showcasing 109 films from 51 countries        

 

DOK.fest München is Germany's largest documentary film festival showcasing the highlights of current documentary filmmaking – at the main event in May and throughout the year. Anually in May the festival presents about 110 international documentary films on the big screen at 20 partner venues in the centre of Munich. The programme is divided into four main competitions and nine series. After two online editions, the festival has been held as a dual event since 2022: on the big screen in the cinema as well as on the digital screen @home. The 39th edition is scheduled for May 1-12 in cinemas and additional May 6-20 @home with selectied films online throughout Germany. Browse the full programme here and stay tuned FB.

Every year, the programme brings together a selection of the most outstanding current international documentary films. The festival presents the highlights of documentary filmmaking and at the same time is guided by a clear curatorial signature. Three main competitions are at the heart of the programme: DOK.international Main Competition, DOK.deutsch Competition and DOK.horizonte – Cinema of Urgency. With the Student Award and the FFF Talent Award Documentary Film, we also present two relevant prizes for up-and-coming filmmakers. In the programme sections DOK.panorama, Best of Fests, DOK.music, Munich Premieres, DOK.4teens and In Memoriam, the festival presents numerous specials, often in cooperation with selected partners from art, culture and society in Munich and beyond.

 

 

 

The award winning german documentaries are:

  • VIKTOR DOK.international:
    JOHATSU – INTO THIN AIR | JOHATSU – DIE SICH IN LUFT AUFLÖSEN by Andreas Hartmann, Arata Mori, 86min, WS: CAT&Docs, D: RFF – Real Fiction Filmverleih, P: Ossa Film, [Main Competition]
    Jury statement: "Picking one out of so many beautifully and impressively told stories was not an easy task, and we would like to congratulate all of the competition filmmakers on making such important and impactful work. We decided to award a film that introduced us to a world and issues we didn’t know existed. One that did so in a deeply empathetic and moving way, while also taking us on an immersive cinematic journey with its intimate – yet far from intrusive – camerawork and evocative music. The filmmakers successfully wove together very complex stories of loneliness, despair and shame – without any sense of judgment, and instead with deep respect for individual human experiences. It's a unique and delicately crafted film that moved and surprised us, and we hope it will be seen and appreciated by audiences around the world. The VIKTOR award in the section Main Competition DOK.international goes to: JOHATSU – INTO THIN AIR by Andreas Hartmann and Arata Mori. Congratulations!"
  • VIKTOR DOK.horizonte Competition – Cinema of Urgency:
    KAMAY by Ilyas Yourish, Shahrokh Bikaran, 105min, WS: CAT&Docs, P: Clin d'oeil films, ROW Pictures, [DOK.horizonte]
    Jury statement: "We would like to reward a previously untold story that sheds light on the heartbreaking events that take place in one family, reflecting the drama of a whole ethnic group. The directors carefully guide the viewer through the grief of the family members, revealing the roots of hundreds of years of oppression. The two directors of KAMAY, llyas Yourish and Shahrokh Bikaran, are also searching for a unique cinematic language to preserve and represent the culture of the Hazara people and find a considerate and poetic way to make their voices heard. We appreciate their respectful approach towards the sensitive subject matter and the protagonists, who find themselves in a vulnerable position, as well as the directors’ brave attempt to expose the issues standing in the way of achieving justice for the protagonists’ daughter. We hope that this film will help raise awareness about the current situation in Afghanistan and give more attention to and space for the voices of refugees from the region. Congratulations!"
  • FFF-Förderpreis Dokumentarfilm:
    EXILE NEVER ENDS by Bahar Bektas, 100min, P: Pink Shadow Films, [Filmmaking in Exile]
    Jury statement: "It is rare for a documentary to capture the full complexity of the experience of exile. EXILE NEVER ENDS is a remarkable exception because it explores two exiles: of a Kurdish family, who fled persecution from Turkey to Germany, and of the two sons who question their relationship with the country they grew up in. It touches on issues such as generational conflict and the challenges of integration without following an agenda of its own. This multi-layered, intimate story is told by Bahar Bektas, who sensitively traces the complex emotions of her family members, while asserting a space of her own, as she delves into the emotional and geographical realms of displacement and new beginnings. The jury was unanimous in recognising the sensitivity and exploration demonstrated by a very talented director. Congratulations!"
  • megaherz Student Award:
    HAUSNUMMER NULL by Lilith Kugler, 90min, P: now films, Torero Film, Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, [Student Award]
    Jury statement: "We, the Student Award jury, have chosen a film that touched us from the very first shot, captivated us for 95 minutes in the darkness of the cinema and has not let go ever since. HAUSNUMMER NULL is a courageous film that focuses closely and with a clear view on its protagonist, but also accompanies the important supporting characters through harsh reality with a loving eye. It is an important film because it really engages with this harsh reality that others only glimpse at. And it is also a beautiful film because the camera repeatedly finds images and perspectives that fascinate and gently guide our gaze. Working as a filmmaker also means constantly developing a method to do the subject and the protagonists justice. Maintaining integrity, going where others look away, having confidence in your own project and never losing it: the director has achieved all of this. We congratulate Lilith Kugler on winning the Student Award 2024 for her film HAUSNUMMER NULL."
  • kinokino Audience Award
    HIS PARENTS | JENSEITS VON SCHULD by Katharina Köster, Katrin Nemec, 79min, P: Trimafilm, D: RFF – Realfiction Filmverleih, [DOK.deutsch Competition]
    The media call their son the 'patient killer.' He was given a life sentence for his numerous crimes. Life goes on for his parents Ulla and Didi Högel but nothing is the same as before. They must accept the bitter truth, figure out how to cope with everyday life and reposition themselves in relation to their child. A compelling, precisely observed film about parenthood and love. [39 DOK.fest München catalogue, Ysabel Fantou]
  • AND
  • VFF Documentary Film Production Award :
    VENEZUELA: COUNTRY OF LOST CHILDREN | LAND DER VERLORENEN KINDER by Juan Camilo Cruz, Marc Wiese. P: Dreamer Joint Venture Filmproduktion GmbH. [DOK.panorama]
    From the jury statement: "It is impressive to see the adverse conditions under which Oliver Stoltz and his team made this film: Without the protection of a gang of youths, filming on location would have been too dangerous; professional camera equipment had to be smuggled in over the border. In a country where foreign camera teams are monitored at every turn, a project like this can only succeed with the utmost conspiracy. To this end, the producer used a local crew. Oliver Stoltz has proven to have nerves of steel and deserves public recognition for the successful completion of this film: in this case, the VFF Documentary Film Production Award 2024."

