Brigid O’Shea, the long-time Head of DOK Industry, is leaving DOK Leipzig at the end of February to dedicate herself to new endeavours. 

As part of our team for 11 years, taking over as Head of DOK Industry in 2015, O’Shea has made a lasting impact on our film industry platform.

“We are deeply grateful to Brigid O'Shea for her many years of creative work. She has developed DOK Industry into one of the most important international industry platforms for documentary film and created a place in the festival that is known for its commitment, warm atmosphere and intensive exchange,” festival director Christoph Terhechte said. “Her approach has always been the expression of an emancipative festival policy. We see it as our challenge to further develop the programme in this direction.”

O’Shea’s passions were equal participation for all, creating a strong sense of community, and of course the great pleasure of personal exchange and networking between film professionals. She developed numerous formats for the festival and put a great deal of energy into the equal promotion of women directors. Several development awards were launched in this area during her time at DOK Leipzig. Promoting underrepresented filmmakers and questioning power structures were imperatives that she pursued wholeheartedly.

“Over the past decade, to grow DOK Industry Programme and make a small contribution to the long history of DOK Leipzig has been an absolute honour and privilege. I want to thank my immediate team and colleagues for their support and hard work. Leaving such a beautiful job was not an easy decision, but I hope I am leaving fertile earth for those who come next,” O’Shea said. “Most of all, I want say thank you to the partners, accredited guests, and of course the amazing projects and films that have been through our markets, meetings and events over the years.”

O'Shea will now focus on her work with the Documentary Association of Europe (DAE), of which she is a founding member. Dear Brigid, we wish you all the best for your future endeavors!

For more details please read our press release.

We will announce more personnel changes for the DOK Industry section soon.

This year the Berlinale will certainly look different with the European Film Market rolling out its complete programme online. We will be traveling to Berlin in our hearts and minds and we look forward to meeting you digitally at the EFM’s DocSalon where we are happy to be a partner again! 

When & Where

Our Programme and Industry teams will be available for One-on-One Meetings at Meet the (Doc) Festivals to discuss your latest projects and give insights into DOK Leipzig’s programming and industry offers.

Please note that you need to pre-register for these meetings until Wednesday 24 February 2021 through the EFM website. 

• Monday 1 March, 10 am – 11 am: Lina Dinkla (Programme Department)
• Monday 1 March, 11 am – 12 noon: Therese Antony (Programme Department)
• Wednesday 3 March, 4 pm – 5 pm: Marie Kloos (Selection Team)
• Wednesday 3 March, 5 pm – 6 pm: Therese Antony (Programme Department)
• Wednesday 3 March, 6 pm – 7 pm: Roland Löbner (DOK Industry)
• Thursday 4 March, 12 noon – 1 pm: Therese Antony (Programme Department)
• Thursday 4 March, 1 pm – 2 pm: Marie Kloos (Selection Team)
• Friday 5 March, 10 am – 11 am: Lina Dinkla (Programme Department)
• Friday 5 March, 11 am – 12 noon: Roland Löbner (DOK Industry)

And of course we will be on hand for further individual meeting requests during the EFM. Please reach out to:

Therese Antony & Lina Dinkla
Programme Department
programm [at] dok-leipzig [dot] de

Marie Kloos
Selection Team
programm [at] dok-leipzig [dot] de

Roland Löbner
DOK Industry Department
loebner [at] dok-leipzig [dot] de

We are delighted to see you online at the European Film Market!

Congratulations the first prize winners of the festival! Two prizes have been awarded to new documentary projects participating in the 16th DOK Co-Pro Market. In DOK Preview Germany, one prize has been awarded.

The Development Prize for the Best Female Director

by the Saxon State Minister for the Arts was awarded at our virtual opening event on 26 October. The 5,000-euro prize presented by State Minister Barbara Klepsch went to director Fan Wu who received the award for the film project XiXi (Taiwan, Philippines). A jury had decided in advance which film project would receive the award. Projects selected for the DOK Co-Pro Market were eligible. A Special Mention went to Andra Popescu, director of Bright Future.

Zonta Club Leipzig-Elster

has awarded its Talent Development Prize of up to with 1,000 € to cover the travel and accommodation of one participating female producer, in this case Jenifer de la Rosa with her project The Daughter of the Vulcano.

DOK Preview Germany

Furthermore, the D-Facto Motion Works-in-Progress Prize awards an outstanding project from DOK Preview Germany with post-production services amounting to 10,000 €. This year, the prize goes to Viral by Udi Nir & Sagi Bornstein (Germany, Israel). 

We congratulate all Industry winners 2020, thank our award partners and look forward to the further development of all the outstanding participating film projects. 

Read more about the DOK Co-Pro Market and DOK Preview Germany.

Our 2020 DOK Industry Programme focuses on the participation of under-represented filmmakers, opening doors and breaking down power structures that permeate the documentary film industry. The virtual offerings of our platform for the sector are intended to advance sustainable models of filmmaking during destabilising times and break new ground in inclusive film production.

With regard to the organisation and curation of this year’s online edition, our head of DOK Industry Brigid O’Shea says: “My main concern was not to pick up DOK Industry Programme and put it in a Zoom call. Instead, we as a team salvaged as much recognisable, efficient and useful programming as we could, and then got comfortable with letting go of the rest. Then we turned our attention to what we want to change, and that is to begin the process of highlighting overlooked or underrepresented voices in the documentary community and how to open up new discussion and debate, while still offering the best access to the international creative documentary marketplace.”

All events, film presentations and podcasts will be accessible via the festival platform myDOK. There, accredited participants will also have the opportunity to network with other filmmakers via the DOK Industry Guide. 

You can find a first overview of the online programme offers by DOK Industry here.

The guest list, which continues to expand, provides a first insight into the accredited trade visitors and can be viewed here.