Film Archive

Filmstill Au Revoir, Pugs

Au Revoir, Pugs

Au Revoir, Pugs
Brett Allen Smith
International Competition Documentary Film 2023
Documentary Film
Italy,
Denmark
2023
9 minutes
English
Subtitles: 
None

At first glance, Brett Allen Smith’s memory worlds seem slightly otherworldly but peaceful. There is a little pug – curious, bouncy and, most importantly, alive, a harmless explorer of lawns and living rooms. At the same time, the director is driven by an inner fracture, an irritation to be illuminated by means of phone conversations with family members: How real are the memories that had such a tremendous impact on him? Like the hill towering in front of Smith’s inner eye under which two dogs lie buried. And there are sunflowers, imposing plants that are impossible to pick for his five-year old’s hands because their roots have bored so deeply into the soil.

Today the director is a father and dog owner himself – there are shots of a baby and a pug – and his thought construct, maybe even something that shaped his identity, is blurring. The phone calls with his sisters lead nowhere. On the visual level, “Au Revoir, Pugs” plays with images, animation and nostalgic effects, while melodies can be heard from far away, sweet and melancholy but also a little uncanny. A compact work of less than ten minutes, a soft-toed sneaky jolt.

Carolin Weidner

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Brett Allen Smith
Cinematographer
Brett Allen Smith
Editor
Brett Allen Smith
Producer
Andrea Gatopoulos, Brett Allen Smith, Marco Crispano
Animation
Théo Chikhi
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Flee

Flugt
Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Competition for the Audience Award 2021
Documentary Film
Denmark,
France,
Sweden,
Norway
2021
86 minutes
Danish,
Dari,
Russian,
English
Subtitles: 
English

For many years, Amin was unable to speak about the experience of his flight. It is only now that he finds the courage to open up to his schoolmate, filmmaker Jonas Poher Rasmussen. From earliest childhood Amin’s life was marked by political unrest in his native country of Afghanistan and soon by growing up without a permanent home. His painful memories are visualized in haunting animations, interwoven with documentary footage.

It’s a well-known fact that flight does not lead from point A to point B and then simply ends. Amin’s story, though, shows how rocky and tortuous it can really be, leading from Afghanistan via Russia, Estonia and a few other stations to Denmark. Only when his life is on a safe track with an upcoming wedding and a good career does he find the strength to talk about what he had to go through to be where he is today. In an almost psychoanalytical setting, the protagonist – lying down – talks about his past. The narrative moves in a spiral between then and now, allowing for frequent respites between the traumatic impressions that the poignant animation makes almost physically tangible. It’s no coincidence that “Flee” has already won multiple awards and is considered an “instant classic” even now.
Kim Busch

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Jonas Poher Rasmussen
Script
Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Amin
Editor
Janus Billeskov Jansen
Producer
Monica Hellström, Charlotte De La Gournerie, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Score
Uno Helmerson
Animation
Kenneth Ladekjær
World Sales
Shoshi Korman
Extended Reality: DOK Neuland 2021
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Hush
Vibeke Bryld
A meditative journey into Norse mythology: While the earthly world is dissolving, voices draw us into a lost underwater universe.
2020
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Hush

Havfolket kalder mørknet vand
Vibeke Bryld
Extended Reality 2021
-
Denmark
2020
12 minutes
without dialogue

In Norse mythology there are numerous sagas about water creatures that lure sailors out to sea. This VR experience takes us on a meditative journey to this mythical reality. While the world around us is dissolving, voices draw us into a lost underwater universe in which the boundaries between reality, fantasy, humans and nature fade.

