Programme

DOK Leipzig is an international festival for documentary and animated film, being the first in the world to combine these two genres. DOK Leipzig is built on more than 60 years of history and takes place every year in autumn.

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Ein voller Kinosaal, zwei Menschen stehen vor der Leinwand und sprechen miteinander, die Menge applaudiert

Festival Screening of “Sabbath Queen” in October 2024

About DOK Leipzig

This year, DOK Leipzig will celebrate its 68th edition. We look forward to welcoming you to Leipzig from 27 October to 2 November.

With contemporary international films, unique curated programmes and a rich programme for children and adults, we invite our audience to discover the range of contemporary documentary and animated film. Our competition categories give exciting artistic works a place to celebrate their premieres.

With DOK Neuland, we present the public with a curated exhibition of Extended Reality works. Each year this creates a world where visitors can experience profound stories in unexpected virtual spaces.

First programme details will be announced in September. Read more about DOK Leipzig and our values and goals in the festival profile.

The Film Programme

We present four competitions and two sections out of competition at DOK Leipzig. The main festival prizes – the Golden and Silver Doves – will be awarded in the competitions. The winners are selected by independent juries. Additionally, further prizes are presented by our partners within the festival.

In addition to the competition categories, we also present several curated series within our programme. With these formats we focus on film historic topics or honour the work of outstanding film artists. These include a retrospective, homages, matinees and programmes for children and young people (Young DOK).

Competitions and Awards

International Competition Documentary Film

A five-member jury presents the following awards:

Golden Dove Feature-Length Film
Golden Dove Short Film
Silver Dove Feature-Length Film
Silver Dove Short Film

International Competition Animated Film

A three-member jury presents the following awards:

Golden Dove Feature-Length Film
Golden Dove Short Film

German Competition Documentary Film

A three-member jury presents the following awards:

Golden Dove for a feature-length documentary film
Golden Dove for a short documentary film

Audience Competition

The Audience Jury consists of five local film enthusiasts who award a Golden Dove. If you are interested to join the jury this year detoro [at] dok-leipzig [dot] de (write us an email).

Film Programmes 2024

Opening Film

“Tracing Light”

Regie: Thomas Riedelsheimer, Germany 2024, 99 minutes

Without light, there would be no cinema – and no life. Searching for the origin of images, this film delves into two worlds that explore the magic of light: physics and art.

shadows of two persons on a green surface, a bright light in the middle

Camera Lucida

A collection of documentaries that feature bold artistic styles of the kind that film aficionados in particular appreciate. The five films in the 2024 programme dealt with the sixth great mass extinction, explore rock formations as a metaphor for grieving, and take us to an Argentinian zoo, a trailer park next to Berlin’s Ostkreuz station and a salt lake in the United States that was once an nuclear testing ground.

Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe

The section “Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe” provided a platform for films from a region with strong historical ties to the festival. The programme was comprised of works from Georgia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Poland and Croatia.

Homage Dominique Cabrera

Dominique Cabrera has devoted herself to various forms of expression, alternating between short and feature-length films, between fiction and documentaries. Her films have been screened at numerous international film festivals and have garnered awards at Cannes, the Berlinale, Toronto, Locarno and elsewhere.

Homage Isabel Herguera

Isabel Herguera presented her first feature-length animated film, “Sultana’s Dream”, at DOK Leipzig in 2023. In 2024, three film programmes and a masterclass offered insights into her creative practice. Curator Franka Sachse describes how Herguera’s personal creative style makes her more recent films “visually unique”: “Translucent colour fields set off against porous ink strokes in rich black, unconventional perspectives and an expressive animation.”

Ein roter Bär sitzt in einer bunt gemalten Landschaft entspannt am Seeufer und schaut einem grünen Vogel beim Picken zu

Kids DOK

Kids DOK and Young Eyes gathers films for everyone from the ages 4 and 6 who is in the mood for funny and thought-provoking viewing experiences. The Young Eyes films are suitable from 12 years on and were nominated for the Young Eyes Award for the first time.

More about Kids DOK and Young Eyes.

Collage mit Ausschnitten von Armen in schwarzweiß auf orange-rosa Hintergrund

Third Ways in a Divided World. Utopia and Subversion

Retrospective

From Cuba to Yugoslavia and Poland to Chile — the 2024 Retrospective was dedicated to the Cold War era and showed films that did not fit into the view of the divided world between East and West. It also brought up DOK Leipzig’s own history as a festival. To what extent were those films shown in Leipzig at the time or not?

Thomas Heise (1955–2024): Odds and Ends

In the section “Thomas Heise (1955–2024): Odds and Ends”, we paid tribute to the work of the late film director and author Thomas Heise. The programme included three feature-length documentaries, an evening event in his honour, and the 2024 DEFA Matinee.

