DOK Leipzig has unveiled the competition line-ups for its 69th edition. A total of 76 films, including 30 world premieres, are competing for Golden and Silver Doves across the four competitions, three of which are documentary-oriented, the fourth animation.
“Many of this year’s competing films focus on Central and Eastern Europe. Giving more space to films and filmmakers in these countries is not only a key concern of DOK Leipzig, but also something I care deeply about personally,” said Ola Staszel, festival director at DOK Leipzig. “I am also delighted that we can showcase so many works by emerging directors, and that most of the films in the German Competition were made possible with the support of state and federal media funding agencies as well as with the involvement of broadcasters.”
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION DOCUMENTARY FILM
Of the nine feature-length films in the International Competition Documentary Film, three will have their world premiere and two their international premiere at DOK Leipzig. Among the returning directors are Lukas Marxt, Helena Třeštíková, and Alain Kassanda.
“As diverse as the circumstances in which people live, as different as their perspectives, are the various approaches to documentary filmmaking artists use to examine and pass them on,” the festival writes. “DOK Leipzig’s International Competition Documentary Film generates productive encounters: between a young generation eager to experiment and those who remain true to the curiosity and creativity of their beginnings.”
- 1,5°C Pyropolitics and the New World by Lukas Marxt. Synopsis: A diffuse orange glow in the dark. Something is burning. First in the distance, then everywhere. An uncommented observation of wildfires and firefighters in L.A. 2025 that speaks volumes. Austria/73 mins. World premiere
- Auber 89 by Giuseppe Schillaci. Synopsis: Aubervilliers, a Parisian working-class suburb, in the 1980s: Fatsah Bouyahmed, then in his teens, recalls the past and revives solidarity-filled life stories from the archive footage. France/Italy, 70 mins. International premiere
- B*tch by Jaroslava Jelchová. Synopsis: Her womanhood was shaped by strict expectations: the filmmaker searches for belonging in the tension between her rural Slovakian roots, her sexuality and her creative callings. Slovakia, 19 mins. World premiere
- Bára – Diary of a Rockstar by Helena Třeštíková. Synopsis: The portrait of a Czech rock icon over a period of 50 years. A true virtuoso of longitudinal observation, Helena Třeštíková shows Bára Basiková’s fast-paced life with all its ups and downs. Czechia, 97 mins. International premiere
- Blossoming by Kamila Serwicka. Synopsis: The women of the family suffer from the father’s alcoholism for years. When he leaves, sensitive questions surface, whilst space is created for a reawakening and a breakthrough long overdue. Poland, 77 mins. German premiere
- Concrete Land by Asmahan Bkerat. Synopsis: Despite living in tents on the edge of Amman, everyday life for the Najars, an Afro-Palestinian Bedouin family, is oddly peaceful. But soon the outside world starts to intrude. Jordan/Palestine, 101 mins. German premiere
- Division by James Paul Dallas. Synopsis: What may be kept, what can go? From a distance, the director is guided through a deserted flat and library. A parkour through the private, along paths of knowledge and guilty pleasures. US, 14 mins. International premiere
- How to Catch a Butterfly by Kiriko Mechanicus. Synopsis: Racially motivated femicides. The director writes letters to the perpetrator in prison, blending projection with performance. A self-interrogation about the fetishisation of Asian women. The Netherlands, 26 mins. German premiere
- I’m Painting a Self-Portrait, but All I See Is My Sister’s Face by Helena Stańczyk. Synopsis: Twins Alicja and Bożena Wahl left their mark on the Warsaw art scene. Populated by hybrid creatures, their drawings allowed them to explore their relationship to each other. A rediscovery! Poland, 11 mins. German premiere