Lars Rummel

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Producer
Maria Kristensen
Executive Producer
Heidi Elise Christensen, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Production Company
Final Cut for Real
Animation
Lars Hemmingsen Nørgaard
VR Developer
Lars Hemmingsen Nørgaard
Artistic Design
Elin Maria Johansson
Sound
Mads Michelsen, Sune Kaarsberg
Score
Signe Lykke
Director
Vibeke Bryld
Kids DOK 2023
Filmstill Into the Blue
Into the Blue
Ömer Sami
In Denmark the police offer voluntary boot camps for girls. 12-year-old Tatheer from Copenhagen takes part. Far away from home, she will have grown a few centimetres before the end.
Filmstill Into the Blue

Into the Blue

I det blå
Ömer Sami
Kids DOK 2023
Documentary Film
Denmark
2022
28 minutes
Danish
Subtitles: 
German Subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing

In Denmark, the police regularly offer so-called boot camps to find new recruits. They especially target girls from less privileged backgrounds. 12-year-old Tatheer from Copenhagen takes part in one of these one-week courses. Far away from home, deep in the forests, she is forced to find her way in this new group, and will have grown a few centimetres at the end.

Lina Dinkla

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Ömer Sami
Cinematographer
Roxana Reiss
Editor
Laura Skiöld Østerud
Producer
Alma Dyekjær Giese
Sound
Nanna Buch
Sound Design
Nanna Buch
Score
Philip Owusu
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Lift Like a Girl

Ash ya Captain
Mayye Zayed
German Competition 2020
Documentary Film
Denmark,
Egypt,
Germany
2020
95 minutes
Arabic
Subtitles: 
English

Captain Ramadan’s “gym” is located in a dusty residential area near the port of Alexandria. This is where the former professional athlete has coached young women in weightlifting for over twenty years – including his daughter Nahla, the first Egyptian world champion. An extraordinarily intimate portrait of this lone and fighter who raised Egypt’s young athletes to world class level with self-funding, which also puts the focus on a second protagonist: young Asmaa.

Mayye Zayed has followed the Captain’s student, who was fourteen at the start, for four years. Wearing a red Popeye t-shirt and backed by her coach, she fights her way to the global top league matches. The story of the inner highs and lows of the introverted young woman unfolds gently as the camera captures her emotional states precisely without many words. The dramaturgy of the chronological narrative follows the events in the best direct cinema manner, impressively adapting to the rhythm of life – and death. The result is the portrait of an unusual relationship and of a harsh environment that demands more than physical strength from the participants.
Borjana Gaković

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Mayye Zayed
Script
Mayye Zayed
Cinematographer
Mohamad Elhadidi
Editor
Sara Abdallah
Producer
Mayye Zayed
Co-Producer
Anke Petersen, Anna Bolster
Sound
Samir Nabil, Kristoffer Salting, Brian Dyrby
Score
Marian Mentrup
Broadcaster
Eva Klöcker, Claudia Tronnier
Funder
The Getty Images ARRAY Grant, Arab Fund For Arts & Culture (AFAC), HotDocs - Blue Ice Group Documentary Fund, International Media Support (IMS) , The Danish-Arab Partnership Programme The Danish Egyptian Dialogue Initiative (DEDI)
Winner of: Golden Dove (German Competition)
Kids DOK 2020
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Long, Live, Love
Sine Skibsholt
Rose is a teenager who fights with her mother and, for the second time, against cancer. She records everything in her diary: good and bad moments, photos, memories, drawings.
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Long, Live, Love

Lever Elsker Savner
Sine Skibsholt
Kids DOK 2020
Documentary Film
Denmark
2020
78 minutes
Danish
Subtitles: 
English

Rosemarie has defeated cancer as a small child. Now she’s fourteen and the disease is back. Though her mother supports Rose, her anxiety makes it hard to get along with her. Their relationship is complicated and so is being a teenager with cancer. Rose looks ahead: new school, new haircut, new image. She wants to move on – and she wants her mother to do the same.

