A total of 47.615 visitors took advantage of the hybrid edition of the festival — physically in the Leipzig festival cinemas or DOK Neuland just as well as with online film screenings, discussions with filmmakers and industry offerings

Festival director Christoph Terhechte taking stock:

“This edition of the festival was a big adventure for us. Organising a festival under these new circumstances meant a huge adjustment for the entire team as well as for all the filmmakers, partners and service providers involved. However, the positive reactions of the visitors and the fantastic level of interest among the public tell us that this huge effort was worth it.” The online audience, for example, submitted photos of private film screenings via social media, and there was a lot of positive and cordial feedback. “We would like to share this wonderful feedback with the filmmakers, who have lost much of their direct contact with the audience. You deserve special appreciation.”

Connections between the online and offline audience

Despite not being in the same place, the audience and the filmmakers had numerous opportunities to engage in dialogue. One of the challenges facing the hybrid edition was to bring together the cinema audience, the directors at home and the online audience for 12 live film talks. Various other live elements also connected the filmmakers and their audiences. Pre-recorded talks and pre-produced segments rounded out the programme.

DOK Industry online was a success

Nearly 1,700 accredited professionals took advantage of the festival’s industry offerings at DOK Industry and were networked online across different time zones. The offerings included the DOK Co-Pro Market, the presentations of rough cuts at DOK Preview, the DOK Exchange conference and, for the first time, a series of podcasts on topics relating to the industry.

A total of 150 films and XR works were shown during the 63rd edition of DOK Leipzig.

Christoph Terhechte concludes: “The team has seldom faced such a huge challenge, but we all learned an enormous amount in a short time. We will apply the know-how we’ve acquired to future editions of the festival.”

You can find all award winners here.

The award-winning films of our 63rd festival edition have been chosen. The Golden and Silver Doves were presented in a hybrid award ceremony in a cinema auditorium which the juries and filmmakers joined remotely. At the same time, we streamed the event live on our website. In case you missed the livestream, you will find a recording of the ceremony in our media library as of tomorrow. 

International Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film

The film Downstream to Kinshasa by Dieudo Hamadi has received the Golden Dove in the International Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film. This co-production from the Democratic Republic of Congo, France and Belgium focuses on war-disabled people from Kisangani in the DR Congo. The 10,000-euro award is sponsored by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk.

The Silver Dove for best long documentary or animated film by an up-and-coming director in the International Competition Long Film has gone to the Argentinian production The Poets Visit Juana Bignozzi. The film was directed by writer and journalist Mercedes Halfon and by Laura Citarella, who is known internationally as the producer of “La Flor”. The award was sponsored in conjunction with 6,000 euros from the broadcaster 3sat.

German Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film

The Golden Dove in the German Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film in conjunction with 3,000 euros was presented to Lift Like a Girl, a joint Danish-Egyptian-German production by Mayye Zayed. The filmmaker follows Asmaa, aged 14 at the start, for four years. With the help of her coach, a former professional athlete, Asmaa makes her way to the top league in weightlifting in the streets of Alexandria.

“Golden Section” – Competition for the Audience Award Long Documentary or Animated Film

The Golden Dove in “The Golden Section”, the newly introduced Competition for the Audience Award Long Documentary or Animated Film in conjunction with 3,000 euros has gone to the Czech production A New Shift by Jindřich Andrš. The director focuses on a miner who, after 21 years of employment, is retraining to become a programmer

International Competition Short Documentary and Animated Film

In the International Competition Short Documentary and Animated Film, the French-Nigerian co-production Trouble Sleep by Alain Kassanda, a rhythmic portrait of life in Ibadan, has been awarded a Golden Dove for best documentary film, while the Polish film I’m Here by Julia Orlik about a dying woman surrounded by her family has been awarded a Golden Dove for best animated film. Kassanda and Orlik have each received 3,000 euros in prize money.

German Competition Short Documentary and Animated Film

The Silver Dove in the German Competition Short Documentary and Animated Film, in conjunction with 1,500 euros in prize money, has been awarded to Erwin by Jan Soldat, a Austrian-German co-production.