- in memory of by Florinda Ciucio. Synopsis: A pencil and a few sheets of paper. A hand drawing a version of Gaza that only now exists on the memory of the person drawing it. And as he draws, he says: I remember everything. Belgium, 14 mins. World premiere
- kiss kiss bang bang by Ollie Launspach. Synopsis: Ollie is trans and in a relationship with Sterre. Together they experience Ollie’s transition, a time marked by doubt, vulnerability and sticking together. A radically honest dialogue. The Netherlands, 28′. German premiere
- Leave This Room Buried by Iva Kraljević. Synopsis: What is the dominant mood of our era? Shifting seamlessly between pristine 16mm, archive footage and home movies, this essay seeks to tap into the zeitgeist: fearful, nostalgic, untamed. Hungary, 17 mins. German premiere
- Letters from the Silenced Country by Andrei Kutsila. Synopsis: A country in which any type of opposition is persecuted and violently put down. Accounts from Belarus tell of sacrifice, solidarity and the human cost of resistance. Poland, 72 mins. German premiere
- Look, We’re in Europe by Riad Arfin, Manushaqe Ibrahimi. Synopsis: Building houses far from home: through their own mobile phone images, Bangladeshi construction workers in Kosovo offer a raw glimpse of life between precarious work and dreams of a better future. Bangladesh, UK, 15′. World premiere
- Nothing Happens After Your Absence by Ibrahim Omar. Synopsis: “Cinema is banned here – people prefer football.” Ibrahim has to overcome bureaucracy and resistance in order to show films in his home village in Sudan. Then the war breaks out. Sudan, 16 mins. German premiere
- Patronymic by Mariia Ponomarova. Synopsis: Her patronymic is missing in her international documents. More than a bureaucratic detail for Mariia: the name connects her to her father and Ukraine. An identity quest by night train. Netherlands, 22 mins. German premiere
- The Evidence of the Termites by Roberto Jaén. Synopsis: Utilising a thrillingly polyphonic split screen perspective, this wry, shifting, self-reflexive essay film is a playful attempt to pin down that most slippery of terms: class. Croatia, CR, 15 mins. International premiere
- The Maternity Ward by Alain Kassanda. Synopsis: The fate of the storied Parisian maternity clinic Les Lilas already seems sealed: it is not profitable enough. An unsentimental elegy about the staff, the patients and their fight. France, 106 mins. World premiere
- The Nights by Ana Bovino. Synopsis: In a velvety nocturnal Buenos Aires, the irrepressible La Pichi tells stories of relationships, family, body issues and class. What’s more empowering than narrating life on your own terms? Argentina, 82 mins. World premiere
- They’re Here by Laura Poitras, Rachel Lauren Mueller. Synopsis: A dystopian winter in Minneapolis: local inhabitants fight back against the paramilitary attacks being carried out by ICE, whose violence Poitras and Mueller make visible as a horror film. US, 25 mins. German premiere
- Through the Dust of Time by Wan Chen Lin. Synopsis: A Hakka village in southern Taiwan: eighty-year-old Alan spends her calm daily life gardening and with her friend A-Mei. Younger generations are leaving. Who will preserve the traditions? Taiwan, 29 mins. International premiere
- Xiangzidian Village: The Stage by Hu Sanshou. Synopsis: Full of quiet beauty and novelistic detail, this longitudinal study of a highway being built in northern China archives the memories of a community as tradition gives way to modernity. China, 150 mins. European premiere
GERMAN COMPETITION DOCUMENTARY FILM
The German Competition Documentary Film presents eight feature-length films, seven of which will celebrate their world premiere at the festival, and 12 shorts exploring such themes as memory, LGBTQIA+, and mental health. All are world premieres except Transition which is having its German premiere.
