• SCHEDULE 2025

      LET'S MEET AGAIN   European Film Market @ 75 BERLINALE, Februar 13–23, 2025    The European Film Market is taking place as an integral part ...

     


    LET'S MEET AGAIN
      



    European Film Market @ 75 BERLINALE, Februar 13–23, 2025
       The European Film Market is taking place as an integral part of the 75 BERLINALE. With a booth at GROPIUS BAU #18 groundfloor under the umbrella of German Films.
    European Film Market, booth 18 [German Films / AG DOK / German Documentaries]
    contact: BOOTH 18, GROPIUS BAU, Niederkirchnerstr. 7, 10963 Berlin, Germany


    Major appearance of German productions and co-productions at the anniversary edition of the Berlinale 2025. More information at the website of German films. German productions documentary form at one glance you can find here.


    NEWS on former editions of the BERLINALE & EFM
    68 BERLINALE 2018 | 69 BERLINALE 2019 | 70 BERLINALE 2020 | 71 BERLINALE 2021 | 72 BERLINALE 2022 | 73 BERLINALE | 74 BERLINALE | 75 BERLINALE |


     


     



    27 Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, March 06—16, 2025 .
    TiDF is among the most important documentary festivals in Europe and an Oscars® documentary feature qualifying festival, celebrating the art of documentary via a rich program of films, events, initiatives and the Agora Doc Market, a lively hub for film professionals. The Festival has four competition sections: Feature Length International Competition, Newcomers International Competition, >>Film Forward International Competition and VR International Competition.
    Representative German Films: Julia Teichmann .
    NEWS: __#26TiDF2024__ __#27TiDF2025__


     


     



    CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, March 19–30, 2025
    Submissions for the 22nd edition CPH:DOX start May 15, 2024. The deadlines for submitting a film to CPH:DOX 2025 are September 1 for films finished by that date, and November 25, 2024 for films finished after the first deadline. Rules and regulation.
    Representative german documentaries: Björn Jensen 
    More information — German only
    __ Report2021 by Björn Jensen German only __
    __ Report2022 by Björn Jensen German only __
    __ Report2023 by Björn Jensen German only __
    __ Report2024 by Björn Jensen German only __
    _____CPH:DOX2024___CPH:DOX2023______CPH:DOX2022__
    _CPH:DOX2021___CPH:D2OX2020___CPH:DOX2019___


     


     



    iREP International Documentary Film Festival, March 21–24, 2024, Lagos, Nigeria
    Download updated Festival Schedule 2024 as PDF here.
    IREP is conceptualized to create a platform of awareness and expression for filmmakers who are creating socially relevant films to impact our world. The festival has been attended by a delegation of German documentary filmmakers for many years.
    PRESS RELEASE 2024.
    Representative german documentaries: Bärbel Mauch bamauch@yahoo.de


     


     



    MIPTV | MIPDOCApril 8–10, 2024, Palais des Festivals de Cannes, France
    SORRY, no German Booth this Year!
    The two largest and most important markets for the distribution of films take place in Cannes every year in spring. MIPDOC, the 26th International Documentary and Factual Co-Production Market and Screenings is back at MIPTV as part of the biggest weekend in Unscripted held on 6-7 April 2024. Gathering the whole international doc & factual community, MIPDOC will offer 2 days of networking, screenings, pitch, and conferences. The market features one of the world’s most important documentary and factual content offerings, as well as an inspiring conference programme, high-level networking events and a dedicated hub for international producers, buyers, commissioners and distributors.
    The MIPDOC Pitch stands as an exclusive pitching contest spotlighting fresh Doc & Factual TV projects, emphasizing their exceptional potential for both commissioning and multiplatform expansion. Tailored for creators and producers in search of financing or collaboration for projects in their developmental phase, this competition presents an invaluable opportunity for heightened exposure before a distinguished jury comprising influential decision-makers within the global Doc & Factual Content Industry. Deadline for submitting a project is February 26, 2024.
    Björn Jensen, Representative german documentaries
    More information – for submission German only
    Report of MIPTV2021Report of MIPTV2022Report of MIPTV2024 • by Björn Jensen.


