Nick Cunningham

The Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe and Camera Lucida sections run alongside Leipzig's four competitions for documentary and animated films. “Using films as a lens to open minds, uncover lives behind the headlines, break silences, engage with the 'other(s)' and observe the reality with care…is what films in DOK Leipzig’s out-of-comp sections endeavour to do,” organisers write. The Doc Alliance Award section, in turn, features documentaries that were selected for the 2025 competition, as organised by the Doc Alliance network. (Still: Eugénie Grandval’s Bulle Ogier, Portrait of a Hidden Star)

Approximately 200 titles will be selected for the festival running May 31 to June 7 2026. “We're looking for powerful, professional films with a distinctive voice,” writes incoming Artistic Director Anita Piotrowska. “We aim to honour the finest traditions of the Krakow Film Festival, so we're particularly interested in documentaries and short forms that make bold artistic statements and offer meaningful insights about ourselves or the world around us.”

Fourteen new European projects will be presented October 29–31 during the 29th Ji.hlava IDFF. These join the previously announced projects from Croatia, this year's Ji.hlava Industry guest country. The Forum projects from East & Southeast Asia and the United States will be unveiled soon. This year’s Ji.hlava IDFF will run October 24 to November 2.

Produced by prolific Dutch outfit BALDR Film, and set against a backdrop of new hostilities in Afghanistan, the artistic feature doc Paikar sees Dutch-Afghan filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi return to his homeland to challenge his authoritarian father on why life had to be so violent and tortuous when he and his siblings were growing up. “For a child, your father is supposed to be your first hero, right?” Hilmandi reasons to BDE. “But imagine your hero is damaged and you never understood why he is like that, then you feel exhausted throughout your whole life.”

In the heart of the West Bank, Manar and Milad, a couple bound by a shared dream to break the cycle of violence that has impacted generations of Palestinian lives, founded the House of Hope – an elementary school that embraces non-violence, and supports children in healing from trauma caused by decades-long occupation. “We began this film way before the most recent escalations,” Dutch producer Ruby Deelen (100%) tells BDE. “At that time, the feedback from the industry (broadcasters and others) was that there was little appetite for stories from this region. That perception has changed dramatically since.”

Netherlands-based Chinese filmmaker Louis Hothothot, who opened IDFA 2021 with his Four Journeys, presented his new feature project Big Dreams at NLWave25. The film concerns a beautiful, plus-size American actress living in Beijing, who longs to be seen, and wants both acclaim and love. “Behind her extreme openness, there is over self-protection. Behind her braveness, there is rebellion. Behind her strong desire to be seen, there are toxic self-doubts,” Hothothot told the NLWave25 professional audience.

“Born and raised in the Netherlands as the child of Palestinian parents from a homeland under occupation, I am torn between two worlds and carry with me traumas passed down from generation to generation,” filmmaker Sakir Khader says of his debut feature project Through the Eye of the Falcon, pitched at NLWave25 and produced by mint film office. “As the occupation in Palestine continues and the violence escalates, I have no choice but to capture the injustice through my lens.”

DOK Leipzig has unveiled the full DOK Industry Programme for the 68th festival edition (27 October - 2 November). The DOK Industry Programme “presents a range of formats and events that address timely industry topics, encourage creative exchange, and give filmmakers a platform to showcase their work and connect with peers and potential collaborators,” write organisers.

Menno Otten’s new work Still City is an ode to Amsterdam, told entirely through 125 years of archive. “Menno is, quite simply, a magician with archival material, able to find in the smallest glance or gesture a universal rhythm that binds people across decades,” producer Renko Douze tells Business Doc Europe. “This rare quality ensures that the film speaks to anyone who has ever felt the pulse of a city.”

Miriam Guttmann’s new film explores how a tragic and unnecessary death sparked a national reckoning on race, class justice and accountability. Sanda, the son of a Senegalese immigrant and a working-class Belgian mother, died during an elite fraternity initiation ceremony in Leuven, Belgium. “This is not a sensationalized crime story, but a deeply human narrative seen through the eyes of Sanda’s family, friends, and the legal and experts involved in the case, providing a unique, multifaceted perspective,” producer Monique Busman of Tomtit Film tells Business Doc Europe.