On the final festival day, we will show the most wanted films of this year’s programme once again. Curious which films made the cut?

Catch these DOK Busters on Sunday, 23 October:

• “The Homes We Carry” – 11:30, Passage Kinos Astoria
• “Rebels” – 14:30, CineStar 2
• 3 short films in one screening: “The Artist in the Machine”, “Uncanny Me” und “The Mechanics of Fluids” – 14:30, Passage Kinos Astoria
• “This Will Not Be a Festival Film” + “A Bunch of Amateurs” – 17:30, CineStar 2

Tickets for the DOK Busters are now available at our box offices and in our online ticket shop.

With the German premiere of the long animated film “No Dogs or Italians Allowed”, our festival was opened on Monday, 17 October at the CineStar theatre. In the stop-motion film, director Alain Ughetto traces the lives of his grandparents from Northern Italy to their migration to France in the first half of the 20th century. Parallel to the opening event the film was shown at Leipzig Central Station. Both screenings were introduced by a conversation between Alain Ughetto and festival director Christoph Terhechte.

Saxon State Minister for Culture and Tourism Barbara Klepsch spoke at the festival opening and emphasised the importance of the festival as an in-person event: “Especially after the two difficult years for culture due to the Corona pandemic, it's even more meaningful that direct encounters and exchanges are possible again on site.”

Leipzig Mayor Burkhard Jung sent his greetings via video message: “Many interesting insights, discussions and clear political commitments — that's what I wish for to achieve open diversity and ultimately also peace in this world, which the DOK festival dove also represents.”

In his speech, Christoph Terhechte referenced the current protests in Iran and expressed DOK Leipzig’s solidarity “with the courageous women in Iran and all those who finally have the prospect of shaking off decades of oppression and asserting elementary human rights. DOK Leipzig, too, stands for these values.”

This year’s Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director, endowed with 5,000 euros and donated by the Saxon State Minister for Culture and Tourism, went to Ukrainian filmmaker Svitlana Lishchynska for her project “A Bit Of A Stranger”. She follows her family from Mariupol which has lost its national identity due to the long-term imperial policy of Moscow and are currently facing the Russian war of aggression. Projects by female directors selected for the DOK Co-Pro Market were eligible for the award.

Read more in our press release.

We were appalled to learn of the arrest of Iranian citizen Mahsa Amini by the morality police and her subsequent death in mid-September. We are likewise outraged by the violence with which the regime is responding to the protests. As an international festival committed to human dignity and the freedom of expression, we condemn the Iranian government’s disregard for these values.

“We regret that we did not have the time to adjust our programme in response to the protests in Iran,” said festival director Christoph Terhechte at the opening of this year’s festival. "Nonetheless, we wish to express our solidarity with the courageous women in Iran and all those who finally have the prospect of shaking off decades of oppression and asserting basic human rights. DOK Leipzig, too, stands for these values."

This year, four juries will decide on the winning films of our nine Golden and Silver Doves. We are pleased to welcome distinguished professionals from the world of film and the arts as well as long-time festivalgoers and film buffs as jury members.

The jury of the International Competition consists of film and television producer Philippa Kowarsky, video and film artist Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, filmmaker Shireen Seno (“To Pick a Flower”, DOK Leipzig 2021), director and professor Ula Stöckl (“The Cat Has Nine Lives”, 1968) and curator and film scholar Andrei Tănăsescu.

The winning films in the International Competition Short Film will be determined by director Diana Cam Van Nguyen (Silver Dove for “Love, Dad”, DOK Leipzig 2021), documentary filmmaker and film editor Rocco Di Mento (“The Blunder of Love”, DOK Leipzig 2020) as well as producer and professor Tina Smrekar.

The jury for the German Competition consists of Andreas Kötzing, Sabine Rollberg and Marie Wilke. Andreas Kötzing researches on the history of German culture, media and film censorship at the Hannah Arendt Institute in Dresden and at the University of Leipzig. Grimme-Preis and Federal Film Award winner Sabine Rollberg worked in public television for over forty years. Writer-director Marie Wilke (“Aggregat”, 2018) was artistic director of the German Film and Television Academy Berlin in 2021/2022.

The winning films in the Competition for the Audience Award will be decided by our audience jury of six film buffs: David Chazarenc, Margherita Gallano, Erik Laube, Paula Mecklenburg, Annegret Meder and Barbara Tennstedt.

All winners of the Golden and Silver Doves will be announced on the Saturday of the festival (22 October).

You can find more information about the jury members in our press release. 
Overview of all jury members of our 65th edition: Awards & Jurys