Finally! We’re delighted to announce the first details and news of the 69th festival edition.

Festival director Ola Staszel, who has overseen the artistic direction and management of the Leipzig festival since January 2026, is launching a new section, “Positions”, that creates more space for exchange and debate. The selection of films is intended as a starting point and catalyst for dialogue and exchange – listening to one another, having conversations, accommodating differing views and contradictions, and questioning our own convictions.

Discover the first titles of DOK Leipzig 2026

The section consists of seven films that variously follow family members searching for traces of those who were disappeared during the Spanish Civil War (“Atlas of Disappearance”), counter oil extraction in Nigeria with poetry (“Hope is a Word”) and observe doubts giving way to obedience and routine at a French training facility for prison guards (“Detention”). A further title is „Union Town“, the last of three films exploring workers’ rights from Director Barbara Kopple – a two-time Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature.

The “Positions” programme will also feature two debate formats, developed in cooperation with Critics’ Week, following two film screenings. Further screenings will be followed by Extended Q&As with filmmakers and invited experts.

See all Films in „Positions“

Update on the Audience Award

Also new at DOK Leipzig 2026: the Audience Award, a Golden Dove for a feature-length documentary, will no longer be decided by a jury but by the audience in an online vote. We’ll let you know how exactly to take part in the coming weeks.

The sections “Camera Lucida” and “Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe” will not be continued.

... of course, we cannot reveal everything at this stage. Suffice to say: we’ll be launching a second new section – which includes the opening film – in mid-September. And until then, there’ll be more exciting programme series!

More about our film programme