Starting this month, Nadja Tennstedt will be in charge of DOK Leipzig’s industry offerings. She succeeds long-time head Brigid O’Shea.

Active in the film sector for many years, Tennstedt has focused increasingly on documentary and independent film. Most recently she coordinated DocSalon, the documentary film platform at the Berlinale's European Film Market (EFM), where she led networking and community building activities within the documentary industry.

“We are fortunate to welcome Nadja Tennstedt to our team, an experienced collaborator who is highly regarded by documentary creatives around the world, and who has earned her reputation through passion, imagination and her dedicated advocacy for diversity,” festival director Christoph Terhechte says.

“Changes in the international film industry, which have been greatly accelerated by the pandemic, pose great challenges to the entire documentary community. At the same time, they present opportunities to rethink and change existing models and structures. I am very much looking forward to accompanying and promoting these developments alongside Christoph Terhechte and all of my colleagues to support the doc community. My goal is to constantly develop DOK Industry’s offerings and adapt them to changes in the financing, production and distribution of documentaries,” Tennstedt says and she adds: “Particularly important to me in my work is a focus on the participation by creatives from underrepresented groups and challenging power structures that exist in the documentary industry.”

We are happy to welcome you as a new member to our DOK team, Nadja!

Read more in our Press Release.

Further information about this year’s DOK Industry programme will be announced soon.

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.