DOK Leipzig’s International Competition Short Film will for the first time award a Silver Dove to the best documentary or animated film by an up-and-coming director. Eligible for the award are all of the short films in the competition that are the first, second or third film made by a director after graduating. This 1,500-euro award is being sponsored by the Saxon State Institute for Private Broadcasting and New Media (SLM), which for years has been supporting young filmmakers and funding events that promote critical thinking and media literacy among viewers of all ages.

IG Metall Leipzig is also stepping up as an award sponsor at Leipzig for the first time and is sponsoring the 1,500-euro Silver Dove in the German Competition Short Film.

Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk has been an award sponsor at DOK Leipzig for many years. Since 2013 it has sponsored the 10,000-euro Golden Dove for the International Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film. MDR is also the festival’s exclusive media partner for radio and television.

This year, 3sat will again be sponsoring the Silver Dove in conjunction with 6,000 euros for the best entry by an up-and-coming director in the International Competition Long Film. 3sat has been showing documentary auteur films and supporting their production since 1993. By sponsoring this award for young directors at DOK Leipzig, 3sat is reaffirming its commitment to talented international directors.

The award sponsors once again include the Friends of DOK Leipzig. The Leipziger Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Filmkunst e. V. is sponsoring the Silver Dove, worth 1,500 euros, for the Competition for the Audience Award Short Documentary and Animated Film.

Numerous awards of various partnering organisations will be presented on the Saturday of the festival. Altogether, 24 awards will be presented at DOK Leipzig. “We’d like to thank our partners and sponsors from the bottom of our hearts for renewing their generous support for our festival this year,” says festival director Christoph Terhechte.

Six of the awards will be presented at DOK Industry to promote film projects. For the first time, Unifrance will present an award to a French production or co-production at the DOK Co-Pro Market. The EWA Diverse Voices Award will honour a project by a female director which tells a story from the point of view thus far marginalized and underrepresented in film. The Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director and the Current Time TV Award for a project from central or eastern Europe also honour projects at the DOK Co-Pro Market. One of the projects presented at DOK Short n’ Sweet will be honoured with the Square Eyes Festival Consultation Award. The DFM Works-in-Progress Award, sponsored by D-Facto Motion, will again be awarded during the DOK Preview Germany presentation of rough cuts.

A total of 54,750 euros in prize money will be awarded at DOK Leipzig this year. In addition, there are non-cash benefits worth 10,000 euros that filmmakers will be able to use in developing their films.

The festival further relies on the commitment of a large number of patrons, sponsors and partners who help to make possible everything that is offered here.

DOK Leipzig continues to receive generous funding. The main sponsor is the city of Leipzig, which is also the proprietor of Leipziger Dok-Filmwochen GmbH. The Free State of Saxony has been a major sponsor of DOK Leipzig for many years as well. This year, the festival enjoys the additional support of a project organized by the Free State of Saxony called “Corona – Kultur Erhalt”. The Saxon Ministry of Science, Culture and Tourism is once again allocating project funds for programmes of inclusion in order to facilitate the participation of everyone interested in film. This measure is co-financed by tax revenue according to the budget adopted by the Saxon State Parliament. The EU programme Creative Europe Media, the Central German Media Fund and the German government’s Commissioner for Culture and Media, who has been supporting the arts since summer 2020 through an emergency and recovery aid package called NEUSTART KULTUR, are also providing crucial support to the festival and its events and activities for the film industry.

The Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Foundation for the Study of the Communist Dictatorship in Eastern Germany and the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony represent further sources of funding for the festival. The US Consulate Leipzig, the Goethe-Institut, ZDF and the Leipziger Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Filmkunst e. V. have been very generous in their support as well. DOK Leipzig would further like to thank its long-standing partner ARTE as well as Stadtbau AG and German Films.

Other partners support DOK Leipzig through financial and non-cash contributions and are thus instrumental to its success. Big Cinema is again assisting the festival this year in processes of digitalisation and cinema playout and is handling the technical and organisational side of the film screenings at Leipzig Central Station (Osthalle). ECE Marketplaces are also facilitating the free film screenings there. DOK Leipzig enjoys strong visibility around the city thanks to its collaboration with partnering regional printer MaXx Print. The infobox in the market square is made possible by modulbox mo systeme. For years, loyal partners of DOK Leipzig have also included Computer Leipzig and 3sat.

The SLM is once again sponsoring the festival’s numerous offerings for young talent. These include the master classes, the DOK Spotters, the school screenings and DOK Neuland. The extended reality exhibition is also being realised through funding from the US Consulate General Leipzig and MDR Media. Zed Up, Logando, VR Cover and Werkleitz are also supporting DOK Neuland.

The festival is also pleased to have numerous collaborative partners on the content level.

DOK Leipzig will be screening 255 films and extended reality works from 55 countries from 17 to 23 October this year. Opening the festival will be the world premiere of “No Dogs or Italians Allowed”, a feature-length animated film by Alain Ughetto. The festival centre is located in the Museum der bildenden Künste (MdbK) Leipzig.

An overview of the awards, prize sponsors and juries at DOK Leipzig can be found here: Awards & Jurys

All supporters of the festival are listed here: Partners & Sponsors