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.

We are so pleased to welcome 36 new projects looking for co-production, financing and distribution partners to participate in the 16th DOK Co-Pro Market, but the first digital edition since its establishment. Two jam-packed days of meetings, Open Programme, mingles and other networking possibilities are planned.

Check out more here and producers interested in making meetings with the selected projects can still register their interest until September 25. Happy browsing and congratulations to the teams.

We are thrilled to announce the first projects that are selected to participate in the online DOK Industry Programme taking place from 26 October to 1 November 2020.

As almost all international festivals, markets and training initiatives were moving online this year, the DOK Leipzig team continued to scout for extraordinary talent, original stories and immensely creative filmmaking at their online editions. The following teams received the DOK Leipzig Accelerator Prizes and are invited to present their project at the DOK Co-Pro Market to international producers, financiers and distributors:

• Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava by Quang Nông Nhât, produced by Trang Dao Minh (Vietnam)
  selected at Docs by the Sea
• Carropasajero by Juan Pablo Polanco & Cesar Alejandro Jaimes, produced by Laura Nogal & María Canela Reyes (Los Niños Films, Spain)
  selected at MAFF 
• Cordon by Anton Mezulić, produced by Oliver Sertić & Suzana Erbežnik (Restart, Croatia)
  selected at BDC Discoveries 
• Gypsy Gadji by Dasa Raimanova, produced by Rafal Sakowski (Iris Media, Poland)
  selected at Doc Lab Poland 
• The House is Burning by Sara C. F. de Gouveia, produced by Natalie Geyser & Sara C. F. de Gouveia (Lionfish Productions, South Africa)
  selected at Durban Film Mart 
• Too Close by Botond Pusok, produced by Irina Malcea (Luna Film, Romania)
  selected at East Doc Platform

We will announce the complete project selection of the DOK Co-Pro Market on 17 September 2020.

Over 300 projects were submitted to participate in the online DOK Co-Pro Market. Interestingly it is a similar amount of project submissions as in past years, before the COVID-19 crisis affected the film industry heavily in regards to production opportunities and distribution options.

“We want to thank all submitters who again trusted us with their creative documentary projects in a year, where nothing is normal but we all find ourselves in a disrupted and changing world. Together with the Co-Pro selection committee we are taking the next weeks to have a concentrated look at all proposals and decide, for which projects we can be the best support with our platform and network, to help them move forward despite a wide-ranging production halt and particular challenges. As much as we miss having the project teams and our guests in Leipzig in October, we are excited about connecting with them online in a reimagined DOK Co-Pro Market programme!” says the DOK Co-Pro Market Coordinator Ulrike Schmidt.

Meet our DOK Co-Pro selection committee

For the selection of the final 35 projects participating in the DOK Co-Pro Market in October, the DOK Industry team receives support from two experienced documentary professionals - the producer and industry programmer Selin Murat (Parabola Films & RIDM, Canada) and producer Alex Tondowski (Tondowski Films, Germany). Read more about our DOK Co-Pro selection committee

August is the month of intensive project evaluation for the selection committee, before they make the final decisions in early September. We will announce the 2020 project selection in mid-September here on our website.