Films about crocodiles with colds, building blocks that play ball and fans of breakdancing: DOK Leipzig is once again presenting a variety of films for the youngest festivalgoers in its Kids DOK programme. Its four sections, each of which addresses a different age group, consist of animated and documentary films that are imaginative, thoughtful and funny.
The “Films for All 3+” and “Films for All 5+” sections introduce children in preschool and kindergarten to the colourful world of animation. The young audiences will meet singing bears (“Hush Hush Little Bear”), a little creature that turns into a whale and then into a swimmer (“Meta”), and even two children who, as they bicker, blow up like balloons (“Don’t Blow It Up”).
The “Films for All 7+” and “Films for All 11+” sections present a mix of documentary and animated stories for schoolchildren and adolescents. The protagonists are all children, whom the filmmakers meet at their level. In “Shirampari: Legacies of the River”, for example, Ricky, whose family lives deep in the Amazon jungle of Peru, goes on the hunt for a huge catfish in order to overcome fear. “Oasis” is about twins who say goodbye to each other at the end of their holidays because one of them is being transferred to a school for children with disabilities. In “Bgirl Badli”, 14-year-old Mali, an enthusiastic breakdancer, is looking forward to attending a dance school. And “Goals” tells of Husna and Charlotte, who dream of becoming professional football players.
The international films selected for Kids DOK are either without dialogue, are subtitled in German or are given a German voiceover. The morning screenings during the week-long festival are particularly suitable for day-care groups. Tickets to individual Kids DOK screenings cost €3.50. All information can be found at dok-leipzig.de.
For many years, DOK Leipzig has also given schoolchildren and teachers the opportunity to familiarise themselves with documentary film as a cinematic genre. DOK Education organises the DOK Spotters youth editorial team, school screenings of selected films from the festival, and the Teachers Day, a film education workshop for teachers.
Under the guidance of media professionals, the DOK Spotters conduct editorial meetings in which they plan newspaper articles, online content, videos and radio segments about the festival. They then publish this content on their blog at dok-spotters.de and in the media of various partners in the project. The participants, aged 14 to 20, learn interviewing techniques, camera skills, video and audio editing and the basics of online publishing. The youth editorial team will be at work from 15 to 22 October. Register at dok-leipzig.de/en/dok-education.
The Teachers Day on 17 October during the week of the festival offers teachers a full-day workshop about the use of documentary film in the classroom. This cooperation between DOK Leipzig and Vision Kino includes attendance of a festival screening of “Pastor Lothar Stops” from the German Competition. Tilman König’s critically appreciative portrait of his father, a former city youth pastor from Jena, sheds light on the pastor’s stance against the far right and the controversy that ensued.
“We aim to thoroughly analyse this film together and discuss the cinematic techniques it uses to tell its story and achieve an emotional impact,” says Luc-Carolin Ziemann, who oversees DOK Education and is conducting the workshop together with Leopold Grün. “This film will appeal to teachers because it vividly depicts what it means to be politically involved and because it showcases an intergenerational debate with a protagonist who was and is an important voice in East Germany.”
DOK Leipzig will also be hosting a school screening of “Pastor Lothar Stops” in the Passage Kinos Leipzig after the festival, on 29 November 2022. In addition to the screening itself, which will include a moderated discussion of the film, DOK Education is offering a pre- and post-screening module as well as educational materials for the classroom. School classes can still register for this programme.
