19/09/2022 - 34 projects from 32 countries, including the first series ever at the market and four projects scouted at other events, will take part in this year's edition

DOK Leipzig has announced the selection for its 18th DOK Co-Pro Market, with 34 documentary projects from 32 countries picked out of 262 submissions. The event will take place from 17-18 October during the festival.

Some of the producers or directors invited to the DOK Co-Pro Market have already shown films at the festival in the past, including Gesa Hollerbach (All For the Countryside), who arrives with her project Superposition, Bálint Révész (Granny Project) with Voice/Over, Jasmila Žbanić (One Day in Sarajevo [+see also:
film review
interview: Jasmila Žbanić
film profile]) with Blum and Susanne Kim (Imagine Swimming, Cabinets of Wonder) with Becoming Kim.

The presence of Georgian projects is notable, with three films taking part in the market: Kartli by Tamar Kalandadze and Julien Pebrel, The Mud Princess by Dea Tcholokava and Boxes From Georgia by Gvantsa Meparishvili, in which the director accompanies volunteers at a humanitarian aid collection centre in Tbilisi that sends vital goods to Ukrainians. Meanwhile, in A Bit of a Stranger [+see also:
film review
interview: Svitlana Lishchynska
film profile], Ukrainian director Svitlana Lishchynska films her Russian-speaking family for over a year during Russia's attacks on their homeland.

Other projects deal with global topics. In The Culprits, Spain's Marta Duran films young women discussing their decision to have an abortion as teenagers; Finnish filmmakers Liinu Grönlund and Okku Nuutilainen's In a Box is about the commitment of researchers and private citizens to save endangered frogs, reptiles and fish species; and in the French production Ojos de Agua, Free the Waters of Chile, co-directors Marion Esnault and Marcelo Lara follow two indigenous Chileans in their struggle to de-privatise water.

In terms of artistic approaches, several projects are based on archive materials, including Aylaa Musa's Becoming Omer Khairy, Nayibe Tavares-Abel's Colosal and Sára Timár's Under the Dance Floor.

Four projects that the DOK Industry Team scouted at partner training initiatives and film markets are also part of the selection: Alexander Belinski and Agne Dovydaityte's Baltic UXO (East Doc Platform), Arjun Talwar's Letters from Wolf Street [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Doc Lab Poland Docs to Start), Arnold Aganze's Kange (Durban FilmMart) and In the Light of Darkness (Docs by the Sea). A fifth project will be selected at the BDC Discoveries Workshop in late September.

Finally, the first series project ever to take part in the market is The Sharp End of a Knife by Godisamang Khunou, which features inmates of a women's prison in Johannesburg who are serving life sentences after defending themselves from their violent husbands.

The full list of DOK Co-Pro Market projects is below.

Baltic UXO - Alexander Belinski, Agne Dovydaityte (Lithuania)
Production company: Just a moment

Becoming Kim - Susanne Kim (Germany)
Production company: Neufilm

Becoming Omer Khairy - Alyaa Musa (Sudan)
Production company: Black Balance Artistic Production

A Bit Of a Stranger [+see also:
film review
interview: Svitlana Lishchynska
film profile] - Svitlana Lishchynska (Ukraine)
Production company: Albatros Communicos

Blum - Jasmila Žbanić (Bosnia & Herzegovina/Croatia)
Production companies: Deblokada, Produkcija Živa

Boxes From Georgia - Gvantsa Meparishvili (Georgia)
Production company: Millimeter Film

Colosal - Nayibe Tavares-Abel (Dominican Republic)
Production companies: Tavab, Movimiento Cine 

The Culprits - Marta Duran Lozano (Spain)
Production company: Boogaloo Films

Erratics - Thomas Woodroffe (Chile/France)
Production companies: Bloques Erráticos, La Belle Affaire Productions

Field Marshal - Abid Sarkar Sohag (Bangladesh)
Production company: Bloopers Studios

The Hazing - Elyor Nematov (Uzbekistan/Germany)
Production company: Einbahnstraße Productions

Hell Has No Fire Escape - Georgina Savage (UK/South Africa)
Production company: Try Hard Films

Letters from Wolf Street [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] - Arjun Talwar (Poland)
Production company: UNI-SOLO Studio

How to Talk to Lydia? - Rusudan Gaprindashvili (Germany)
Production company: Black Market Film Production

In a Box - Liinu Grönlund, Okku Nuutilainen (Finland)
Production company: Tuffi Films

In the Light of Darkness (Independent)

Kange - Arnold Aganze (DR Congo)
Production company: Stone Age Pictures

Kartli - Tamar Kalandadze, Julien Pebrel (France/Georgia)
Production companies: Habilis Productions, Sakdoc Film

Love and Capitalism - Bára Tyson Jichová (Czech Republic)
Production company: Cinepoint

The Mud Princess - Dea Tcholokava (Georgia)
Production company: 17/07

Valentina and the MUOSters [+see also:
film review
film profile] - Francesca Scalisi (Switzerland/Italy)
Production companies: DOK MOBILE, Articolture

North South Man Woman - Morten Traavik, Sun Kim (Norway/South Korea/Latvia)
Production company: Storm Films

Ojos de Agua, Free the Waters of Chile - Marion Esnault, Marcelo Lara (France)
Production company: Dryades Films

On the Edge of My Shadow - Ziad Kalthoum (Germany/France/Palestinian Territories)
Production companies: Kaske Film, IDA.IDA Films, Odeh Films

Qashqai Tribe: Once Upon a Time in Shiraz- Hamed Zolfaghari (Iran)
Production company: Crazy Woodpecker Film Studio

River Dreams - Kristina Mikhailova (Kazakhstan)
Production company: 24 FPS Film Production Company

Runaway - Marika Pecháčková (Czech Republic)
Production company: Hypermarket Film

The Sharp End of a Knife - Godisamang Khunou (South Africa)
Production company: Mogale Pictures

Sunset - Miloš Jaćimović (Serbia/Montenegro/Croatia)
Production companies: Film House Bas Celik, Meander Film, Propeler Film

Superposition - Gesa Hollerbach (Germany)
Production company: CORSO Film

Those Who Watch Over - Karima Saïdi (Belgium)
Production company: Dérives

Under the Dance Floor - Sára Timár (Hungary/France)
Production companies: Little Bus Production, Alter Ego Production

Undisclosed Project (India)

Voice/Over - Bálint Révész
Production company: Roughhouse Project