The 68th edition of the world’s oldest documentary film festival, DOK Leipzig, has come to an end with an awards ceremony, which took place, as tradition has it, at the Schaubühne Lindenfels on Saturday evening. Seven Golden Doves, two Silver Doves, and various partnership and industry awards were presented, amounting to a total of 32 prizes. The 68th edition screened 252 films and XR works from 55 countries, while it was also confirmed that Ola Staszel will be taking over as festival director from 1 January 2026.

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The jury, consisting of Dutch-German film scholar Heleen Gerritsen, Congolese-French filmmaker Alain Kassanda, French producer Annie Ohayon-Dekel, Japanese filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda and US producer Jim Stark, singled out Ivan Ramljak’s Peacemaker [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] as Best Film in the International Competition Documentary Film. “A specific event in a specific region has been made into a film of universal importance,” goes the jury statement. Ramljak’s documentary follows the events leading up to the assassination of a regional police chief in Slavonia, which led to the outbreak of the full-scale war in the region in 1991. The same jury also rewarded Matilde-Luna Perotti’s After the Silence with the Golden Dove for Best Short Film. The Silver Doves went to emerging filmmakers Gregor Brändli for Elephants & Squirrels [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] in the feature-length category and Vatae Kim-lee for String Pieces in the shorts category.

Seth and Peter Scriver’s Endless Cookie triumphed in the International Competition Animated Film, while the Golden Dove for Best Short Film in the same competition also went to Canada – to Matea Radic, for Paradaïz. In the German Competition Documentary Film, Yulia Lokshina’s Active Vocabulary [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] was crowned as Best Feature-length Film, while Jana Rothe’s Boma a Bopa triumphed over the other shorts. Cold Call by Stefanie Schroeder received an Honourable Mention, also in the shorts category. The Golden Dove in the Audience Competition went to Cutting Through Rocks [+lee también:
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At separate ceremonies, the partnership and industry awards were also handed out. The former section was dominated by Patience Nitumwesiga’s The Woman Who Poked the Leopard, which claimed two prizes, while the industry awards went to projects from Romania, Benin, Poland, Finland, Turkey, Morocco, the Czech Republic and Germany.

Here is the full list of award winners:

International Competition Documentary Film

Golden Dove for Best Feature-length Film
Peacemaker [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Ivan Ramljak (Croatia)

Golden Dove for Best Short Film
After the Silence – Matilde-Luna Perotti (Canada)

Silver Dove for Feature-length Film
Elephants & Squirrels [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Gregor Brändli (Switzerland)

Silver Dove for Short Film
String Pieces – Vatae Kim-lee (South Korea)

International Competition Animated Film

Golden Dove for Feature-length Film
Endless Cookie – Seth Scriver, Peter Scriver (Canada)

Golden Dove for Short Film
Paradaïz – Matea Radic

German Competition Documentary Film

Golden Dove for Feature-length Film
Active Vocabulary [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película] – Yulia Lokshina (Germany)

Golden Dove for Short Film
Boma a Bopa – Jana Rothe (Luxembourg/Germany)
Honourable Mention (short film)
Cold Call – Stefanie Schroeder (Germany)

Audience Competition

Golden Dove
Cutting Through Rocks [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] – Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni (USA/Iran/Germany/Netherlands/Qatar/Chile/Canada)

Partnership awards

ver.di-Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness
The Woman Who Poked the Leopard – Patience Nitumwesiga (Uganda/South Africa/Germany/USA)

DEFA Sponsoring Prize
The Woman Who Poked the Leopard – Patience Nitumwesiga

MDR Film Prize
Welded Together [+lee también:
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Prize of the Interreligious Jury
The Thing to Be Done – Srđan Kovačević (Croatia/Serbia/Slovenia)
Special Mention
Clan of the Painted Lady – Jennifer Chiu (Canada)

Young Eyes Film Award
Fantastique [+lee también:
tráiler
ficha de la película] – Marjolijn Prins (France/Belgium/Netherlands)

FIPRESCI Prize
The Red Moon Eclipse – Caroline Guimbal (Belgium)

mephisto 97.6 Award
Once in a Body – María Cristina Pérez (Colombia/USA) (short film)

Gedanken-Aufschluss Animated Film Award
Clot – Levi Stoops (Belgium) (short film)

film.land.sachsen Prize for Film Culture in Rural Areas
Intersection – It’s Political – Karoline Rössler (Germany)

Film Prize Leipziger Ring
A Simple Soldier – Juan Camilo Cruz (Ukraine/USA/UK)

DOK Industry awards

Dok Co-Pro Market

Saxon Award for Best Documentary Project by a Female Director
nava mamă – Ana Vijdea (Romania/France)
Production companies: Remora Films, Saga Film, Les Steppes Productions

Deutsche Welle Award
Between Three Waters – Olivia Yao (Benin/South Africa)
Production companies: FMEDIA, Steps

Imago Archive Award
The Chef Suffragette – Magdalena Szymków (Poland/Slovakia)
Production companies: Raban, Kerekesfilm

The Jacob Burns Film Centre Residency Award
Sense and Sensibility – Hanna Nordenswan (Finland)
Production company: Zone2 Pictures

No Nation Films Fellowship Award
My Aunties – Hazal Hanquet (Turkey/France)
Production companies: istos film, Little Big Story

Unifrance Doc Award
Akal – Basma Rkioui (Morocco/France)
Production companies: Kasbah Films, Massala Production

Willow Avocats Consultations Award
Speak Image, Speak – Pary El-Qalqii (Germany)
Production company: SEERA Films

DOK Short n’ Sweet

Square Eyes Festival Consultation Award
LOVEBIRD – Ferdinand Ehrhardt (Germany)
Production companies: The Hidden Institute, Paradoks Film

Cut Through the NOISE Award
Limits to Our Pain – Kvet Nguyen (Czech Republic/Slovakia)
Production companies: CLAW films, NINJA film

DAE Talent Encouragement Award
Limits to Our Pain – Kvet Nguyen

Ohrfilm Award
LOVEBIRD – Ferdinand Ehrhardt

DOK Preview Germany

D-Facto Motion Works-in-Progress Prize
Finding Connection – Florian Karner (Germany)
Production company: DOMAR Film