Our this year‘s festival poster design was created by the graphic designer and illustrator Stefan Ibrahim again. It shows a pair of paper scissors, whose real-life model is a found object from our film storeroom.

“As in previous years, we have deliberately chosen an everyday object that can be associated with many things,” festival director Christoph Terhechte explains. “Scissors are a tool for shaping and forming objects. Every day, they are used for many types of art, including animation. Scissors create new things and achieve clarity; they can also symbolise letting go and adopting a new perspective. The films we show also use artistic means to present snippets of the world and offer fresh perspectives.”

Presenting a special film programme at the Festival of Lights

Speaking of film programmes: We are pleased to open our 2023 Retrospective “Film and Protest – Popular Uprisings in the Cold War” at the Leipzig Festival of Lights on 9 October!

In the East Hall of the Leipzig main station, we will be screening three short films made between 1989 and 1991 that document the anxiety and hope felt during this time of upheaval: “Sitis” by Rainer Schade (GDR 1989), “The Wall” by Anatolijs Pjatkins (Latvia 1991) and “Exit” by Małgorzata Bieńkowska-Buehlmann (Poland 1990). The screening starts at 6 pm. Admission is free.

An extra day for the festival

Because of this, our festival will begin one day earlier, on Sunday, 8 October, with the opening ceremony at CineStar. During the week leading up to 15 October, we will present about 200 documentaries and animated films in numerous venues across the city. Additionally, each day during the week of the festival, a different film will be available online throughout Germany for 24 hours in the DOK Stream.

Mark your calendars! The complete schedule of films, including all the dates, will be online from 21 September, when ticket sales start.

Get your accreditation

Film professionals can already secure their accreditation for access to film screenings, talks with inspiring guests and DOK Industry events. Start here and get ready for DOK Leipzig 2023!

This year we have received more than 2,700 films. We are overwhelmed and thank each applicant for your interest in our festival! The selection committee is already deeply engaged in a viewing marathon. In addition to our festival director Christoph Terhechte and the programme coordinators Lina Dinkla, Jana Kraft and Victoria Leshchenko, this year's selection team includes film experts André Eckardt, Borjana Gaković, Jan Künemund, Anke Leweke, Franka Sachse, Carolin Weidner, Annina Wettstein and Luc-Carolin Ziemann. 

We will announce the film programme and competition nominations on 21 September, the same day that ticket sales start. Is the festival firmly marked on your calendar? A reminder to film professionals: You can already apply for accreditation now!

Photos: Lukas Diller, Susann Jehnichen, Maria Matiashova, Maik Teriete, Dennis Weißflog

The first episode of our new podcast season is out! Further five episodes will be monthly leading up to the festival in October. As in our previous seasons, we will continue exploring burning issues in the film industry with a special focus on power structures and lack of representation as well as offering pathways into films, criticism and works of creators and writers from marginalized groups.

“Our podcasts are a source of inspiration and education to envision a more diverse film industry,” explains Nadja Tennstedt, head of DOK Industry. “We believe in the power of a broad range of experiences, aesthetics, storytelling and perspectives.”

Season 4 will include a profile of the Re-Present Media initiative, which works to promote personal stories by filmmakers from groups that are underrepresented in documentary and non-fiction media. Other episodes will discuss the current working conditions of filmmakers from Hong Kong, reflect on the role of documentaries in the critical discussion of the decolonisation of museums, and explore documentary animated film.

The DOK Industry podcasts are produced in collaboration with the Programmers of Colour Collective (POC2) and the creators of the “What’s Up with Docs” podcast, Toni Bell and Ranell Shubert. The podcast Docs-in-Orbit is on board as a supporter. Among this year’s curators are Lucy Mukerjee, Karen Cheung, Aisha Jamal and Maria-Christina Villaseñor from POC2, Toni Bell and XR Creator Weronika Lewandowska.

In the first episode, filmmakers Sameer Farooq and Marley McDonald join host Aisha Jamal to reflect on the specific role that documentary films can play in the decolonisation of museums.

Read more and tune in here

We are pleased to introduce three new colleagues who will contribute varied perspectives to our festival work. Victoria Leshchenko (coordinator documentary film competitions) and Jana Kraft (coordinator animated film competitions) are joining the programme department. At DOK Industry, Guevara Namer will oversee the DOK Co-Pro Market and the DOK Short n’ Sweet short film pitch as project coordinator. We are happy to welcome you as new members to our DOK Team!

Victoria Leshchenko

is a producer of cultural events and a curator who lives in Berlin and Kyiv. In 2010, following a stint at the Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival, she became programme coordinator at the Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, which DOK Leipzig partnered with last year. Since 2019, she has served as programme director at Docudays UA, curating numerous sections of that festival. In 2022, she and Yuliia Kovalenko founded the sloïk film atelier, an independent union of Ukrainian film curators which gives space to underrepresented voices and promotes them internationally.

Jana Kraft

is working towards a degree in cultural studies and aesthetic communication at the University of Hildesheim. She lives in Leipzig. As part of her studies, she has been involved in the making of various cartoon and stop-motion films. She has also worked in film coordination at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and the Kurzsuechtig Central German Short Film Festival.

Guevara Namer

is a documentary filmmaker and visual artist based in Berlin. She started her career in Damascus in 2007. Her work deals with themes of feminism, identity and exile. Guevara Namer is a German Film Academy winner (Lola 2022 for “The Other Side of the River”), in her filmography she has held various roles in a number of collaborations with international filmmakers, including co-directing, researching, filming, and producing.

DOK Leipzig is bidding farewell to programme coordinators Thérèse Antony (formerly competitions) and Ulrike Schmidt (formerly DOK Co-Pro Market, DOK Short n’ Sweet), who are moving on to other endeavours. Dear Thérèse and Ulrike, we wish you all the best!

Photo Guevara Namer: Bernhard Ludewig