Picture Palace
DOK Leipzig 2023

At the 66th edition of DOK Leipzig, a host of new films was presented. As in previous years, the festival focused on Central and Eastern European film. Goethe-Institut’s Documentary Film Prize was also awarded at the event.
 

By Ewa Wetzel

The 66th edition of the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, DOK Leipzig for short, showcased 225 films and computer-generated extended-reality productions from around 60 countries, including 44 world premieres. Cinema theatres were packed and multigenerational audiences created a lively atmosphere. DOK Leipzig traditionally focuses on Central and Eastern European films, but festival entries also highlighted the Cold War and post-Soviet states. The short films and full-length productions came from Estonia, Georgia, Croatia, Poland and Slovenia, as well as Slovakia, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

This year, special attention was paid to the war in Ukraine. The festival opened with White Angel - The End of Marinka by Leipzig-based investigative journalist Arndt Ginzel. The highly emotional documentary about evacuation and rescue missions in the small Ukrainian town of Marinka (Donetsk region) left a lasting impression on the audience.

Alongside regular Leipzig cinema venues, “DOK in Prison” took place again this year at the juvenile detention centre Regis-Breitingen, where For the time being was screened. The film tells the story of US-American Michelle who wants to prove that her imprisoned husband is innocent. Leipzig main station’s Osthalle was also converted into a public cinema again, and the retrospective Film and Protest – Popular Uprisings in the Cold War premiered here on 9 October, the anniversary of the Peaceful Revolution in Leipzig in 1989.

Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize

The Goethe-Institut has awarded the Documentary Film Prize to outstanding films annually since 2003. As of 2022, the prize is being presented at alternating German documentary film festivals, DOK.fest Munich, DOK Leipzig, Duisburg Film Week and the Kassel Dokfest. A new feature at this year’s event was the restyled statuette, which was specially designed according to principles of sustainability. The Goethe-Institut announced the request for submissions in cooperation with the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Ten students presented their blueprints under the guidance of professors of product design Carmen Greutmann-Bolzern and Urs Greutmann. The winning idea came from Lukas Schreiber who reinterpreted the principle of the trophy and proposed awarding a scarf instead of a statuette. His creative execution impressed the jurors. The sustainability of the new trophy is reflected not only in its material (organic cotton), but also in terms of its functionality.

The newly designed trophy was presented at this year’s DOK Leipzig for the first time.The winning film was One Hundred Four by Jonathan Schörnig. The jury praised the “meticulously documented sea rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean”, which “deepens our understanding of the urgency of the humanitarian mission”.