DOK Leipzig 24

In Ketevan Vashagashvili’s debut feature doc project, set for delivery in early 2025, a homeless Georgian woman becomes a surrogate mother in a desperate attempt to secure a brighter future for her daughter. What starts as a quick way to earn money transforms into an emotional and physical sacrifice, testing the limits of a mother’s love. “The impact campaign will aim to bring attention to the urgent need for stronger regulations in the surrogacy industry, both in Georgia and in the countries where intended parents come from,” producer Sylvia Nagel tells BDE.

In her feature doc that world-premiered recently in Leipzig, Anna Maria Friedrich goes in search of nomadic life in Germany and talks to its exponents, such as Journeywoman Magdalena in traditional costume or former tightrope artist Elwera, a member of the small but vocal Yenish community. As elegiac as their lives sound, these are women who live very much in the present. “The existences that I encountered are mostly very modern and very adaptive,” Friedrich tells BDE.

The festival welcomed a total of 55,000 filmgoers this year – more than ever before. Last year, the festival attracted 45,500 filmgoers. The previous record (48,000) was set in 2019, the year before the pandemic. This enabled “lively discussions in sold-out cinemas and memorable feedback for the numerous filmmakers who came here from all over the world,” comments Festival Director Christoph Terhechte. “This is a good sign for cinema screenings of documentaries and animated films.”

Maja Classen’s feature documentary world-premiering in Leipzig, may be highly explicit in its depiction of ‘sex positivity,’ but love, care and consent are at the heart of all the encounters we observe. “My purpose is to build a bridge with this film and to reach a wider audience, people who might be scared and have prejudices against queers and promiscuity,” the director tells BDE. “I want to gently take them by the hand and show them, that there is nothing to be afraid of. It’s all human.”

For German Films MD Simone Baumann, it may be “a pleasure” to promote German docs throughout the year, but she can’t hide her frustration at her government dragging its feet in passing new and long-awaited film legislation. This means docmakers (and the wider production community) don’t know where they stand either in terms of future funding or what they can offer international co-pro partners. “These are crucial elements in the whole reform of the funding system - and everybody's waiting for it to be resolved,” Baumann tells BDE.

DOK Leipzig has revealed further highlights of the DOK Industry Programme for the 67th festival edition (28 October - 3 November), in addition to the already announced DOK Co-Pro Market Selection, Ex Oriente Film workshop and Generation Ukraine showcase. Other features include DOK Archive Market Screenings and Talks and the DOK Project Presentation Generation Africa 2.0, and more…

The 2024 DOK Neuland programme presents eleven works from the fields of VR, AR, 360° film, gaming, installation and participatory film. The associated exhibition runs from 29 October to 3 November and is spread across four locations in Leipzig: in the Museum of Fine Arts (MdbK), at the main station, in the Galerie KUB and in the Cinémathèque Leipzig.

The 67th edition of DOK Leipzig will pay homage to the two esteemed women filmmakers, French director Dominique Cabrera and Spanish animation artist Isabel Herguera. The festival will also honour the memory of late German director and writer Thomas Heise with a lineup of films, an evening event, and this year’s DEFA Matinee.

DOK Leipzig will undergo a process of self-reflection in 2024 as it examines its own methods of selection during the GDR years. Titled “Third Ways in a Divided World. Utopia and Subversion” the retrospective will “feature a compilation of films that reflect various aspirations of autonomy or view communist and socialist doctrine through a different lens. In this vein, the retrospective also brings up DOK Leipzig’s own history as a festival,” organisers write.

The DOK Leipzig Head of Industry talks to Business Doc Europe about her professional pro-gramme which commences October 28, running through to November 1. "We are an international co-production platform, so we are looking for projects that connect with international audiences who are keen on auteur-driven, visually and formally interesting creative documentaries,“ she underlines.