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Sine Skibsholt
Cinematographer
Sine Skibsholt, Ina Lindgreen
Editor
Rebekka Lønqvist
Producer
Helle Faber
Sound
Thomas Arent
Score
Martin Juel Dirkov
World Sales
Kim Christiansen
Audience Award Competition 2021
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Our Memory Belongs to Us
Rami Farah, Signe Byrge Sørensen
In the midst of a cruel conflict, Syrian activists place their hopes in the production of images. What stories do their recordings tell? What role do they play as testimonies?
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Our Memory Belongs to Us

Frihed, håb og andre synder – Den syriske revolution 10 år senere
Rami Farah, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Competition for the Audience Award 2021
Documentary Film
Denmark,
France
2021
90 minutes
Arabic
Subtitles: 
German Subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing, English

The most valuable thing Yadan carries with him on his flight is a hard drive. It contains almost 13,000 videos recorded in 2011 and 2012 by him and other insurgents in Daraa, the “cradle” of the Syrian revolution. Eight years later, Yadan and two of his fellow travellers meet in a theatre in Paris to (re)confront the material. In the dialogue between the men and the images, a piece of the country’s history begins to take shape.

When peaceful protest turns into brutal war, a small group of civilians become the voice of Daraa. They film where there is no official coverage: at first in order to help the revolution into actual existence by their media representation, later to bear witness in an urgent plea for help to the international community. Against the human rights crimes of the government troops, against shelling and bombs – the camera is their weapon. The cinematic set-up becomes the starting point for a reflection about the meaning of images, then and now, and at the same time triggers a conversion of personal into collective memories. The protagonists’ reactions reveal how painful this process is: “Is the collection of the story worth all the violence that memory brings back?” is asked from offscreen. The film gives a decisive answer.
Sarina Lacaf

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Rami Farah, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Script
Dima Saber, Rami Farah, Lyana Saleh, Signe Byrge Sørensen
Cinematographer
Henrik Bohn Ipsen
Editor
Gladys Joujou
Producer
Signe Byrge Sørensen, Lyana Saleh, Anne Köhncke
Co-Producer
Reema Jarrar
Sound
Henrik Garnov
Score
Kinan Azmeh
Winner of: Leipziger Ring
Doc Alliance Award 2023
Filmstill Silent Sun of Russia
Silent Sun of Russia
Sybilla Tuxen
The film follows three young Russian women after the attack on Ukraine. Stay or leave? A haunting look at a generation in today’s Russia and their lives on the go.
Filmstill Silent Sun of Russia

Silent Sun of Russia

Vi er Rusland
Sybilla Tuxen
Doc Alliance Award 2023
Documentary Film
Denmark
2023
71 minutes
Russian,
Georgian,
Spanish,
English
Subtitles: 
English

Alyona, Alik and Katya belong to a generation of young Russian women who demand what they are not allowed. They are part of a global youth that dreams of self-determination and freedom. Sybilla Tuxen followed her protagonists between 2018 and 2022, up to the time of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, when the three young women find themselves in a new reality. Now more than ever, they are rebelling against Putin’s state and have since lived life on the go.

One of them has made it to Georgia, another goes to Spain, while the third stays at home. They keep in touch by smartphone and social media. One hears from their conversations that they, like many others, don’t believe that political engagement can change anything. Their resistance rather consists in leading modern and western lives in which gender, sexuality, pop music and identity issues play important roles. Tuxen’s darkly poetic debut film is set in nocturnal cars, flats and backyards. The transit in which the three find themselves becomes physically tangible. Their stories allow us rare glimpses into an almost invisible side of today’s Russia and the complexity of lived contradiction.

Lina Dinkla

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Sybilla Tuxen
Cinematographer
Sybilla Tuxen
Editor
Enis Saraçi
Producer
Rikke Tambo Andersen, Maria Møller Christoffersen
Sound Design
Mathias Dehn Middelhart
Re-Visions 2020
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Slaves
David Aronowitsch, Hanna Heilborn
Two Southern Sudanese children look back at their experiences of slavery. The authentic 2003 sound recording expands into an animated space in children’s colours.
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Slaves

Slavar
David Aronowitsch, Hanna Heilborn
Re-Visions 2020
Animated Film
Sweden,
Norway,
Denmark
2008
16 minutes
English,
Dinka
Subtitles: 
English

Nine-year-old Abuk and 15-year-old Machiek have survived an ordeal. Like many Southern Sudanese children, they were robbed and enslaved by militias. In 2003, after their liberation, they visited Sweden to talk about their experiences. The authentic sound recording expands into animated space and supplies the voiceover for images of fear and memories in children’s colours.

