For eight days, seven youth journalists came together to cover the 69th edition of DOK Leipzig in a total of 17 articles. They’ve had an intense few days: they wrote articles, shot videos, recorded audio pieces, and, of course, watched countless films at the festival.
This year’s edition of DOK Leipzig kicked off at the Schauspielhaus. The festival was officially opened there with a screening of the film “Guten Abend, du Schöne.” DOK Spotters Malou and Vanja were there and share their impressions of the opening event from their perspective as festival reporters.
The documentary “Auber 89” focuses on the conflict between young and old. Through archival footage of renovation debates from the 1980s, clear differences between the needs of younger and older residents are revealed. The DOK Spotters met with director Giuseppe Schillaci for an interview and spoke with him about his film.
In the ARD TopDocs competition, various production teams compete against one another with their ideas for new documentaries. Out of a total of 52 submissions, three projects made it to the finals. The winning team will have the opportunity to bring its film idea to life with up to 300,000 euros in funding from ARD. The DOK Spotters were there for the finals.
Nazieh, Shazieh, and Hanieh from Afghanistan actually wanted to go to Germany with their family. But then they were separated: their mother traveled to Germany, while the sisters remained in a refugee camp in Greece. The film “Moving Sisters” tells their story. We met with two of the sisters and the director for an interview.
DOK Leipzig has a new festival director this year: Ola Staszel. She is no stranger to the festival industry as she has held a leadership position at the German-Polish-Czech Neisse Film Festival since 2014. She is now embarking on her first DOK Leipzig as festival director.
For eight days, 15 youth journalists came together to report on the 68th edition of DOK Leipzig in a total of 17 articles. They had an intense few days: articles were written, videos were shot, audio pieces were recorded, and, of course, countless films from the festival were watched.
In the film “After the Silence,” Matilda-Luna Perotti talks to her grandmother on the phone for the first time in many years. Back then, she broke off contact with her family out of fear of the truth. After years of silence, shame, and fear, she overcomes her reluctance to continue repressing the abuse and decides to confront her trauma.
The “Films for Everyone 3+” series shows documentary and animated films for the youngest audience at DOK Leipzig. DOK Spotters Judie and Wanda attended the screening and captured the atmosphere in the cinema.
The film “Active Vocabulary” is about Maria, a young Russian teacher who speaks out against the war in her school lessons shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After being denounced by one of her students, Maria is forced to flee to Germany. We met the filmmaker for an interview.
In her film “Sedimente “, director Laura Coppens combines autobiographical elements with a historical analysis of Germany’s past in a cinematic and reflective manner. The dialogue between granddaughter and grandfather creates a multidimensional narrative that closely links individual memory and collective memory.
Claire Simon has made a film about the writings of French author Annie Ernaux, using her camera to accompany young people in private conversations and, above all, in classroom discussions. In classrooms and schoolyards, students discuss Ernaux’s books. Simon manages to engage with the students on an equal footing.