  • German Documentary Film Music Award:
    MY STOLEN PLANET by Farahnaz Sharifi, P: JYOTI Film, Pak Film, WS: CAT&Docs, [Filmmaking in Exile]
    From the jury statement: "The film music by Atena Eshtiaghi (*1989 in Iran) is particularly effective because of what it does not do. She avoids the conventions of illustrative film music and instead uses silence as a stylistic device for this equally radical and personal film by Farahnaz Sharif. The director’s private video archive of old Super 8 recordings, edited together with footage of current demonstrations, is highly politically charged against the backdrop of the comprehensive ban on images in Iran. Atena Eshtiaghi gives strong expression to these messages of uncensored life by accompanying the images with minimalist patterns rather than pathetically exaggerating them. This creates a sense of distance and, at the same time, creates spaces of time in which a great sadness is inscribed. Eshtiaghi’s music does not clothe the film in a pleasing rhythm, rather it emphasizes the heterogeneity and creates a resonance space for what the film is about through its precise texture: Isolation, resistance, hope."

 

The Audience Award 2024 goes to HIS PARENTS | JENSEITS VON SCHULD by Katharina Köster, Katrin Nemec — a former DOK.forum Marketplace 2023  project.

 

 

  

LineUp German productions and co-productions
showcasing in the programme of the festival:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

VFF Documentary Film Production Award focuses on the work of documentary film producers is sponsored by the VFF Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film und Fernsehproduzenten mbH and is endowed with € 7,500.–. This year's award goes to producer Oliver Stoltz for the documentary VENEZUELA: COUNTRY OF LOST CHILDREN | LAND DER VERLORENEN KINDER by directors Juan Camilo Cruz and Marc Wiese. Oliver Stoltz produced the film with his company Dreamer Joint Venture Filmproduktion GmbH. From the jury statement: "It is impressive to see the adverse conditions under which Oliver Stoltz and his team made this film: Without the protection of a gang of youths, filming on location would have been too dangerous; professional camera equipment had to be smuggled in over the border. In a country where foreign camera teams are monitored at every turn, a project like this can only succeed with the utmost conspiracy. To this end, the producer used a local crew. Oliver Stoltz has proven to have nerves of steel and deserves public recognition for the successful completion of this film: in this case, the VFF Documentary Film Production Award 2024."
The award ceremony and the German premiere of VENEZUELA: COUNTRY OF LOST CHILDREN | LAND DER VERLORENEN KINDER will take place on Tuesday, 7 May at HFF Munich.