Ralph Eue

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
David Aronowitsch, Hanna Heilborn
Producer
David Aronowitsch, Hanna Heilborn
Co-Producer
Medieoperatørene, Pausefilm ApS
Sound
Anders Nyström, Peter Albrechtsen
Animation
Mats Johansson, Magnus Östergren
Production Company
Story AB
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The Cars We Drove into Capitalism

The Cars We Drove into Capitalism
Georgi Bogdanov, Boris Missirkov
Competition for the Audience Award 2021
Documentary Film
Bulgaria,
Croatia,
Czech Republic,
Denmark,
Germany
2021
93 minutes
Bulgarian,
Czech,
English,
German,
Norwegian,
Russian
Subtitles: 
English

A nostalgic trip into a past when buying a car constituted a lifetime’s work – especially for those Europeans who had a maximum of two handful of brands at their disposal. This cheerfully edited collection of auto biographies from socialist production evokes seemingly carefree times when the motorized vehicle was allowed to be simply a status symbol: free from ideological turf wars revolving around the climate crisis and mobility diets.

From Russia via Bulgaria and the Czech Republic to Germany and Norway, love stories between humans and Trabi, Moskvitch and Volga are captured on film. We meet protagonists who are fond of their beloved piece of tin, then or now, or have even amassed a considerable collection. There’s a couple who met and fell in love at a retro car exhibition and still drive the same model today. We meet a sexton who passes on his official car after 32 years of use. We make the acquaintance of a pin-up who always poses in front of vintage cars from the East. They all have a soft spot for these rickety rust buckets, because even though the products of the socialist car industry were usually slow, chunky, tedious to drive and to repair, they were all regarded as showpieces of a successful life. And there was one in almost every family: coveted, long longed-for, assiduously polished.
Lina Dinkla

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Georgi Bogdanov, Boris Missirkov
Script
Boris Missirkov, Georgi Bogdanov
Cinematographer
Boris Missirkov, Georgi Bogdanov
Editor
Emil Granicharov, Jacob Thuessen, Georgi Tenev
Producer
Martichka Bozhilova
Co-Producer
Tina Leeb, Miljenka Čogelja, Dana Budisavljević, Jiří Konečný, Sigrid Jonsson Dyekjær, Sascha Beier, Simone Baumann
Sound
Veselin Zografov
Filmstill The Gullspång Miracle

The Gullspång Miracle

Miraklet i Gullspång
Maria Fredriksson
Audience Competition 2023
Documentary Film
Sweden,
Norway,
Denmark
2023
108 minutes
Norwegian,
Swedish
Subtitles: 
German Subtitles for deaf and hard-of-hearing, English

In the Swedish town of Gullspång, Kari and May meet a woman who looks exactly like their sister Lita who died more than 30 years ago. No coincidence: Olaug was born on the same day as Lita in the rural north of Norway; a DNA test confirms that the two were born as twin sisters. The happy reunion with Kari, May and the rest of the family, though, soon shows the first cracks. At the age of 80, Olaug’s identity is shattered. Why did her parents give her away? Will she fit in with her new, deeply religious kin? She does not believe in divine revelations. Instead, she is haunted by Lita’s alleged suicide – and indeed her investigative research raises questions about the circumstances of that death.

At least at one point in the film, director Maria Fredriksson is audibly dumbfounded behind the camera. What starts as a feel-good film becomes a character study of identity, then a kind of true-crime and finally a mystery story. The direction takes it up a notch, sometimes to dramatic, sometimes to quite funny effect: The perfectly lighted country houses with portrait photos on the walls and the ironically suggestive use of music are reminiscent of “Twin Peaks.” Sometimes life writes the crazier plot twists.

Jan-Philipp Kohlmann

Credits DOK Leipzig Logo

Director
Maria Fredriksson
Script
Maria Fredriksson
Cinematographer
Pia Lehto
Editor
Mark Bukdahl, Orvar Anklew
Producer
Ina Holmqvist
Sound Design
Rune Hansen
Score
Jonas Colstrup
World Sales
Jenny Bohnhoff