DOK Leipzig Intro

It’s European doc festival time and documentarians like Koen Suidgeest (see below) will go to Leipzig in Germany, Jihlava in Czech Republic, DocLisboa in Portugal and idfa in Amsterdam – maybe asking themselves “what am I doing here” OR “great to be here to meet the audience”.

A textual extensive press release has been received from the DOK Leipzig festival that takes off October 17 and runs until October 23. The following text bites are cited from that release: “DOK Leipzig is the oldest documentary film festival in the world and the second largest in Europe. At the 54th edition of one of the most important meeting points for the documentary film industry 341 documentary and animated films from 47 countries will be screened. The festival will also be offering 59 different events related to DOK Industry.”

“The outlook for the future of the documentary film industry isn’t so rosy either. Financial support from public television stations is in a state of free fall, programming spots are being eliminated and sponsors haven’t begun reacting to the new situation. At events like Wild at Heart, German Day or New Alliances DOK Leipzig will be discussing ways out of the crisis.

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/industry-press/industry-offers/meet_and_pitch/wild-at-heart

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/industry-press/industry-offers/panels/german-day

This year Cross Media is a major focus at DOK Leipzig. Multimedia work is currently a great challenge for filmmakers – participants will learn how to successfully combine film, internet, games and mobile content based on three international case studies. At the panel discussions new financing and sales opportunities as well as beneficial alliances will be examined.

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/industry-press/industry-offers/panels/dok-summits-2011

The festival is not only presenting new films, in and out of competition, and the strong industry emphasis does not prevent retrospectives and thematic series on Arab and Indian films: “Three great names from the world of East German documentary film, three important birthdays, three homages: DOK Leipzig will be paying its respects to Gitta Nickel (75), Jürgen Böttcher (80) and Kurt Weiler (90) with select special programmes. Nickel and Böttcher will be personally attending the festival.

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/festival/programmueberblick/nickel/?lang=en

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/festival/programmueberblick/boettcher/?lang=en

http://www.dok-leipzig.de/festival/programmueberblick/kurt_weiler/?lang=en

Photo: Bakhmaro by Salome Jashi, Georgia, in talent competition in Leipzig

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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