The 19th edition of the DOK Co-Pro Market welcomes 35 documentary projects from 30 countries that will have the opportunity to find international financing and co-production partners. This year has seen an increase in the number of submissions, totalling 316 projects.

The selection features a number of compelling projects that tackle pressing issues of our time. Some projects examine the impact of the raging war in Ukraine, including Halyna Lavrynets’ “Omelko’s House or Guests from Kharkiv”, produced by Alexandra Bratyshchenko and co-produced by Peter Kerekes (both also “Fragile Memory”), Olga Stuga’s “Second Line” (Habilis Productions, also at the Co-Pro Market 2022 with “Kartli”) and Dmytro Hreshko’s “Divia” about the environmental tragedy in the wake of war and man-made violence. Displacement and migration are addressed in several other projects. Sanhah Lee’s “Be My Guest Worker” amplifies stories of migrants that echo from Germany to South Korea, while Tanim Yousuf’s “Ghost Boat” (Bulldog Agenda, also “This Rain Will Never Stop”) lays bare the devastating toll of human trafficking. Ahmet Petek’s “Ben û Sen” (Dryades Films) zeroes in on his family who had found refuge in the Kurdish city of Diyarbakır in the 1990s but are again facing difficult choices amid the expropriation of the Ben û Sen neighbourhood. Grzegorz Paprzycki’s “December” (Telemark, also at DOK Preview Training 2022 with “Pianoforte”) portrays a battle between empathy and indifference towards refugees and migrants in December, the month of Christmas and giving.

Three projects expand the genre of true crime, using unique artistic perspectives and intricate storytelling. Tamara Erde’s “Shaina 13 to 15”, produced by Enrica Capra (Tag Film, also the DOK Leipzig Opening Film 2022 “No Dogs or Italians Allowed”) sheds light on the case of Shaïna, an adolescent murdered by her boyfriend at age 15, reconstructing her story in the lead-up to her tragic death. Exploring how crimes have altered their families, Lene Berg’s “The Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (produced by Ellen Ugelstad) interrogates questions of truth and film, violence and guilt mired in the 1975 arrest of her father Arnljot Berg, a renowned Norwegian film director who was accused of the murder of his wife. Loris G. Nese’s project “Last Time” also reveals his family’s dark past, utilising family archives and animation to revisit his childhood and adolescence marred by the death of his father and the discovery of his criminal life.

Some projects delve into the theme of youth in the context of current realities: Eleftherios Panagiotou’s “Asphaltos”follows two young people seeking a path of emancipation, while Victoria Álvares and Quentin Delaroche’s “PULSE’’charts the struggle of Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) to carve out a space in institutional politics, from the perspective of a young female activist. Aygul Bakanova’s project “Overtones (WT)” (if…Productions, also “The Teacher’s Lounge”) follows the life of children in a Kyrgyz music boarding school. This year’s line-up also features a documentary series about youth and cyberbullying, “I Don't Want to Say Goodbye” by Carola Fuentes (La Ventana Cine). The series project is a valued addition to the selection, with DOK Industry’s programme embracing serial content across its formats.

Other projects contemplate the future and conjure up alternative visions of society. Shot on 16mm, “Artificial Clouds” by Josefina Buschmann is a posthuman coming-of-age story that follows an AI’s search for their earthly body. Tristan Ferland Milewski’s “ZOOTOPIA” offers a provoking manifesto for the future, entertaining an idea of a multi-species society (CORSO Film).

Faithful to its commitment to support creative animated documentaries, this year’s Co-Pro Market selection showcases four strong projects: Corine Shawi’s “Just like a Dream”, Alaa Dajani’s “How Many Nights How Many Days?”, Chloe Fairweather’s “Rabbit” and Hsieh Sheng-Hung’s “Wind and View”.

The 19th edition records a prominent international interest in the Co-Pro Market from far beyond the European borders. This October, the Co-Pro Market will welcome directors and producers from the US, three South American countries, six Asian countries and six African countries, including one fixed co-production between Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and Ivory Coast, “Djeliya, Memory of Manding” by Boubacar Sangaré (also the 2023 Berlinale Forum title “Or de vie”).

The selection also includes five promising projects that the DOK Industry Team scouted at trusted partner training initiatives and film markets: “War on Women” (East Doc Platform), “Eaglette – A Superstar Erased” (Durban FilmMart), “One Street in Silwan” (CoPro Israel), “Asphaltos” (BDC Discoveries) and “Omelko’s House or Guests from Kharkiv” (DOC LAB POLAND’s DOCS TO START).

Some of the directors and producers invited to this year’s Co-Pro Market have had their films screened at DOK Leipzig in the past or presented previous projects at DOK Industry.  Petit à Petit Production (at the Co-Pro Market 2020 with “Paradise”) is returning to DOK Leipzig with the new project “Lisa” in which director Frederik Arens Grandin uses the medium of film to make sense of his mother ending her life and of the world that had become foreign to her. Filmmakers from Leipzig Jonas Eisenschmidt and Constanze Wolpers will introduce their new project “Prison Honey”, a poetic documentary that observes how convicted murderers become beekeepers.

The DOK Co-Pro Market 2023 will take place from 9 to 10 October in Leipzig.

This year, Guevara Namer, an experienced producer, visual artist and documentary filmmaker, joined the DOK Industry Team as coordinator of DOK Co-Pro Market and Short n' Sweet. The Co-Pro Market selection process was further supported by Zeynep Güzel (filmmaker and head of Doc Station at Berlinale Talents) and Wouter Jansen (founder of Square Eyes).

The complete project selection of the 19th DOK Co-Pro Market can be found here: DOK Co-Pro Market