     


     


     



    Visions du Réel, International Film Festival Nyon, April 4–13, 2025
    Registrations open on September 2024 and ends with
    • early deadline: 4 November 2024 (CHF 30 fee)
    • final deadline: 13 December 2024 (CHF 40 fee)
    • VdR–Development Lab deadline: 25 October 2024
    Visions du Réel is one of the only Swiss film festivals to present a majority of its films as world or international premieres. The Festival also has a film market with Industry activities, one of the most important in Europe and it may invite films that have not been selected for the official programme to be entered in the Visions du Réel Media Library to be viewed by buyers and professionals. 
    VdR–Industry dedicated to cinema professionals, VdR–Industry and its activities represent a springboard for future films to find support in every stage of their production. VdR–Industry is an opportunity for participants to expand their network and develop awareness for new production companies thanks to our special program.
    VdR–Film Market (formerly known as the Media Library). This secured online platform offers key industry professionals the opportunity to view a selection of new creative documentaries.
    NEWS: • 55 Visions du Réel, Nyon 202454 Visions du Réel, Nyon 202353 Visions du Réel, Nyon 202252 Visions du Réel, Nyon 202151 Visions du Réel, Nyon 202050 Visions du Réel, Nyon 201949 Visions du Réel, Nyon 2018 • 


     


     



    32 Hot Docs Toronto,  April 24 – May 4, 2025, Toronto, Canada
    Submissions deadlines: • early-bird: October 31, 2024 • regular: December 12, 2024• final: January 9, 2025
    https://www.tiktok.com/@hotdocs.
    Find NEWS of past editions here: ___HotDocs24___HotDocs23___HotDocs22___HotDocs21_____HotDocs20_____HotDocs19___


     



    65 KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL May 25 – June 1, 2025 [cinemas]
    and across Poland, May 25 – June 1, 2025 [online]
    Rules and Regulations for submission browse here. The films qualified for the festival programme shall automatically be placed in the online KFF Video Library and made available to the accredited participants of the KFF Industry organised during the festival (unless the right holder refuses consent in writing).
    Submission with dealinese for the international competitions:
    30 November 2024: for films made prior to 31 October 2024,
    31 January 2025: for films made after 31 October 2024.
    NEWS __#64kff___


     


      



    CoPro 27 | Israeli Documentary Screen Market May 26–29, 2025
    CoPro – The Israeli Coproduction Market is entirely dedicated to exposing Israeli documentary projects to executives in the international documentary film industry around the world, with the aim of raising resources from international sources. During the market days, CoPro also holds industry events such as lectures and professional panels which are open to all industry professionals and the creative community. The CoPro market attracts executives from the documentary film industry from around the world. More than fifty international industry figures are attending the event, including representatives from the BBC, arte, Netflix, NY Times, Showtime and many public broadcasting networks in Europe.
    More infromation here.
    Submission is free of charge, with mails to guests@copro.co.il.
    Representative german documentaries: Björn Jensen
    Further information __German only__
    Report CoPro 2023
    Report CoPro24_2022 and NEWS CoPro & docaviv 2022.
    german documentaries NEWS 2018— CoPro20. >


     


     



    32 Sheffield Documentary Filmfestival, June 18—23, 2025.
    Enter by February 28, 2025 to be considered for the 2025 official selection.
    The MeetMarket during the festival is allowing Marketplace participants the opportunity to experience the opening night of the festival.
    There will be a German delegation as well as a Greet&Meet Event by German Documentaries. Here the infomation for the next festival _German only_
    Keep updated by visiting the website of the festival.
    Representative german documentaries: Björn Jensen, infos _German only_
    Report german documentaries on • Sheffield DocFest 2024Sheffield DocFest 2023  • SheffieldDocFest 2022 • _Sheffield Doc|Fest 2019_ •
    NEWS on • Sheffield DocFest 2024Sheffield DocFest 2023Sheffield DocFest 2022Sheffield DocFest 2021Sheffield DocFest 2020Sheffield Doc|Fest 2019Sheffield DocFest 2018


     


     



    28 ECRANS NOIRS, October 19—26, 2024
    The festival has been attended by a delegation of German documentary filmmakers for many years.
    Representative german documentaries: Bärbel Mauch bamauch@yahoo.de