Animierte schlängelnde Röhren mit Farbverläufen erheben sich vom unteren Bildrand

Animation Night

This night was all about one of the delightful beginnings to animation art: the phenakistiscope, a combination camera and record player. Initially used for the scientific visualisation of a pumping heart, the 19th century technique has long since become part of contemporary club culture. We spent the evening watching hallucinating visualisations of a Max Cooper track, early computer animations and historical miracle discs from the 19th century. To top off the evening, British artist duo Sculpture, who collage snippets of found magnetic sound tapes, performed a live set.

Zwei Filmstills: In einer rot gezeichneten Welt sitzt eine Figur in einem Teich, in einer gelbgefärbten Welt sind zwei umarmende Hände zu erkennen

Animation Perspectives

One evening, two female artists whose works could not be more different at first glance. Here: a love of language, complex characters, artistic diversity. There: shadowy figures, minimalism in image and sound. An artists’ dialogue in which they presented their films and practices to each other and the audience.

A collage of various buildings in grey on a pale pink background.

Stefan Ibrahim

Extended Reality: DOK Neuland

Since 2015, DOK Neuland has provided an exhibition platform for the art of interactive and immersive works. Each year we invite our audience to discover around 10 international pieces here.

This experience is made possible by technologically advanced new media such as virtual reality, augmented reality or 360° films, all with bold narratives that tap into the revolutionary potential that unfolds when art and technology collide. By taking advantage of the possibilities presented by new media, selected artists break with familiar story lines, expand the boundaries of our reality and, together with visitors, explore the interaction between humans and machines to create new realms of experience.

Fluxusopolis

The 2024 DOK Neuland exhibition harnessed the power of change, in the hopes of guiding it in the right direction. More about DOK Neuland 2024

DOK Industry

Our film branch networking programme is tailor-made for accredited trade visitors (filmmakers, XR creatives, producers, editors, decision makers and distributors). Each year we welcome around 1,600 accredited guests at DOK Leipzig.

Discover the DOK Industry Programme now.

All year round

We also organise film screenings for our audience in Leipzig and in the region during the year and show festival hits from recent years at our monthly DOK Days. With our DOK Leipzig Summer Cinema, we are presenting film highlights in beautiful open-air cinemas across the city in July and August.

We love to follow the journey of our festival films! In our All Year Round section you can find updates on their theatrical releases in Germany and see which DOK Leipzig films you can currently watch from the comfort of your home.

Calls and Deadlines

Mark your calendars!

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10/2/ — 1/7/25

Call for Films

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10/3/ — 1/7/25

Call for XR Works (DOK Neuland)

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12/5/ — 15/7/25

Call Projects: DOK Co-Pro Market

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10/6/ — 18/7/25

Start of accreditation: Early bird

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17/6/ — 4/9/25

Call for Projects: Preview Germany

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19/6/ — 14/8/25

Call for Short n’ Sweet & Exchange XR

19/7/ — 13/10/25

Regular Accreditation

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14/10/ — 2/11/25

Last minute Accreditation (with extra fee)

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20/10/ — 2/11/25

68th DOK Leipzig Festival

Darstellung

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DOK in Dialogue

In der Osthalle des Leipziger Hauptbahnhofs sitzen Menschen in Sitzreihen und schauen auf eine große Leinwand, die von der Decke hängt. Auf der Leinwand ein Baum in einer kargen Landschaft.

Film Screenings at the Main Station

Cinema for all at a very special Leipzig venue! Together with the PROMENADEN shopping centre at the central railway station, we show selected films from the programme free of charge during the festival. This popular format not only attracts hundreds of guests to the Osthalle each year, it’s also extremely popular with filmmakers. Our tip: Snuggling up under blanket with a thermos is rather cozy here.

Sechs Personen sitzen auf einer Bühne aus hellem Holz. Ein Mann in der Mitte spricht in ein Mikrofon, die anderen hören ihm zugewandt zu.

Talks

Perhaps a film hasn’t left your mind since the screening, or the discussion afterwards only piqued your curiosity further? For anyone that’s hungry for more, our talks unpack the latest developments in the industry, tell the stories of filmmaking greats, and explore national film cultures around the world. In our media library you can still dive into the recorded discussions of our most recent festival.

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Zwei jugendliche Zuschauer*innen klatschen im Kinosaal Applaus.

School Screenings

Bringing lessons out of the classroom and into the cinema, our school screenings use selected documentaries and animated films to complement and illustrate topics that students are learning about. Each screening is followed by an in-depth discussion with the filmmakers.

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