DOK Leipzig to Screen Films for Local Audiences, But Won’t Invite Guests from Abroad

DOK Leipzig, one of the oldest documentary festivals in the world, is preparing a hybrid edition in October.

A reduced selection of 120 films will screen at Leipzig venues, in compliance with coronavirus hygiene regulations, and the films will also be available online across Germany. The films will be shown via on-demand and pay-per-view for two weeks online, only in Germany.

Leipzig audiences can also attend the DOK Neuland interactive exhibition.

The festival will not be inviting guests this year, but the film talks, both live and pre-recorded, will continue as online formats that audiences can access from cinemas and from home.

“Our aim is to present an artistically multifaceted hybrid festival that continues to thrive on audience participation, that is based on the idea of solidarity and that preserves the character of a film festival,” said festival director Christoph Terhechte.

The festival’s competitions will continue. The introduction of a competition for feature length animated films has been postponed to 2021. The prizes in the newly introduced Golden Section competition for long and short documentary and animated films will be awarded by a jury comprising Leipzig audience members who will watch the films in a cinema. The online audience will also be able to vote in all competition programs. The professional juries will judge the festival’s competitions from a distance.

All of the festival’s industry events will be online only.

“The fact that filmmakers won’t be able to celebrate their premieres in person with audiences in Leipzig in 2020 is extremely painful,” Terhechte added. “It’s all the more reason for us to establish a productive dialogue between filmmakers, the audience and our program team.”

The 63rd edition of DOK Leipzig will take place Oct. 26 – Nov. 1.