     


     



    36 Sunny Side of the Doc, June 23—26, 2025 live in La Rochelle. #SSD25
    Sunny Side of the Doc ist the international Marketplace for documentary and narrative Experiences.Through year-round activities and a landmark international event, SSD provides a unique space for industry professionals to co-create, co-finance and share a diversity of compelling stories with the world. The marketplace’s 36th edition will take place June 23–26, 2025 live in La Rochelle. Submit your project to Sunny Side of the Doc’s pitching sessions and join one of the most impactful markets for documentary and digital storytelling. This time again there will be a German delegation with a booth and a German Documentaries greet&meet event.
    Submission: December 17, 2024 – March 25, 2025.
    Report of SSD2024 by Björn Jensen & George Kalomenopoulos:  _German only_
    #35ssd #SSD24 • #34ssd #SSD23 • #33ssd #SSD22 • #30ssd #SSD19 •


    The final reports by the german documentaries representative:
    2024 – German only – here
    2023 – German only – here
    2022 – German only – here
    2021 – German only – here
    • 2019 here and ____2019 Germany COUNTRY in FOCUS___


     


     



    11 VISIONI DAL MONDO, September 11–14, 2025 Milan, Italy.
    The calls for entry will be available on the website at the end of February 2025.
    The 11nd edition of the International Documentary Festival Visioni dal Mondo, the annual appointment with feature documentary is founded and produced by Francesco Bizzarri. For the edition 2025 too, the artistic direction has been entrusted to Maurizio Nichetti, who has always put side by side to his activity of film author, also a strong interest for the cinema of reality.
    Visioni Incontra, the Industry section of Visioni dal Mondo, takes place in Milan on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 September 2025, a platform wheree filmmakers may submit documentary film projects in the development and financing stage. The pitching takes place in front of a panel of international editors, distributors and audiences. Visioni dal Mondo recognized the importance of immersive formats for documentary film years ago and is one of the few festivals that strives to network between XR creatives and documentary filmmakers with the Visioni VR section.
    Contact German Film Julia Teichmann.
    Report Visioni dal Mondo 2024 by Björn JensenGerman only


     


     


     


     



    41 MIPCOMOctober 13—16, 2025 Cannes, Frankreich
    Meet us at our booth [P-1, K19 in 2024] during MIPCOM CANNES – the 41st International Co-Production & Content Market, the world’s greatest gathering of television and media professionals and the most anticipated week on the global industry calendar. Each October, decision makers from over 100 countries converge on the world’s red-carpet capital of Cannes, France to compete for new series, source international production partnerships and set the development agenda and beyond.

    Report MIPCOM 2020 by Björn Jensen • Report MIPCOM 2021 by Björn Jensen • Report MIPCOM 2022 by Björn JensenReport MIPCOM 2023Report MIPCOM 2024
    Representative german documentaries: Björn Jensen,


     


     



    24 MEDIMED, The European Docs Market, Sitges, October 17—20, 2024 [Submission for projects starts May and ends June, Accreditation deadline September]
    MEDIMED focuses mainly on Euro-Mediterranean creative projects, with documentary producers and directors developing their own creative projects. The participation of both (director and producer) at the Workshop and Pitching Forum is highly recommended. All professionals involved in the documentary industry are very welcome to register, whether as an independent producer with a project, a commissioning editor, financier, distributor, sales agent, digital platform, or fund. It is also possible for producers to register for attendance as an observer. The knowledge of English is a condition.
    Report by Björn Jensen of MEDIMED 2022 ___German only____


     


     



    MIA, International Audiovisual Market in Rome, October 14-18, 2024,
    MIA, International Audiovisual Market, is a market event based in Italy. A hotbed of discussion, debate, and confrontation among the most important international executives, MIA is a destination for the global film and audiovisual ecosystem, conceived as a curated market, a physical and digital space for feature-length films (fiction, animation and documentary), as well for series (drama, documentary, factual and animation). Today, MIA is the most important industry event in Italy and is one of the must-attend international events focused on co-production, financing strategies and models, sales and distribution of works, and content showcase, and is an effective platform for talents and projects circulation. Find more information and specific guidelines for the Documentary Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum here. The Call for Projects for the new edition of MIA’s Doc Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum is now open! Hurry because the deadline for applications is July 8th, 2024 by 5pm CET!
    More information by Björn Jensen __German only__
    __Report MIA 2023 by Björn Jensen__ • ___Report MIA 2024 by Björn Jensen___


