The competition titles of the 66th DOK Leipzig (8-15 October) have now been chosen and made public. A total of 71 films, 35 of which are world premieres, will be competing for the Golden and Silver Doves.

“Quite a few films made during the pandemic had a personal angle,” festival director Christoph Terhechte observes. “This year, the movies have gone back to looking at broader societal and political themes – partly in order to understand what’s going on at the moment and explore how we can work towards a different future,” he added.

This year’s International Competition Documentary Film includes ten feature-length titles and 13 shorts. They come from various countries and are helmed by filmmakers boasting different statures and levels of experience: some are feature debuts, while others are the works of seasoned directors. Among the feature-length titles, there are six world, three international and one European premiere. The selection includes works by Peter Mettler (While the Green Grass Grows [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film]), Nikolaus Geyrhalter (The Standstill [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film]), Sarah Mallégol (Kumwa – Which Comes from Silence) and Ivan Ramljak (El Shatt – A Blueprint for Utopia), among others.

The newly introduced International Competition Animated Film features 27 films, five of which are feature-length titles. It will showcase Katrin Rothe’s Johnny & Me – A Journey Through Time with John Heartfield [+leggi anche:
trailer
scheda film]; Ekiem Barbier, Guilhem Causse and Quentin L’helgoualc’h’s Knit’s Island [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film]; Isabel Herguera’s Sultana’s Dream [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Isabel Herguera
scheda film] (fresh off its screening in competition at San Sebastián); and Joan Tomàs Monfort, Carlos Pérez-Reche and Juanjo Sáez’s Annecy title Tender Metalheads.

The German Competition Documentary Film boasts eight short and 17 feature-length titles, all of which are world premieres. To name a few of them, Grit Lemke digs into her own ethnic heritage to paint a portrait of the vibrant culture of Lusatian Sorbs in We Call Her Hanka, Nele Dehnenkamp chronicles the fight of one woman against the US justice system to prove her husband’s innocence in For the Time Being, Annika Mayer tries to glimpse domestic abuse in seemingly idyllic family life in West Germany, as captured on Super-8 films, in Home Sweet Home [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film], and Gitti Grüter deals with ADHD in adulthood from the deliberately chosen perspective of females in Sick Girls.

Finally, eight feature-length documentaries have been selected for the Audience Competition. Some of them have already made a splash on the international film-festival circuit. The list includes titles like Lina Soualem’s Bye Bye Tiberias [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
intervista: Lina Soualem
scheda film], which arrives fresh from Venice; Maria Fredriksson’s The Gullspång Miracle [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film], which premiered at Tribeca; Agnieszka Zwiefka’s Vika!, which homes in on the life of a female DJ in her eighties; and Julia Gutweniger and Florian Kofler’s Vista Mare, which takes us behind the scenes of beach holidays in Italy.

The remaining sections include Doc Alliance Award, Camera Lucida (with five hand-picked, provocative titles) and Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe. All in all, 225 films and XR works will be showcased at DOK Leipzig 2023. For the complete list and more information, click here.