- A Guy from Kleinmachnow by Leonard Volkmer. Synopsis: A queer auto-narrative between desire, ecstasy and regret. In the club, by the lake or going home at night – one’s own judgement is often faster than the question of how one really feels. 11 mins
- Child’s Mother by Konrad Schlaich. Synopsis: Anne (36) lives a life of chaos. Her daughter Leonie (14) is also at risk of sliding into drug addiction. Can Anne support her and be a better role model? An involving portrait. 76 mins, Fokus Ost
- Cold River: I Am in Leipzig by Haiguang Li, Synopsis: Haiguang dreams…of his late grandmother, his hometown of Lěng Shuǐ Jiāng, his art and his job at a wholesale warehouse in Leipzig. But Haiguang doesn’t just dream. He also films. 153 mins, China/Germany
- Free Zone by Jasmine Alakari, Synopsis: Exarchia, Athens. A place of left utopias and a fiercely contested site of gentrification. For the Iranian activist Abtin, the political struggle becomes a threat to his own freedom. 90 mins
- Growing Wild by Rob Crosse. Synopsis: A place of diversity, a safe space for several generations of queer people. Experiences are shared from one flat to the next. Whoever lives here has gone through a lot. UK, 24 mins
- Hello Debus bu Rosa Gocht. Synopsis: A father makes requests on the answering machine of his son, who’s so paralysed he’s become a veritable still life. Overwhelmed, helpless; an absurd transformation begins. 6 mins
- Hi Mom:O by Peer Langenheim. Synopsis: The director’s footage and that of his mother flow together. Full of doll faces and flowers, her film archive throws up questions. She says, “Film your own reality!” Sounds great, but how? Switzerland, 10 mins
- Hotel Utopia by Julia Groteclaes. Synopsis: An abandoned luxury hotel at a Bulgarian ski resort is supposed to be converted into a co-living space for digital nomads: a business idea which doesn’t factor in the local population. 86 mins
- Last Round by Janis Westphal. Synopsis: A Berlin housing project for homeless men follows a different approach: acceptance, support, dignity instead of forced abstinence. A longitudinal observation of impressive horizontality. 95 mins, DOK im Knast
- Light by Juliane Ebner. Synopsis: Summer 1995 in East Germany. Artists in the country, working, living, loving. A video treasure trove enables a portrait of painter Käthe Ebner to emerge from their midst. 22 mins, Fokus Ost
- Maro’s Photo bu Alexandros Murböck. Synopsis: Children playing on the Panzerweise in Munich, a woman with angels’ wings. Mother and son return to the location of the black-and-white footage to reconstruct history and story alike. 30 mins
- My Brilliant Father by Tete Hoffmann. Synopsis: The writer-father suffers from dementia and is losing his words. The daughter’s camera follows him. He likes to direct himself, she likes to direct him, too. A portrait between hommage and confrontation. 87 mins
- Nachtcafé by Titouan Abraham, María José Celis, Arvin Saeedpour. Synopsis: Soup for warming up, finding calm in church light, knowledge of the streets of Cologne, spoken into the dark. An alternative city tour from the perspective of those who live on the street. 17 mins
- Neighborhood Autobahn by Richard Rothfeld, Luci Schwingen. Synopsis: Who defines borders and determines which side you are allowed to be on? A cinematic observation along the former Marienborn border checkpoint in Saxony-Anhalt. 10 mins, Fokus Ost
- Omsorg by Em Johrden. Synopsis: A carefree summer’s day is overlayed by a tale of painful sexual experiences. From offscreen, a woman speaks more and more freely, describing her new approach to her own desires. 17 mins
- The Snake Charmer by Jonathan Om. Synopsis: Beyond the lush fields, the area of destruction begins. Thai labourer work in the Israeli fields on the border with Gaza. A robot snake evokes a false sense of security. 81 mins
- The Core by Rebecca Zehr. Synopsis: A woman falls ill. Normality ends. Standstill. Suddenly everything is too much: everyday life, filmmaking, responsibility. What is the essence of life? A story of searching and returning. 15 mins
- There’s No Place Like Rome by Todor Joe Musev. Synopsis: The Bulgarian uncle, in love with antiquity, guards old treasures and ideals of masculinity. Despising the modern age is his #RomanEmpire. The nephew drops by for a visit. 23 mins
- Transition by Peter Badel, Chris Wright. Synopsis: Thomas Heise died in May 2024, leaving behind an unfinished project. He himself was to be a character in the film. His team carries on. Fragments of a life as lived history. 120 mins, Fokus Ost
- You Should Dream of Flying by Laura Elisabeth Staab. Synopsis: Children’s games, school essays and driving lessons: summery snapshots that circle around each other from the everyday lives of refugees, held together by the hope of returning to normality. Austria, 22 mins
AUDIENCE COMPETITION
The Audience Competition features ten feature-length films, all of which have world-premiered at renowned international festivals. These include Venice (Victor Kossakovsky’s Holy Wood Dust, Erik Shirai’s Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing), CPH:DOX (Emil Langballe’s Petrolheads), Sundance (Michał Marczak’s Closure), and Visions du Réel (Jacqueline Zünd’s Heat and Lauren Dällenbach’s Nicole Nicole, which scooped the National Competition Jury Prize at the festival).
