It’s that time again: On 20 May, the Doc Alliance Award will be presented in Cannes, as part of the Marché du Film. Two documentary films by emerging European talents will be honored. The award comes with 5,000€ for Best Feature and 3,000€ for Best Short.

The seven European festivals that form the Doc Alliance network — together with guest festival Punto de Vista — have nominated a total of 16 feature-length and short documentaries from their recent programmes. Each festival selects one feature and one short film.

Our DOK Leipzig nominees are Moria Six (feature) and We Had Fun Yesterday (short) — fingers crossed for both teams!

Best Feature Nominees:
 

• „An Oscillating Shadow“ (Una sombra oscilante), Argentina/ Chile/ France, director: Celeste Rojas Mugica, nominated by FIDMarseille

• „Aurora“, Brazil/ Portugal/ France, director: João Vieira Torres, nominated by Visions du Réel

• „A Want in Her“, Ireland/ UK/ Netherlands, director: Myrid Carten, nominated by Millennium Docs Against Gravity

• „Flophouse America“, Norway, director: Monica Strømdahl, nominated by CPH:DOX

• „Grey Zone“ (Šedá Zóna), Slovakia, director: Daniela Meressa Rusnoková, nominated by Ji.hlava IDFF

• „Moria Six“, Germany, director: Jennifer Mallmann, nominated by DOK Leipzig

• „The Shards“ (Oskolky), Georgia/ Germany, director: Masha Chernaya, nominated by Doclisboa

• „Volver a casa tan tarde“, Spain, director: Celia Viada Caso, nominated by Punto de Vista

Best Short Nominees:
 

• 23:23 (Život jedna báseň, není peříčko), Czech Republic, director: Kateřina Dudová, nominated by Ji.hlava IDFF

• Bamssi, Belgium/ Tunisia, director: Mourad Ben Amor, nominated by Punto de Vista

• Can you hear me? (Czy Ty mnie słyszysz?), Poland, director: Anastazja Naumenko, nominated by Millennium Docs Against Gravity

• Fear Fokol, Sweden, director: Tuva Björk, nominated by CPH:DOX

• Shuruuk, France/ Germany, director: Amie Barouh, nominated by FIDMarseille

• Sixty-Seven Milliseconds (Soixante-sept millisecondes), France, director: Fleuryfontaine, nominated by Visions du Réel

• Unstable Rocks (Pedras Instáveis), Portugal/ Germany, directors: Ewelina Rosińska and Nuno Barroso, nominated by Doclisboa 

• We Had Fun Yesterday, Belgium, director: Marion Guillard, nominated by DOK Leipzig

And here’s the jury:

A jury of three distinguished film professionals will determine the winning films: film critic Fernando Ganzo (Deputy Editor-in-Chief at Cahiers du Cinéma), Gerald Weber (Deputy Managing Director at sixpackfilm), and producer Caroline Kirberg (CEO of pong film).

We are looking forward to celebrating the winners in May! We'll share the winners here in our news section.

Since 2015, we dedicate an exhibition platform to immersive documentary storytelling: DOK Neuland. Each year during the DOK Leipzig festival week (27.10.–2.11.2025) we invite our audiences to discover selected international XR pieces in public exhibitions.

The call for submissions to the 2025 DOK Neuland edition is now open. We look forward to receiving your artistic XR contributions until 1 July.

What are we looking for?

XR works that question conventional narrative forms and open up new audio-visual experiences – be it through virtual reality, mixed reality or augmented reality experiences, 360° films, performances, media or web-based art, sound installations, projection mapping or looped films, participatory films or games. We’re also excited to discover and showcase even more media we may not even be aware of yet.

You can submit your XR works until 1 July directly on our website. DOK Neuland has no premiere requirements nor submission fees. We are excited to work with you to support your visions and bring your works to the public!

Head to our DOK Neuland page to find out more about the exhibition, read the regulations, and access the entry form: 

Go to DOK Neuland

Our 68th festival edition will be the last under the direction of Christoph Terhechte. For personal reasons, he has decided to end his contract two years prior to its expiration, remaining in his position until 31 January 2026.

“Leading DOK Leipzig through the last five years and defending the international standing of the world's oldest festival for documentary and animated film was a challenge for the team and for me as director,” says Christoph Terhechte. “We have mastered the task with united forces. Health setbacks have now prompted me to retire. However, I will remain associated with the festival and hope that the recent successes can be continued.”

Christoph Terhechte has introduced a number of innovations over the past five years. He streamlined the programme structure, strengthened the role of animated film at DOK Leipzig and established the audience competition with a jury of Leipzig film enthusiasts. With “Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe” and “Camera Lucida”, he created two new sections out of competition. He always emphasised the importance of cinema culture and also expanded our presence around the year with the ‘DOK Days’ and the summer cinema. 

"I deeply regret Christoph Terhechte's decision. With him at the helm, we were able to put the DOK-Filmwochen GmbH back on a solid economic footing. After the difficult years that the coronavirus pandemic caused for the festival industry, Mr Terhechte and his team have done an excellent job in stabilising the festival and recently achieved a record number of visitors in 2024," said Dr Skadi Jennicke, Deputy Mayor for Culture and Arts of the City of Leipzig.

The process of choosing a successor will begin shortly. The selection committee consists of the Chairwoman of the Supervisory Board, Dr Skadi Jennicke, members of the Supervisory Board and external consultants from the film and documentary film industry. A suitable successor is expected to be found by autumn at the latest.

We would like to thank Christoph Terhechte for his creativity and the great collaboration over the past years. We look forward to celebrating the festival together one more time this autumn.

Read more in our press release.

Show us your new documentaries and animated films! Submission deadline is 1 July.

What kind of films can I submit?

You are welcome to submit creative documentaries and animated films of all lengths. The production year of your film is either 2024 or 2025 and in addition, your film haven not been shown publicly before October 2024? Perfect. Find all other requirements your film must fulfill in the submissions rules and regulations and information on how everything works on our submission page. If you’ve got questions, you will find answers to most of them in this FAQ.

Good to know: The call for Extended Reality works (XR) will open on 10 March.

Let’s go!

Ready to start now? You can submit your film on our website from 10 February until 1 July 2025. Just log in to your existing myDOK account (or register for a new one) where you will find the entry form, and off you go.

We’re thrilled to receive your films!

Begin your submission