DOK Leipzig Official Selection

So here it is, the announcement of the Official Selection for DOKLeipzig. The filmmakers were of course informed in beforehand but were not allowed to express their enthusiasm before publication, which they can do now. First step for me who will report from the festival every day, is to copy paste the press release, plus give some links to the programme sections that have already been written about on this site. The festival starts the 29th of October, so those of you who go there have time to study and make your agenda, link below. The press release:

It’s Official! We are happy to present the full programme for DOK Leipzig 2018. From Argentina to Egypt, Lebanon to Latvia, Montenegro to Madagascar, Sierra Leone to Saudi Arabia – this year we are showing a grand total of 306 films from 50 different countries.

Of the 3,150 works viewed by the selection committee over the course of the last year, 160 have now made it into the Official Selection, the further films will be screened in the scope of our Special Programmes.

“The courage displayed by the filmmakers this year is quite remarkable,” as festival director Leena Pasanen reflects. “They engage critically with the world

we all live in and refuse to sit back and watch while their native countries are transformed into places where they no longer care to live. In their urge to act, these young directors have come up with new creative approaches to tell their stories through the medium of film.”

DOK Leipzig’s Official Selection is composed of six competitions and the International Programme as well as the new section LATE HARVEST. http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4353/

Female directors account for a full fifty percent of the films of the Official Selection. In the German Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film, for which a 40/60 female-to-male directorial quota (based on previous submission ratios) was introduced for the first time this year, a full six of the nine films featured were made by female filmmakers or co-directors.

“We’re aiming to spark change with our quota,” explained Ralph Eue, programmer at DOK Leipzig and head of the Selection Committee. “So we are really delighted that we were able to surpass it right away on the first try. The guideline didn’t play that large a role in the initial stages of the selection process though, it was just one of many factors taken into consideration. We hope that this represents a first step – and that in the future we may not need a quota at all any more, as it will increasingly happen on its own accord.”

In the films of the individual programmes and competitions, DOK Leipzig takes a look at the legacy of the Soviet Union, at self-determined women and contemporary female figures, at architectural masterpieces and deep into the abyss – while attempting to get to the roots of current political trends in Germany, Europe and beyond. The featured films also question what it means to grow up as a young person in an anonymous and digital world. Migration, terror, violence, nationalism and xenophobia – these topics also seem to be on the minds of filmmakers all across the world today.

Photo: Werner Herzog interviews Gorbatchov, opening film at the festival, “Meeting Gorbatchov”, made together with André Singer.

Get an overview of all programmes and sections at DOK Leipzig 2018

https://www.dok-leipzig.de/en/

Texts posted on filmkommentaren on the festival 2018:

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4347/ (Retrospectives)

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4359/ (DOK Neuland)

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4333/ (The juries)

http://www.filmkommentaren.dk/blog/blogpost/4217/ (Ruth Beckermann)

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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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