Films from these parts of the world have traditionally a strong historical connection to our festival. With the section titled “Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe”, we have created their own platform last year. Many of the films from this year selection reflect Russia’s influence and the threat of Russian imperialism. The section includes a portrayal of the courageous and undaunted activists in Belarus as well as the opposition to Putin’s regime in Russia prior to the invasion of Ukraine and children of Kharkiv who experiences the nightmare of wartime from an underground station and struggle to find the miracle of hope.

This is complemented by the “Focus: Post-1991 Slovenian Documentary Films” and with our short film event 5x5 Shorts from the East, which presents 25 documentary and animated films on 14 October at the Polish Institute in Leipzig - free of charge and smart on a “hop on, hop off” basis.

Last but not least, we will be screening several short documentaries from the Doc Alliance Award competition held by this festival network, to which DOK Leipzig and six other European documentary film festivals belong. Doc Alliance promotes documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe.

You can find more information about the programmes in our press release.