 

 

Nominees are the following films with outstanding creative significance of the production:

 

 

 

 

 

DOK.edit Award is endowed with € 5000.- and aims to shed light on the post-production of documentaries and to honor the work of editors. The nominated films will be presented at #DOKfest2024 with extended Q&As with the DOK.edit jury and the respective editor. Among the six nominated documentaries are the following three German productions and co-productions.

 

 

 

 

 

Annualy the GERMAN DOCUMENTARY FILM MUSIC AWARD honours a composition that connects with the documentary film narrative in an outstanding way. The award is endowed with € 5,000.- and is sponsored by Versicherungskammer Kulturstiftung. And the winner 2024 is Atena Eshtiaghi for original score of MY STOLEN PLANET by Farahnaz Sharifi. The award ceremony, incuding the screening of the film, is scheduled for May 5, 2024, 8 p.m. at HFF Munich.

From the jury statement: "The film music avoids the conventions of illustrative film music and instead uses silence as a stylistic device for this equally radical and personal film. Atena Eshtiaghi gives strong expression to the messages of uncensored life by accompanying the images with minimalist patterns rather than pathetically exaggerating them. This creates a sense of distance and, at the same time, creates periods of time in which a great sadness is inscribed. Eshtiaghi's music does not coat the film in a pleasing rhythm, rather it emphasises the heterogeneity and creates a resonance space for what the film is about through its precise texture: Isolation, resistance, hope."

 

GERMAN DOCUMENTARY FILM MUSIC AWARD 2024 NOMINEES ARE:

 

 

 

 

 May 1–7, 2024
 [FB]

DOK.forum – The Industry Platform of DOK.fest München.

Think tank for the documentary film industry and platform for projects in the development process.
Browse all award winners DOK.forum 2024 here.

In panels, workshops and other public events, the DOK.forum Perspectives invite you to develop visions and impulses for the future of documentary film and to explore relevant questions of media policy.
As a market for co-creation and co-production, the DOK.forum Marketplace offers various formats for the further development and realisation of new documentary film projects.

Over the past 10 years, the DOK.forum has established itself as a fixed meeting place and relevant networking opportunity for the German-speaking industry – with a growing range of offers for international filmmakers.

 

Among the seven Master's Pitch projects are two German (co)productions:

  • SILENT WAR by the directors and producers Dirk van den Berg, OutreMer Film, Berlin & Pascal Verroust K2 Productions, Paris. After Hiroshima and Nagasaki, over 2000 nuclear devices have detonated on Earth, labeled as "tests." This film unveils Prof. Robert Jacobs’ groundbreaking research of the Cold War's darkest secret: all nuclear powers ruthlessly experimented on their people, weaving a decades-long tale of deception and lies with countless victims, in a SILENT WAR.
  • OUR SISTER ANGELA – BLACK POWER IN THE GDR by Katharina Warda and Jascha Hannover, producer André Schäfer, Florianfilm GmbH,  In the 1970s, an enthusiastic solidarity movement for Black civil rights activist Angela Davis emerges in the GDR. She attracts tens of thousands of people during her visits to the country. But all this enthusiasm is deceptive. Co-director Katharina Warda tells this often-overlooked piece of Black East German history from her personal perspective.

 

 

...and the DOK.archive Award goes to OUR SISTER ANGELA – BLACK POWER IN THE GDR by Katharina Warda and Jascha Hannover, produced by Florianfilm GmbH. The award honours a documentary film project in development that uses archive material. Endowed with € 15,000 provision (or alternatively € 2,500.-). British Pathé is prize sponsor. The DOK.archive Award is a promotional award for compilation films in development. High-quality archive footage is often almost invaluable for documentary films – and expensive. With the award, British Pathé and DOK.forum want to promote projects that work with licensed material.

This year the award goes to OUR SISTER ANGELA – BLACK POWER IN THE GDR by Katharina Warda and Jascha Hannover: In the 1970s, an enthusiastic solidarity movement supporting the Black US civil rights activist Angela Davis emerges in East Germany. Angela attracts hundreds of thousands of spectators during her visits to the country. But all this enthusiasm is deceptive... Co-director Katharina Warda tells this story from a personal perspective. From the jury's statement: "The use of archive material is of crucial importance for this project. ... The filmmakers provide an intelligent analysis of a historical event: One could dismiss Angela Davis' visit to the GDR as pure propaganda, but from today's perspective it is clearly more than that. ... The filmmakers reclaim the narrative of the material, and reinterprete and use it from the perspective of coming to terms with the history of people of colour in the former GDR..."

