DOK Leipzig Starts Monday
… and will continue untill the 3rd of November. With films, many excellent industry activities, film talks here there and everywhere. The ticket counters are open, I am sure there will be full houses for many films and there will be a great atmosphere at the festival centre in the Museum of Fine Arts – the impressive Museum der bildenden Künste that hosts the film market and discussions and receptions BUT also has interesting exhibitions, right now „Point of No Return… Transformation and Revolution in East German Art“. I will for sure watch that – and films from thursday the 31st, where I will be at the festival. Press releases are coming from Leipzig these days. I have edited/shortened and copy-pasted some of them:
Look at the photo… no surprise for me, who grew up with 16 and 35 mm reels at my time at the Danish Film Board. I know how to feed a 16mm Bauer or Bell&Howell projector! Anyway, the-times-they-are-a-changing and the festival announces the following :
« An impressive 18,000 metres of film will roll across spools during the festival week! While the majority of the film programme is stored digitally on hard disks, in every DOK Leipzig edition there are still a few films made with analogue film reel. This year there are 24 films in 16mm and 35mm format. Most of them will be shown as part of the Retrospective, the Brothers Quay oeuvre, or the DEFA Matinee on Eduard Schreiber. The analogue technology required to screen these films is still available in the CineStar Kino 5, along with the Astoria and Wintergarten cinemas in the Passage Kino…“
Nostalgia, yes, and the press reléase informs the reader how scratches are removed from the films… All right, but keep some of them! I remember the godfather of Danish documentary, Jørgen Roos, who once, with tristesse, said to me at the time, where video was taking over as shooting medium: One day we are going to miss the Film Experience, the grains, the scratches…
Back to the copy-paste and money:
„A record-setting 82,000 euros in prize money will be awarded during this year’s edition of DOK Leipzig. In addition, the festival features non-cash prizes valued at an additional 11,000 euros, which filmmakers can for instance use for the development of their film projects. This year marks another positive development in regards to prize sponsorship: for the first time, all of the Golden Doves in the long film competitions are endowed by prize sponsors. DOK Leipzig is also delighted to welcome a new sponsor this year in the Weltkino film distribution company, which has chosen to endow the Golden Dove in the German Competition in 2019. Furthermore, public broadcaster MDR is once again sponsoring the Golden Dove in the International Competition, and the Medienstiftung der Sparkasse Leipzig is contributing the prize money for the Next Masters Competition, as in previous years.
“I would like to particularly thank all of the festival’s prize sponsors, partners and supporters. Without their wonderful support, it would not be possible to bring over 300 films and nearly 2000 international industry professionals to Leipzig or to give our Leipzig audience such an unforgettable cinema experience every year,” acknowledged festival director Leena Pasanen. “I hope that this terrific commitment to the festival will remain strong for many years to come.”
A total of 24 awards will be presented at DOK Leipzig this year.
From 28 October to 3 November this year, DOK Leipzig is showing 310 films and interactive works from all around the world. The festival will open on 28 October with the world premiere of THE FORUM, a film by Marcus Vetter.
