WatchDocs 2025 Warsaw

I have always wanted to visit the festival WatchDocs in Warsaw and this year I will be there for the 25th edition, invited to be in the jury. 12 films, of high quality, as you can see if you visit the website https://watchdocs.pl/en/. But apart from the main competition – and there is also a “Green Competition” and “Polish Competition” – I am happy to see a section “Northern Lights – Scandinavian documentaries”, including films by Ruben Östlund, Margreth Olin, Markku Lehmuskallio, a wonderful classic by legendary Jörn Donner AND films by Jørgen Leth, who passed away September 29 this year.

Three films from Jørgen Leth’s enormous filmography are screened in Warsaw. The catalogue text goes like this, written by programmer Konrad Wirkowski:

In homage to the Danish master of visual metaphor who passed away this year, we present three documentaries selected from his extremely rich output. They include the documentary experimental classic, “The Perfect Human” from 1968, “Life in Denmark” – a collective portrait of the obsessions and fascinations of the Danes, and “Aarhus” – a lapidary autobiographical film about the director’s hometown, which helped shape the modern understanding of the genre. 

The two first I know by heart, the latter I look forward to watch again, “Aarhus” is the city, where also I was born. Curator of the section, Weronika Adamowska. writes about the film:

A moving self-portrait of the Danish director, journalist and poet Jørgen Leth in a nostalgic journey to his childhood town of Aarhus, through the artist’s memory-filled places. Shot in the author’s typical style of “living images,” “Aarhus” is an intimate essay about memory, youth and the power of personal memories. 

The film is from 2005.

Look at the photo, a young(er) Jørgen Leth with a newspaper under his arm – Jørgen Leth was also an excellent journalist – in front of Aarhus Cyklebane, where he spent hours and where his enthusiasm for bicycling was born. He made iconic films about bicycling, he was best Tour de France commentator ever for Danish television.

I will get back with more intro texts from WatchDocs that starts December 5. It is indeed a rich program the festival is offering its audience.

Del din kærlighed
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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