When asked to explain the unique aspects of the DOK Leipzig offer to doc professionals, incoming Head Nadja Tennstedt gets straight to the point. “DOK Industry sets out to provide a common and strong basis for the creation and promotion of international creative documentaries.”
That is effected via five packed days of professional activity that kick off October 17 with a presentation of new German docs and culminates, at least within a doc sense, with a session of Expert Meetings during which documentary and animation professionals will thrash out how best to combine their talents and skills in the creation of new content.
In between there is a smorgasbord of doc-related activities, including the DOK Co-Pro Market of 33 new documentary projects from 33 countries, the DOK Preview Training session comprising new projects developed at leading training workshops around the globe, the inaugural DOK Archive market, and the DOK Exchange XR Showcase during which professionals “will critically look at and analyze new directions for XR and storytelling to better understand and take sustainable decisions on design, production and distribution processes.”
German docs and doccers will, of course, be high on the agenda in Leipzig. “The German documentary industry is, of course, a very important component of DOK Industry. Leipzig and Berlin (a one-hour train ride away from Leipzig) are prominent and vibrant places of, and for, the German documentary landscape,” comments Tennstedt.
“In this edition, you’ll find excellent projects produced in Germany in each of our project platforms,” she adds. “Many German projects are helmed by professionals from diverse backgrounds who tell personal stories about their communities. A large part of the DOK Industry guest list is made up of Germany-based participants. International guests have the opportunity to connect with German professionals at the Co-Pro Market and various pitch platforms as well as the networking events Meet the Experts Meetings. And then there is the daily Get-Togethers at the museum, where accredited guests meet in the early evenings,” the DOK Industry continues.
She reminds BDE that the whole event opens on the afternoon of October 17 with an overview of new German projects, that will also be livestreamed online. As mentioned above, festival strategies for animated films and animadocs are at the center of a panel hosted by AG Animations film later in the week, an event that includes speed-dating.
What’s more, well over half of the archives and libraries exhibiting and consulting at the inaugural Archive Market (October 20) are from Germany.
For many doc producers and filmmakers, archive is the life blood of the form, which is why Tennstedt is placing such emphasis on it in Leipzig this year (as indeed she did when she headed up Doc Salon at Berlinale.)
“Archive materials have been used in historical documentaries and factual television for a long time and there have always been astonishing creative documentaries that utilized archives. Still, in recent years, there has been a surge of highly artistic and creative documentaries showing new and wonderfully inventive approaches to working with archive materials,” she tells Business Doc Europe.”
“Researching and licensing archive materials is a difficult and laborious task which takes up a lot of time and resources. With DOK Archive Market we want to shine a light on the work of archive researchers and producers, connect our guests with archives and commercial footage libraries and provide a program of lively talks, case-studies and discussions around the usage of archive materials in documentary formats,” she adds.
Accompanying the archive market is a series of masterclasses, discussions and presentations, such as a case study on the Netflix production Gladbeck: The Hostage Crisis, which is composed entirely of archive materials, as well as an October 20 case-study of Tropic Fever (Mahardika Yudha, Robin Hartanto Honggare, Perdana Roswaldy, International Competition) that introduces the perspective of filmmakers from the global south on footage created by the colonial powers. In her October 20 masterclass, Serbian filmmaker Mila Turajlic will illustrates how her films work on collective memory and confront the private with the political.
“We are also very pleased that DOK Archive Market provides the platform for the launch of Grap e.V. – the German Association for Archive Producers and Researches,” Tennstedt adds.
Tennstedt underlines other must-attend events for international doccers in attendance in Leipzig and online. “Together with Docudays UA and the Ukrainian Film Institute, filmmakers and producers and festival colleagues from the Ukraine will join us in Leipzig with films in the program, projects in various presentations and as curators of the DOK Industry case study One Day in Ukraine.”
She further recommends that attendees tune into the new season of the DOK Industry Podcasts, produced in collaboration with POC2 Programmers of Colour Collective, The What’s Up With Docs Podcast and Kinopravda Institute. “The podcast features truthful and personal conversations between sparring partners highlighting underrepresented voices in the documentary community and amplifying a wide range of experiences, aesthetics, storytelling and perspectives,” Tennstedt explains.
Interactive new media will also be very much in the frame in 2022. “It is really exciting to be back with the onsite (and live-streamed) DOK Exchange XR conference featuring excellent speakers and presenting an in-depth look at the various aspects of XR, such as agency and accessibility, immersive audio for mindful embodiment, alternative sources of financing and XR prototyping,” the DOK Industry Head signs off.
