Eight long and eight short documentaries are in the run for this year’s Doc Alliance Award. The nominated films were presented during the Doc Day in Cannes, as well as the 2023 jury.

With the award, the Doc Alliance network honors emerging talents in European documentary film. Each of the seven member festivals and the 2023 guest partner DokuFest chose one feature and one short film from their own programme. Our two DOK Leipzig candidates are “Three Women” (Drei Frauen) by Maksym Melnyk and “Why My Mum Loves Russell Crowe” by Emma van den Berg.

It’s now up to the jury members Jonathan Ali, Anna Berthollet and Arnaud Hée to decide about the winners. The two winning films will be announced at DokuFest in Prizren in August.

Discover all 16 nominees

Read more in our press release.

We are pleased to introduce three new colleagues who will contribute varied perspectives to our festival work. Victoria Leshchenko (coordinator documentary film competitions) and Jana Kraft (coordinator animated film competitions) are joining the programme department. At DOK Industry, Guevara Namer will oversee the DOK Co-Pro Market and the DOK Short n’ Sweet short film pitch as project coordinator. We are happy to welcome you as new members to our DOK Team!

Victoria Leshchenko

is a producer of cultural events and a curator who lives in Berlin and Kyiv. In 2010, following a stint at the Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival, she became programme coordinator at the Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, which DOK Leipzig partnered with last year. Since 2019, she has served as programme director at Docudays UA, curating numerous sections of that festival. In 2022, she and Yuliia Kovalenko founded the sloïk film atelier, an independent union of Ukrainian film curators which gives space to underrepresented voices and promotes them internationally.

Jana Kraft

is working towards a degree in cultural studies and aesthetic communication at the University of Hildesheim. She lives in Leipzig. As part of her studies, she has been involved in the making of various cartoon and stop-motion films. She has also worked in film coordination at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and the Kurzsuechtig Central German Short Film Festival.

Guevara Namer

is a documentary filmmaker and visual artist based in Berlin. She started her career in Damascus in 2007. Her work deals with themes of feminism, identity and exile. Guevara Namer is a German Film Academy winner (Lola 2022 for “The Other Side of the River”), in her filmography she has held various roles in a number of collaborations with international filmmakers, including co-directing, researching, filming, and producing.

DOK Leipzig is bidding farewell to programme coordinators Thérèse Antony (formerly competitions) and Ulrike Schmidt (formerly DOK Co-Pro Market, DOK Short n’ Sweet), who are moving on to other endeavours. Dear Thérèse and Ulrike, we wish you all the best!

Photo Guevara Namer: Bernhard Ludewig

With Animation Lab DOK Leipzig 2023, we launch a first collaboration between CEE Animation and DOK Leipzig!

This four-day residential workshop is dedicated to professional producers, who are developing their first animated documentary of any format (short, series, feature) and are interested in exploring the landscape of the animation industry, the topic of project development, production and distribution.

Animation Lab DOK Leipzig will be led by experienced producer Jean-François Le Corre (Vivement-Lundi!, France) and multidisciplinary artist Uri Kranot (Anidox, Denmark) and accompanied by the CEE Animation workshop team.

The workshop event will take place from 10 to 13 October 2023 in Leipzig, alongside the DOK Industry Programme. The participation fee of 250 € includes a festival accreditation to DOK Leipzig.

Applications are open until 1 June 2023! 

Find more details and apply here

The 19th edition of the DOK Co-Pro Market is now open for submissions. We are looking for your creative, author-driven documentaries. Feature-length documentaries suitable for theatrical release, one-offs and series are all encouraged to submit. 

The DOK Co-Pro Market is a co-financing and networking event, connecting producers with colleagues to finance new creative documentary projects and granting exclusive access to the multifaceted German and international non-fiction markets. The event offers knowledge about the international market and international co-productions, plus 850+ individual meetings, matching producers from all over the world with decision makers and financiers.

What’s good to know

• We only accept projects that are in development or early stages of production. Projects in post-production are not eligible.
• We are a market for projects that are interested in working with other producers early on to build co-productions. Please don’t apply if you are looking for finishing funds.
• Projects from all over the world are welcome to apply.

The deadline for submissions is 29 June 2023.

Please find all relevant information on participating with a project and how to submit in the Co-Pro Market Submission Guidelines. For any further questions, please check our FAQ.

We are looking forward to seeing which projects you are bringing forth this year!

Read more and start submitting here