We present: “Camera Lucida” and “Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe” Our two out-of-competition sections show current feature-length films that do not compete for the Golden and Silver Doves, but may be nominated for partnership awards.

“Camera Lucida” presents documentary films with a special artistic character that will appeal above all to fans of unusual films. The five films in the programme this year deal with the sixth great mass extinction, explore rock formations as a metaphor for grieving, and take us to an Argentinian zoo, a trailer park next to Berlin’s Ostkreuz station and a salt lake in the United States that was once an nuclear testing ground.

The section “Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe” provides a platform for films from 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.
The five documentaries in this section deal with such topics as the mass exodus of women from rural areas along the Croatian-Bosnian border, an attempt to reconcile family responsibilities with one’s own dreams, a reflection on strict parenting methods, tell of women in the social roles of men in Albania, and Poland in the early 1980s, when it was caught between the Solidarność movement and the recent imposition of martial law.

The film list of the series described can be found here: Film List Camera Lucida, Film list Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe

DOK Industry strengthens creative film projects from Central and Eastern Europe

Continuing with a special focus on Central and Eastern Europe, DOK Industry presents a number of events. In 2024, the second module of the three-part workshop Ex Oriente Film will again be realised in cooperation with DOK Leipzig and will take place from 26 to 30 October in Leipzig. Ex Oriente Film is a creative lab of the Institute of Documentary Film (IDF), which supports creative documentary features and docuseries from Central and Eastern Europe.

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 and case studies, which deal with various aspects of documentary film production.

After last year’s successful start, DOK Leipzig will hold a showcase of six “Generation Ukraine” projects with the participation of the film teams.

You can find further information on the individual sections in our press release.