From the teary, bloodshot eyes of call centre monkeys and threads glowing in the darkness, to the resilience of artistic animated films in times of low-cost AI productions: DOK Leipzig is providing a broad platform for animated filmmaking. Join us in the Animation Perspectives and Animation Night sections, as well as in a DOK Talk and in the DOK Industry events. These events focus attention on unusual artistic styles and standpoints, production conditions and current matters of interest.
Animation Perspectives – two artists’ approaches to navigating experimental narration, black humour, and a world that’s falling apart
On the Thursday of the festival, the Animation Perspectives introduces Niki Lindroth von Bahr and Réka Bucsi, two artists working in animation who take a bold, idiosyncratic and fragmentary approach to crafting their own cinematic environments. The artists’ works venture into unexplored territory involving experimental narration, black humour and abstraction to bring forth the unspoken, the painful – but also the beautiful. In absurd modern fables featuring relatable, anthropomorphic animals, Niki Lindroth von Bahr from Stockholm pulls colourful, glowing threads from the darkness and weaves them into an almost intangible “in-between”: futuristic, surreal, and populated by sophisticated characters that only seem to be cute. Bucsi thus encourages us not to block out the darkness in our own lives but to embrace it: only then do magically glowing plants grow, and orange clouds cry.
Back to The Future: The Video Synthesizer
More than half a century ago, the invention of the video synthesizer revolutionised filmmaking by integrating technology in the creation of art. In the mid-1960s, a new generation of artists seeking for innovative forms of expression discovered they could use the medium of video in their work. On the Friday of the festival, Animation Night curator Ben Sassen will draw on a curated programme of films spanning nearly three decades to highlight the role of the video synthesizer in the history of modern filmmaking and showcase some of the major artistic achievements of this period. Following the film screenings, there will be a performance by contemporary audio/video artists CINEMA.AV (USA) and Processing___ (Canada) who will present their new live work, “MICROWAVE”.
Masterclass and DOK Talk Behind the Screens
In the free Masterclass: In Conversation with Punto y Raya, held during the festival on Thursday, curator Franka Sachse will talk to the team behind Punto y Raya, a festival for animated filmmaking that also serves as an international platform at the nexus of visual arts and new technologies. The festival plays an important part in promoting the visibility of an art form dedicated to the most elementary aspects of audiovisual work: form, colour, motion and sound. On the same day, at the DOK Talk „animation@DOK Leipzig – Behind the Screens“, Jana Kraft, the coordinator of the animated film competition, will talk to directors of animated films and share personal insights into working with animation.
DOK Industry: Tackling challenges constructively
At DOK Industry, the Thursday and Wednesday of the festival will also be dedicated to animation. At our annual short film pitch DOK Short n' Sweet eight exciting short film projects in different stages of production will be presented. The DOK Industry Talk Anidox Lab – The Alchemy of Animated Documentaries will shine a light on the magic of animated documentaries when real-life stories and experiences meet boundless possibilities of animation. The partner event AG Animated Film: "AI in Animation – Curse, Blessing or Both" will explore ways to address the surge of purely AI-generated content on streaming platforms, which, because of its speed, low production cost, and often questionable quality, is transforming both production processes and audience viewing habits. DOK Industry: Jump in! invites professionals from the fields of animation and documentary film to come together and exchange ideas. The DOK Industry Talk Shorts, Screened and Streamed: Connecting Audiences to Short Films will examine how short films can reach their audiences through both international film festivals and online platforms.
