmmakers and protagonists who have worked with POV to probe the complexities of working in the industry as a BIPOC storyteller, the considerations and responsibilities in telling stories for and by communities of colour, and the nuances of navigating life after one’s story is published.

Curator, XR creator, researcher, and lecturer Weronika Lewandowska is hosting a podcast episode with a focus on immersive audio, showcasing new dimensions of XR storytelling through spatial sound, to complement this year's DOK Industry programme DOK Exchange XR.

This podcast is supported by Docs in Orbit, a podcast hosted by a community of international filmmakers, and film.macht.kritisch – The Podcast about the *Other* Cinema from programmer  Canan Turan.

The DOK Industry podcast is funded by Creative Europe, BKM, MDM and the City of Leipzig.

All episodes are available on the DOK Leipzig website as well as on Spotify, Apple and Google Podcasts.

First episode of the fifth Podcast season: DOK Industry Podcasts