After many years with us, two of our colleagues are moving on to new tasks. We wish to offer Luc-Carolin Ziemann, project coordinator of our media pedagogy department DOK Education, and XR curator Lars Rummel our sincerest thanks for all their inspiring teamwork. Dear Caro, dear Lars, we wish you all the best!

Luc-Carolin Ziemann has been with the festival in various capacities since 1999. From 2009, she oversaw the development of our pedagogical programme, DOK Education. Through numerous school screenings, the youth editorial team DOK Spotters and training courses such as the Teachers Day, she developed a comprehensive media education programme that aims to familiarise pupils and teachers with the genre of documentary film. The last school screening of this year, of “Sick Girls” on 30 November, has been Luc-Carolin Ziemann’s final act as project coordinator of DOK Education. However, she will continue to contribute to DOK Leipzig as a member of our selection committee.

Lars Rummel has curated our annual extended reality exhibition, DOK Neuland, since 2016. Parallel to this, he developed and established new industry events on XR topics at DOK Industry, including the international conference and pitching platform known as DOK Exchange. In DOK Neuland, Lars conceptualised a new space every year in which immersive works redefine the boundaries of film and address pressing social issues. Lars has transformed something that began with a pop-up tent on Leipzig’s market square into an integral part of our programme and one that has had a lasting impact. Some 1,000 people came to see this year’s exhibition, titled “Nowhere Is Only Somewhere”.

Both positions – the coordination and curation of DOK Neuland and the coordination of DOK Education – will be filled early next year. The job advertisements will be announced soon.

We are looking back upon an eventful and intense festival week with packed cinemas and lively discussions. 225 films and XR works from around 60 countries were screened in our eleven venues. In addition, one film a day was available online for 24 hours throughout Germany in the DOK Stream.

DOK Leipzig Key Figures

A total of 45,500 people attended the festival. The films in the Audience Competition and the opening film, “White Angel – The End of Marinka”, which opens in cinemas across Germany on 19 October, were particularly well received. Audiences were also very enthusiastic about the short films in the International Competitions and the Animation Night with Tess Martin. The Animation Perspectives event as well as both matinees related to the theme of the Retrospective “Film and Protest – Popular Uprisings in the Cold War” were filled to capacity.

The free screenings at the main station attracted more than 2,000 people. DOK Neuland was also at capacity. About 1,000 people came to see the exhibition of immersive XR works at the Museum der bildenden Künste.

Festival Review

Festival director Christoph Terhechte: “The cinemas were packed, and there were many excellent discussions about film in which the audience was very involved. Although the week was overshadowed by the recent massacres, expulsions and bombings in Israel and Palestine, Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine, many of our attendees used the festival as an opportunity to exchange views on those issues and current events.”

The DOK Industry events also met with great interest. At the second edition of the DOK Archive Market, in comparison to the previous year, more international archives and archive material providers presented their collections. A total of some 1,700 international film professionals attended the festival.

During the week of the festival, 24 awards were presented, including the nine Golden and Silver Doves. Browse the overview of all winners

We would like to thank our audience, guests and filmmakers for many intensive conversations and for numerous great encounters – and we are looking forward to the 67th edition. Save the date: 28 October – 3 November 2024!

Read more in our press release

The ceremony for the festival awards – the Golden and Silver Doves – was held on 14 October with a live audience at Leipzig’s Schaubühne Lindenfels. We congratulate all winners!

International Competition Documentary Film

The Golden Dove Feature-Length Film in the International Competition went to Peter Mettler, our 2023 Homage guest, for “While the Green Grass Grows”. The 10,000-euro Golden Dove is sponsored by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk.

The Silver Dove for the best feature-length documentary by an up-and-coming director, was awarded to Hovhannes Ishkhanyan for the Armenian-French production “Beauty and the Lawyer”. The 6,000 euro award is sponsored by 3sat.

The Golden Dove Short Film, endowed with 3,000 euros, went to Bo Wang for “An Asian Ghost Story” (Netherlands, Hong Kong).

The Silver Dove Short Film, which includes 1,500 euros for the best short documentary by an up-and-coming director, sponsored by the Sächsische Landesanstalt für privaten Rundfunk und neue Medien (Saxon State Institute for Private Broadcasting and New Media, SLM), went to “30 Kilometres per Second” by Jani Peltonen (Finland).

International Competition Animated Film

In the International Competition Animated Film, the newly created Golden Dove Feature-Length Film, endowed with 3,000 euros, went to Xu Jingwei for “No Changes Have Taken in Our Life” (China), the story of a musician who tries in vain to find work after graduating from university.

The Golden Dove Short Film in conjunction with 1,500 euros, sponsored by the Deutsches Institut für Animationsfilm e. V., was awarded to Barbara Rupik for “Such Miracles Do Happen” (Poland). 

German Competition Documentary Film

The Golden Dove Feature-Length Film in the German Competition went to “One Hundred Four” by Jonathan Schörnig, a real-time documentation of a rescue at sea on the Mediterranean. This 10,000-euro award is donated by Doris Apell-Kölmel and Michael Kölmel.

The Golden Dove Short Film, in conjunction with 1,500 euros, was awarded to Franzis Kabisch for “getty abortions” (Germany, Austria).

Audience Competition

This year’s winner of the Golden Dove in the Audience Competition is selected by the jury members Billie Bauermeister, Fritz Czaplinski, Anna Eulitz, Charlotte Hennrich and Annegret Weiß. They honoured Asmae El Moudir for her documentary film “The Mother of All Lies” (Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar). The Audience Award is endowed with 3,000 euros, granted pro rata by Leipziger Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Filmkunst e. V..

See all winners, awards and read more about the juries here.

It’s awards time for the first winners at the 66^th edition of DOK Leipzig! The nine awards of our festival’s partners have been presented on 14 October 2023 at Schaubühne Lindenfels in Leipzig’s westend. Almost all filmmakers received their awards in person. The winners of the Golden and Silver Doves will be announced at a second event this evening.

These films have been awarded:

DEFA Sponsoring Prize (4,000 €):
Julia Charakter for “The Children of Korntal” (Germany)

MDR Film Prize (3,000 €):
Marianna Kaat for “The Last Relic” (Estonia, Norway)

Film Prize Leipziger Ring (2,500 €): 
This year’s award went ex aequo to:
Jonathan Schörnig for “One Hundred Four” (Germany) and 
Nantenaina Lova for “Where Zebus Speak French” (France, Madagascar, Germany, Burkina Faso)

Prize of the Interreligious Jury (2,250 €):
Sarah Mallégol for “Kumva – Which Comes from Silence” (France)

Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize (2,000 €):
Jonathan Schörnig for “One Hundred Four” (Germany)

ver.di-Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness (1,500 €):
Jonathan Schörnig for “One Hundred Four” (Germany)

Prize of the International Film Critics (FIPRESCI Prize): 
Taewoong Won for “Universe Department Store” (South Korea)

mephisto 97.6 Award:
Zhang Xu Zhan for “Compound Eyes of Tropical“ (Taiwan)

Gedanken Aufschluss
awarded by a jury of prisoners of the Juvenile Detention Centre Regis-Breitingen:
Nele Dehnenkamp for “For the Time Being” (Germany)

Congratulations to all the filmmakers! 

For more information about the juries and all awards presented at DOK Leipzig 2023, head to our awards page.