DOK Co-Pro Market
The DOK Co-Pro Market features 35 international documentary and animated documentary projects in development and matches project holders with new partners for co-production, financing and distribution. The Co-Pro Market expands networks and creates fruitful opportunities for new creative documentaries by exploring potential partnerships.
Over two days, DOK Industry organizes 850+ curated one-on-one meetings and plenty of informal networking opportunities in a friendly and welcoming setting.
In addition, partner delegations are invited to the Co-Pro Market Open Programme which takes place alongside the main market activities. The programme comprises informal networking events and discussions led by international experts who share practical knowledge on the international market and co-production.
Project Selection
A major focus of the DOK Co-Pro Market is to help create a network of unique professionals dedicated to the co-production of creative documentary works. We invite producers who are actively looking for new audio-visual works to co-produce and to expand their networks internationally to apply as a Producer without a Project.
The deadline is 19 September 2025.
Producers should have relevant co-production experience in recent years and aim to find new high-quality, international projects to co-produce. Since spots are limited, we’ll select producers who best match the needs of the selected projects.
The selected projects, currently in development or early production, are looking for creative and financial partners, including expertise in documentary features, animated documentaries, and doc series.
The Co-Pro Market individual meetings between producers and the selected projects take place on 27–28 October 2025 in Leipzig with complementary online meetings on 4-5 November.
We are looking for producers who:
- Have recent, relevant experience in international co-production
- Are looking for projects to co-produce and NOT presenting their own projects at the Co-Pro Market
- Are a good match for the selected projects, whether through their expertise, their connections to the film’s country of origin, or their interest in the story topics
The participation as a Producer without a Project includes:
- Prescheduled individual meetings with project teams
- Access to Co-Pro Market networking lunches and the traditional Co-Pro Market networking dinner
- Access to the Co-Pro Market Open Programme (networking, talks and discussion formats with other Co-Pro Market participants including decision makers)
- An Accreditation (Festival & Industry)
Producer without a Project participation: 250€ + 7% VAT (if applicable)
Please note that a sustainability contribution of 10 € will be added to your invoice. This helps DOK Leipzig in moving forward to produce the festival and industry programme in the most inclusive and sustainable way.
Submit the Application Form by 19 September 2025.
We’ll get back to you by the end of September.
Any questions? Please contact:
Babette Dieu
DOK Co-Pro Market Coordinator
co-pro-market [at] dok-leipzig [dot] de (co-pro-market[at]dok-leipzig[dot]de)
Babette Dieu
DOK Co-Pro Coordinator
co-pro-market [at] dok-leipzig [dot] de (co-pro-market[at]dok-leipzig[dot]de)
+49 (0)341 30864-1081
Awards presented at the 2025 edition are:
The Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director
along with a 5,000 € prize, sponsored by the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (SMWK).
IMAGO Archive Award
for the most innovative use of archival footage. The award is endowed with €1,500 and archive material from IMAGO worth €500.
We present this award to the project that demonstrates the most ingenious use of archival footage. Through this award, we aim to encourage innovative storytelling drawn from archives and to support documentary filmmakers in harnessing the creative potential of historical images.
Jacob Burns Film Center Residency Award
Jacob Burns Film Center offers 2–4 week residencies for filmmakers at any stage of their project.
The selected team (up to two members) receive a 500 $ weekly stipend, travel support, housing, and access to the JBFC arthouse cinema and Media Arts Lab with editing, audio, animation, and screening facilities.
No Nation Films Fellowship Award
provides a six-month fellowship to exceptional documentary film teams from around the globe who find themselves grappling with challenges and in vulnerable circumstances. The Fellowship features an all-encompassing mentorship and consultancy package customized to best support and guide the film teams during development or production stages.
Unifrance Doc Award
along with subtitling services sponsored by TitraFilm and a Unifrance membership for its French producer.
The Co-Pro Market Jury decides on the Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director as well as the Unifrance Doc Award.
Malin Hüber is a producer based in Stockholm working closely with artists and filmmakers. With collectivity at the core of her practice, her work ranges from arthouse gems to Netflix Originals. Hüber is a frequent industry consultant and an alumna of Berlinale Talents, Eurodoc and EAVE.
With a degree in Art History and extensive experience spanning over a decade in the cultural and cinema sectors, Tijana has held both political and operational roles within those fields. Since 2015, she’s worked as a sales agent for creative documentaries as well as factual entertainment. Currently, she is the head of sales and acquisitions at Stranger Films Sales. Alongside her other duties, she was actively involved in acquisitions and programming at Current Time TV, where she managed the documentary slot for children and young adults, a project she had a hand in launching.
Vera Herchenbach has worked in acquisitions for over 20 years for various distribution companies in the UK and the US. For the last 14 years she has been working for Melbourne based ANZ distributor Madman Entertainment. Madman has always had a strong focus on documentaries and operates its own SVOD platform dedicated solely documentaries called DocPlay.
The Co-Pro Market selection committee of industry representatives in conversation with DOK Leipzig staff make the final decisions regarding the project selection.
Producer Karim Aitouna has been instrumental in supporting innovative and thought provoking cinema. Working between France and Morocco, Aitouna has produced several internationally acclaimed works. Notable projects include "I Am the People", "The Night and the Child", "Poisonous Roses" (Egypt's 2020 Oscar entry), "Dans la maison", "La terre de Gevar", and more recently, "Where the Winds Come From" (Sundance 2025) and "A Useful Ghost" (Grand Prix at Critics' Week – Cannes 2025).
María is a festival distributor and sales agent based in Lisbon and the founder of Kino Rebelde, where she bridges the gap between artists and audiences, empowering a space for bold narratives and underrepresented voices. She specializes in festival strategy and creative distribution for independent, author-driven documentary, experimental and hybrid films. Since 2017, she has supported emerging and established filmmakers through her agency. Her catalog includes works by Lynne Sachs and Trinh T. Minh-ha, with films shown at Berlinale, Locarno, IDFA, and more.
Caroline Kirberg has been producing artistic films for over 15 years. She pursues her interest in mixed forms between art and film as well as hybrids between documentary and fiction with the production platform pong film and her label Kirberg Motors. She is alumna of Emerging Producers Jihlava, Cannes Lab, Rotterdam Lab and International Producing at ifs Cologne.
DOK Industry is realised with the support of Creative Europe MEDIA Programme of the European Union, the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung (MDM) and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media upon a Decision of the German Bundestag.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