 

 

 

 

 

DOK.talent Award, a unique pitch format for students. Sponsored by ndF Entertainment GmbH @ndf_film

...and the DOK.talent Award goes to POLITIK IST PERSÖNLICH (WT: BUILD A PARTY) by Indira Geisel 

The pitch competition DOK.talent Award offers students from the partner universities of DOK.fest München the opportunity to present their current projects to industry experts and receive valuable feedback. The most convincing project receives the award, which is donated by ndF Entertainment GmbH and endowed with € 2,500 in research funding. This year, the twelve-member jury honoured to the project POLITIK IST PERSÖNLICH by Indira Geisel (HFF München). From the jury's statement:" ... In a very close decision, the jury decided for a project in which the filmmaker portrays three generations of her own family – in which, as she says, 'campaigning is a family affair'. Let it be known: POLITIK IST PERSÖNLICH, a film that engages with ambivalence, allows for critical distance and, on a personal level, seeks its own fresh perspective, is the well deserved winner. We congratulate Indira Geisel and her team on winning the DOK.talent Award 2024."

 

 

 

DOK.composition Award The best musical concept for a documentary film will be endowed with €2,500 sponsored by Sonoton Music. Out of the five selected documentareis, the two selected German productions are:
• SCHWARZER FLUSS – RIO NEGRO by Anna-Sophia Richard, 90min, P: sehstern Filmproduktion,
• NO PLACE LIKE HOME (WT) by Daniel Abma, Composer: Henning Fuchs, P: Bandenfilm,

 

 

DOK.educations presents DREH'S UM with AG DOK Speed Dating.
May 4, 2024, 10a.m. – 2p.m., Anita-Augspurg-BOS am Königsplatz, Brienner Str. 37, Munich.

The founders of the Berlin collective Dreh's Um present their award-winning film education concept and their close collaboration with a social worker: Viet German teenagers and young adults deal with their migrant identity and family history through intensive documentary film workshops. Dreh's Um initiator Duc Ngo Ngoc: "On the one hand, it's about making films and, on the other, about empowering yourself with your own perspective, taking the camera into your own hands and figuratively turning it on yourself – away from the white, often stereotypical view of our community".

The AG DOK Speed Dating enables exchange of experience and active networking within the specialist audience of social work stakeholders and funding institutions. The subsequent get-together as the starting signal for a sustainable development of comparable film projects that enable diverse access to the film to the film industry.

For registration send an Email to  kloeckner@dokfest-muenchen.de.

 

 

 

            AG DOK  @ 39 DOK.fest Munich              

  

Media Libraries: Challenges and Opportunities for Film and Media Professionals.

AG DOK event on May 1, 2024 – 2 p.m. at the HFF Munich, moderated by AG DOK board member Andreas Schroth, producer — MEDEA FILM FACTORY.
Media libraries have become an important part of today's media landscape. They offer an enormous amount of content, but also bring challenges with them. In our discussion, we will look at audience trends and the tension between creativity and format restrictions.
Panelists:
• Arianne Gambino, Content Lead Play Suisse
• Nicola Staender, Head of Digital Planning & Format Development, ZDF
• Thilo Kasper, Team Lead Content Strategy & Development, ARD Mediathek
• Christian Tipke, Producer / CEO Sendefaehig.

 

PR May 14, 2024 Festival director Daniel Sponsel: "This edition felt more intense in its preparation and realisation than any before, on the one hand because of the tense financial situation in times of inflation, and on the other because of the many social and political controversies. The films at the festival reflected these in a constructive way. We were able to show the Munich audience the works of many filmmakers who reflect the political situation in Europe and the world with an individual, reflective view. And we were able to facilitate encounters with directors who provide insights that are otherwise inaccessible to us. For example, with the director of HOLLYWOODGATE, Ibrahim Nash'at, who was able to accompany the Taliban when they took over a US base in Afghanistan. To be able to present such filmmakers and their stories in Munich: That is the essence of DOK.fest München. We are delighted that our audience is loyal to the festival and look forward with great anticipation to our anniversary edition next year.

 

as single page:
• 39 DOK.fest Munich 2024 •
• 38 DOK.fest Munich 2023 •
• 37 DOK.fest Munich 2022 •
• 36 DOK.fest Munich 2021 •
• 35 DOK.fest Munich 2020 •
• 34 DOK.fest Munich 2019 •
• 33 DOK.fest Munich 2018 •