     


     

    37 IDFA International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam / Forum Amsterdam, November 13-24, 2024, Amsterdam, Netherlands.  Docs for Sale, November 15–20.
    Submission for films in the programme of the festival March 26 – July 11, 2024.
    IDFA's markets submission opens June. Docs for Sale submission deadline is September 9, 2024.
    Browse all festival submissions and other key dates for 2024 here.
    Contact: Julia Teichmann Head of Documentary Marketing & Subtitling Support, German Films GmbH.
    Find NEWS of past editions here:
    ___36 IDFA NEWS______35 IDFA 2022___34 IDFA 2021___33 IDFA 2020___32 IDFA 2019___


     


     



    World Congress of Science and Factual Producers, WCSFP
    December 9-12, 2024, Marrakesh, Morocco
    Registration will open in late summer. Stay tuned for details. [FB]


    Due to low demand and disappointed participants from Germany in 2022, but also because we are not offered a reduction of the participation fee for a delegation from Germany by the organizer, German Documentaries did not take part in the event 2023.
    Representative german documentaries Björn Jensen.
    Report of 2019 — German only.
    Report of 2021 — German only.
    Report of 2022 — German only


     


     


     


     


     


     


     



     



     


     


     


     


     


    Redaktion / Editor german documentaries Ingrid Molnar

    . __ .


     

  • 36 Sunny Side of the Doc, La Rochelle, June 23 - 26, 2025

    Sunny side of the doc has been bringing the international documentary community together for more than 30 years. It organises events and activities ...

    Sunny side of the doc has been bringing the international documentary community together for more than 30 years. It organises events and activities throughout the year, and its signature event – the international marketplace – is held live in June in La Rochelle.


    This year, 42 projects from 22 countries have the privilege of competing for the Best Pitch Prize. The selected project holders will pitch in seven thematic pitch sessions, all supported by key industry partners.


     


    Selected projects with German participation:


    CHESS BEHIND BARS by Ivo Zen (CH/NO/DE/NL)


    LEONARD COHEN: BEHIND THE IRON CURTAIN by Eric Bednarski (CA/DE/PL)


    THE LAST DAYS OF KABUL by Lucio Mollica & Bence Máté


    UNVEILING THE COSMOS by Gonzalo Argandona (CL/ES/DE)

  • 40 DOK.fest Munich, May 7-12, 2025

    DOK.fest München is Germany's largest documentary film festival showcasing the highlights of current documentary filmmaking – at the main event ...

    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 105 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 40th edition is scheduled for May 7 - 18 in cinemas and additional May 12 - 25 @home with selectied films online throughout Germany. Browse the full programme here.


    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.


    For this years anniversary edition, the festival will present 16 thematic film sections for the first time and show four films from from four decades of the history of DOK.fest in a retrospective. The exhibition "40 years of DOK.fest München: Eyes Wide Open" at Gasteig HP8, and the big anniversary celebration at the Ampere with the live acts Angela Aux, Joasihno and Van Damme 38 are further anniversary specials we can look forward to.


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:


    9-MONTH CONTRACT by Ketevan Vashagashvili (DE/BG)


    ABOUT THE DREAM TO BE UNSINKABLE by Tom Fröhlich


    ACCIDENTAL ANIMALS by Felix Klee & Leila Fatima Keita


    A NEARLY NORMAL LIFE by Stefan Sick (DE)


    AZZA by Stefanie Brockhaus


    BOALÂNDIA by Patrik Thomas & Mathias Reitz Zausinger (BR/DE)


    CHANGING SIDES – EICHI AND THE FC PIO by Loraine Blumenthal


    CITIZENFOUR by Laura Poitras (DE/US)


    DOUBLE TROUBLE by Emilia ?niegoska (DE/PL)