“Golden Section” – Competition for the Audience Award Short Documentary and Animated Film

The Silver Dove in the newly introduced “Golden Section” Competition for the Audience Award Short Documentary and Animated Film, has gone to the animated film Step into the River by Weijia Ma, a Chinese-French co-production that explores China’s one-child policy from the perspective of two young girls. The Silver Dove, which comes with 1,500 euros in prize money, was donated by the Leipziger Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Filmkunst e. V.

All of the award-winning films as well as the remaining films offered online will continue to be available to audiences in Germany on our streaming platform dok-leipzig.culturebase.org. The final films of the festival will be shown online on 14 November.

The presentation of the partnership awards was held in a strictly virtual environment. The juries announced their decisions in short video statements. You are invited to watch the award presentation in our media library.

The recipients of the partnership awards are:

DEFA Sponsoring Prize (4,000 euros): Rift Finfinnee by Daniel Kötter, Ethiopia, Germany 2020.

Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize (2,000 euros): The Guardian by Martina Priessner, Germany 2020.

MDR Film Prize (3,000 euros): A New Shift by Jindřich Andrš, Czech Republic 2020.

ver.di Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness (2,500 euros): 80.000 Schnitzels by Hannah Schweier, Germany 2020.

Prize of the Interreligious Jury (1,500 euros): Downstream to Kinshasa by Dieudo Hamadi, DR Congo, France, Belgium 2020.

Young Eyes Film Award (2,000 euros): Operation Moonbird by Dustin Lose, Germany 2020.

International Critics Prize (FIPRESCI): Vicenta by Darío Doria, Argentina 2020.

Mephisto 97.6 Audience Award: Bad Mood by Loris Giuseppe Nese, Italy 2020.

Gedanken-Aufschluss: Long Film: Robin’s Hood by Jasmin Baumgartner, Austria 2020; Short Film: Riven Threads by Deborah Jeromin, Germany 2020.

Congratulations to all winners!

The recipients of the Golden and Silver Doves will be announced in a separate event in the evening of 1 November, taking place live at CineStar and available to watch online via livestream on our website.

Alongside festival director Christoph Terhechte and the head of DOK Industry, Brigid O’Shea, speakers at the opening ceremony included Barbara Klepsch, the Saxon State Minister for Culture and Tourism, and Dr Skadi Jennicke, the mayor and cultural alderman of the City of Leipzig. The event was moderated by Knut Elstermann.

A video of the opening ceremony is publicly available in our media library.

During the virtual opening ceremony, State Minister Barbara Klepsch presented the 5,000-euro Development Prize for the Best Female Director of the Saxon State Minister for the Arts. Director Fan Wu received the award for the film project “XiXi” (Taiwan, Philippines). A jury had decided in advance which film would receive the award. All projects selected for the DOK Co-Pro Market were eligible. Andra Popescu, director of Bright Future (Romania) received a special mention.

Festival director Christoph Terhechte announced at the start of the festival that the proceeds from ticket sales for online screenings would be passed on to the rights holders of the films in competition: “We wish to help films gain visibility, especially this year, when lots of filmmakers are facing a situation that threatens their very existence — even if this means that we cannot conduct a festival in the usual way. I would like to express my sincere thanks to all the filmmakers for the impressive works they’ve entrusted to us. Engaging with what we have seen and immersing ourselves in different perspectives will create bonds between us across the distance.” The festival director concluded: “Of course, we hope that everything will run as smoothly as possible and that everything will work out according to plan. I wish all of us an inspiring festival.”

Our press release includes statements from the other speakers.

Until 1 November you’ll be able to see and experience 150 films and XR projects in person here in Leipzig. Most of the films can also be viewed online throughout Germany. The films will be available on the Web for 14 days after their respective premieres for you to watch! Some of the festival events will be online exclusives (Online Exclusives).

Want to find out more about the films? Clicking here takes you to film talks. You can also browse through our Director’s Short Cuts, short video greetings to the viewers that the directors have sent us.

There will also be live talks in the cinema as well as online relating to the films in the International Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film. Find out here how that works.

We wish you and all filmmakers a great DOK Leipzig 2020!