“This competitive section brings together films from all over the world that arouse emotions, that take the subjective point of view, that can be humorous, surprising and warm-hearted,” the festival writes. “Like the whole DOK Leipzig line-up, they compete for the audience’s favour. Here, however, the audience themselves will also award the prize – via online voting after the films.” This year, the winner of the Audience Competition will be decided by an online vote. All are German premieres.
- Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava by Nhat Quang Nong. Synopsis: A gay son, a neurodivergent daughter and their conservative mother. When Quang’s sister gets pregnant out of the blue, the three of them must now attempt to mend broken bonds. Vietnam/South Korea, 105 mins.
- Closure by Michał Marczak. Synopsis: 16-year-old Krzysztof was last seen on a bridge over Poland‘s Vistula River. After he goes missing, his father plunges into a relentless search in the water. A study of unresolved grief. Poland, 105 mins.
- For Life by Ahmet Seven. Synopsis: Longing for motherhood, a Palestinian woman sets out to smuggle her imprisoned husband’s sperm. Will she achieve her maternal hopes as time and checkpoints close in on her? Turkey, 90 mins. German premiere
- Heat by Jacqueline Zünd. Synopsis: The heat in the Gulf region is hard to bear – and how people deal with it depends on their wallet. An immersive dive into a horror scenario, narrated in feverish images. Switzerland, 84 mins.
- Holy Wood Dust by Victor Kossakovsky. Synopsis: A tree is cut down just in order to be disposed of later. What does it feel and think? Victor Kossakovsky and renowned botanist Stefano Mancuso take us on a journey into the world of trees. Italy/Spain/Germany, 102 mins.
- Kurtág Fragments by Dénes Nagy. Synopsis: An expansive, deeply intimate portrait of musical genius György Kurtág, who just turned 100. A man who lives and breathes music, creating entire worlds brimming with emotion. Hungary, 113 mins
- Nicole Nicole by Lauren Dällenbach. Synopsis: Nicole is 55 and still lives with her mother by Lake Geneva. Within this symbiotic family, the need for greater independence rears its head. A tender tale of connection and emancipation. Switzerland, 81 mins
- Petrolheads by Emil Langballe. Synopsis: Martin dreams of a 1994 Honda Civic and a driving license. He sets off on his way with his buddy Casper, the two of them connected by Trabant jokes, special needs and a difficult childhood. Denmark, 76 mins
- Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing by Erik Shirai. Synopsis: What does it mean to become a professional sumo wrestler in Japan? As several wrestlers are followed at different points in their career, unique, sometimes harrowing insights are obtained. Japan/US/UK, 99 mins
- White Lies by Alba Zari. Synopsis: The “Children of God” are notorious for the systematic abuse of thousands of followers – artist Alba Zari confronts painful questions about her family’s past in the sect. Italy/Belgium, 98 mins
