DOK Leipzig
Crisis… maybe, but films are made, just received this press release from DOK Leipzig: Some 2,850 films from 77 countries were submitted to this year’s International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, among them 2,200 documentaries and 650 animated films. The number of entries is down slightly from last years, when DOK Leipzig received a record 3,012 entries. The 55th edition of DOK Leipzig will take place from 29 October to 4 November 2012.
Around 75 films will be selected from among the entries to compete for the Golden Dove awards in the five competition sections. In all, DOK Leipzig will showcase around 200 documentaries and 150 short animated films. In addition, the festival will present a number of special programs and tributes. This year’s retrospective will be on the German-Russian film studio Mezhrabpom, whose films in the 1920s and ’30s inspired the entire European film avant-garde. The traditional country focus will be devoted to the young documentary cinema of Spanish-speaking Latin America. Awaiting animation enthusiasts at DOK Leipzig will be a journey of discovery through a century of Polish puppet anima- tion. Shortly before the presidential election in the United States, the festival will pay tribute with its special program on democracy to the U.S. documentary showcase “POV” (“Point of View”), which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Photo: Patricio Guzman, previous guest at the festival, for sure an inspiration for the young Latin American filmmakers coming to Leipzig.
