The competitions of the 65th edition of DOK Leipzig have been finalised. Now that the nominations are in for the short and long animated and documentary films for the International Competitions, the German Competitions and the Competitions for the Audience Awards, the programme of films is complete. Competing for the Golden and Silver Doves this year are 74 films, 48 of which are being screened in Leipzig as international or world premieres.
The International Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film is showcasing 13 works from the documentary film sector. These include films by first-time directors as well as works by multiple award-winning filmmakers. The range of form extends from observational style to performative dramatisations to the creative appropriation of archived images. The selection includes productions from Argentina, Canada, the Philippines and Lebanon.
Three documentary debut films use different approaches to tell biographical stories in the context of social institutions. “The Dependents” by Sofía Brockenshire combines a portrait of her father, a well-travelled Canadian immigration official, with reflections on borders, privileges and dependencies. In “The Invisible Frontier”, Mariana Flores Villalba films Mexican military exercises on a deserted island in the Pacific – and in doing so addresses the violent conditions in her country far from the images seen on film. Joseph Mangat’s “Divine Factory” portrays a factory outside Manila that manufactures statues of saints as a microcosm of the economic, social and spiritual conditions in the Philippines. These debut films by Brockenshire, Villalba and Mangat will each celebrate their world premiere in Leipzig.
Several films in this competition are based on archival research. Two of them take a look at colonial power structures: “Tropic Fever” by Mahardika Yudha, Robin Hartanto Honggare and Perdana Roswaldy examines visual material relating to Dutch colonists in Indonesia and finds the colonial ideology rooted in the plantation. Although there have been Dutch productions on similar themes, such as “Mother Dao, the Turtlelike” (1995, Silver Dove), this is the first time an Indonesian feature film has appropriated these images. Meanwhile, in her latest film, “Ciné-Guerrillas: Scenes from the Labudović Reels”, Mila Turajlić, to whom this year’s DOK Leipzig Homage is dedicated, draws on footage taken by Josip Broz Tito’s favourite cameraman, whose work during the Algerian War was a foreign policy mission by Yugoslavia.
The French production “A Hawk as Big as a Horse”, which Sasha Kulak presented at DOK Industry in 2021, will be screened as a world premiere. This film portrays a transgender ornithologist named Lydia who in a performative way transforms her surroundings on the outskirts of Moscow into something resembling the universe of “Twin Peaks”. The Canadian entry “A Night Song” by Félix Lamarche, also a world premiere, examines the controversial subject of assisted suicide. Also in competition: the latest works by Nikolaus Geyrhalter (“Matter Out of Place”), Corine Shawi (“Perhaps What I Fear Does Not Exist”) and Hernán Fernández (“Landscapes”).
The International Competition Short Documentary and Animated Film features a total of 24 works, of which eleven are animated and 13 are documentaries. Animation artists such as Priit Tender from Estonia and Elizabeth Hobbs from the UK, both veterans of DOK Leipzig, are returning this year to present the visual comedy of the genre. The documentary entries take us from the remote tracks of a motor-driven backup train in Colombia to a three-generation household experiencing the lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic in New York City.
Several short films reflect debates on authorship and truth as these relate to the creation of digital images. Claudia Larcher, for example, had an artificial intelligence create a film using analogue images. Gala Hernández López, meanwhile, focuses on gender stereotypes and the algorithmically influenced attention economics of what’s known as the incel scene.
“The films at this year’s festival confront us with genuine social realities, but they also teach us that documentary images must be approached with scepticism,” says festival director Christoph Terhechte. “: At a time when deep fakes are circulating online, DOK Leipzig regards itself as a platform that enables a critical discussion of the way images are being created and the forms of truth that are resulting from this.”
In the German Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film, “Uncanny Me” engages with this examination of how reality is depicted. In Katharina Pethke’s film, a young woman decides to have a deceptively real avatar made of herself for her work as a model – thus raising questions of morality and individuality. Sarah, the protagonist in “The Homes We Carry” (director: Brenda Akele Jorde), also reflects on her identity as the daughter of a German mother and a Mozambican father who was one of 20,000 contract workers in the GDR in the 1980s. When the Wall fell, he had to return to his home country and leave his family behind in Germany.
Also taking part in the German Competition is one of the three latest films by Heinz Emigholz, all of which are being screened at DOK Leipzig. “Slaughterhouses of Modernity” critiques German history by examining Argentinian, Bolivian and German architecture. Other competition entries include Tilman König’s portrait of his father, a former youth pastor from Jena whose stance against the far right was a source of controversy (“Pastor Lothar Stops”), Pepe Danquart’s “Daniel Richter” about the well-known painter and the latest film by Rainer Komers, which follows a man from Gelsenkirchen to his chosen country of residence, Japan (“Miyama, Kyoto Prefecture”).
Anne Isensee is also returning to DOK Leipzig and to the German Competition Short Documentary and Animated Film with her latest work. As is Falk Schuster, who, with Mike Plitt, is presenting an animated short film about a man who was sent to a juvenile re-education facility because his mother had publicly criticised the socialist regime in East Germany. Sixteen of the 18 entries in the two competitions will premiere in Leipzig.
In the Competition for the Audience Award Long Documentary and Animated Film, Pamela Meyer-Arndt’s entry also deals with the consequences of opposing the GDR. “Rebels” portrays the three artists Gabriele Stötzer, Cornelia Schleime and Tina Bara, each of whom ran afoul of the state. In 2019, the year of Volodymyr Zelensky’s election victory, “Three Women” by Maksym Melnyk takes us to an isolated Ukrainian village near the EU border. Martyna Peszko’s “Revolution 21” observes a theatre ensemble consisting of enthusiastic actors with Down’s Syndrome. All three films are celebrating their world premiere at this year’s edition of the festival.
Other films in the competition tell of a community of outsiders in the US state of Arizona and of a group of young people who grapple on stage with the impact of the war in eastern Ukraine.
The Competition for the Audience Award Short Documentary and Animated Film features a total of ten works, including a portrait of the band Moderat and a cinematic diary from Kyiv in the spring of 2022.
Complementing the programme of films will be roundtable discussions on three topics. The DOK Talk “animation@DOK Leipzig – Conversations on a Film Genre” is dedicated to animated films in the current festival programme. “Conducting the Archive – Conversations on Footage” will look, among other things, at the power structures involved in the collection of documents. Last but not least, at the DOK Talk “Architecture Film Art – Heinz Emigholz in Conversation”, Ralph Eue will welcome one of Germany’s most celebrated documentary filmmakers and artists. Parallel to the festival and along with screenings of Emigholz’s numerous films, a selection of his drawings will be exhibited at the Techne Sphere Leipzig from 14 October to 1 November.
The festival is presenting a total of 255 films and extended reality (XR) experiences from 55 countries, including 67 feature films and 179 short films. The venerable Kinobar Prager Frühling theatre will be joining DOK Leipzig as a new festival cinema in the southern part of town.
With the publication of the programme of films, including all screening times, ticket sales for the 65th festival edition have started. The festival will also be screening some of the films free of charge in the East Hall of Leipzig Central Station and at the Polish Institute. In accordance with the current Coronavirus Protection Ordinance, DOK Leipzig is not currently imposing any restrictions on access to the festival events. However, it is strongly recommended that you wear a mask covering your nose and mouth at all times while in the venues.
All competition film lists: see PDF document
Online film programme including all dates & online ticket sale: DOK Leipzig programme