    FISSION by João Pedro Prado


    FRIENDLY FIRE by Klaus Fried & Julia Albrecht (DE/AT)


    FRITZ HAT GLASKNOCHEN by Giacopuzzi Marco


    FRITZ LITZMANN: A FAMILY STORY by Aljoscha Pause


    IMMORTAL AT LAST by Vera Brückner


    IT HAPPENED ON OUR GROUND by Avner Faingulernt (DE/IL/CA)


    KHARTOUM by Ahmad Ibrahim & Rawia Alhag & Anas Saeed & Timeea M.Ahmed & Phil Cox (DE/GB/QA/SD)


    LIFE IS LIKE THAT AND NOT OTHERWISE by Lenia Friedrich


    MONK IN PIECES by Billy Shebar (DE/US)


    ON THE BORDER by Igor Gerald Hauzenberger & Gabriela Schild (DE/AT/CH)


    PALLIATIVE CARE UNIT by Philipp Döring


    PING PONG PARADISE by Jonas Egert


    PRIMADONNA OR NOTHING by Juliane Sauter


    READY TO DIE by Basilio Maritano Sailer (DE/IT)


    RETURN by Bar Mayer (DE/IL)


    RISING UP AT NIGHT by Nelson Makengo (BE/BF/CD/DE/QA)


    SABAT by Anna Maria Beeck


    SILENT OBSERVERS by Eliza Petkova (BG)


    SIMON! THE JOY OF CONDUCTING by Benedikt Schulte


    SOLDIERS OF LIGHT by Julian Vogel & Johannes Büttner


    SOLIDARITY by David Bernet (DE/CH)


    SPRING IN KANGIQSUALUJJUAQ by Marie Zrenner (DE/CA)


    THE DISAPPEARANCE OF OUR MOMENTS by Ahmad Siyar Noorzad (AF/DE/TR)


    THE END OF THE INTERNET by Dylan Reibling (DE/CA/ES)


    THE HELSINKI EFFECT by Arthur Franck (DE/FI/NO)


    THE MOELLN LETTERS by Martina Priessner


    THE SREBRENICA TAPE - FROM DAD, FOR ALISA by Chiara Sambuchi (DE/AT)


    THE THOUGHTS OF OUR ANCESTORS by Kokutekeleza Musebeni


    TATA by Lina Vdovîi (DE/NL/RO)


    WE ALL BLEED RED by Josephine Links


    WOMAN/MOTHER by Klara Harden


    YUMI – THE WHOLE WORLD by Felix Golenko (EG/DE/FJ/NL/GB-SCT/US/VU) 

  • 56 Visions du Réel, Nyon, April 4 - 13, 2025

    In its 56th edition, Visions du Réel offers a rich program of 154 films from 57 countries. The 129 new films shown include 88 world premieres,12 ...

    In its 56th edition, Visions du Réel offers a rich program of 154 films from 57 countries.


    The 129 new films shown include 88 world premieres,12 international premieres and 58 debut films, including 28 feature-length films. Visions du Réel thus confirms its position as the second most important film festival in Switzerland in terms of presenting new films and as an unmissable international meeting place for documentary cinema.


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:


    ABODE OF DAWN by Kristina Shtubert


    CROMA by Manuel Abramovich (AR/DE/AT)


    CUTTING THROUGH ROCKS by Mohammadreza Eyni & Sara Khaki (IR/DE/GB/QA/NL/CL/CA)


    DEAR CATHERINE by Raoul Peck (FR/HT/DE)


    DOUBLE TROUBLE by Emilia ?niegoska (PL/DE)


    ELYSIAN FIELDS by Anna-Maria Dutoit (DE/GR)


    IN RETROSPECT by Daniel Asadi Faezi & Mila Zhluktenko


    J-N-N by Ginan Seidl (DE/IQ)


    LEUGT by Raoul Peck


    LUMUMBA: DEATH OF A PROPHET by Raoul Peck (CD/FR/DE/CH)


    MORIA SIX by Jennifer Mallmann


    SHURUUK by Amie Barouh (FR/DE)


    SOLDIERS OF LIGHT by Johannes Büttner & Julian Vogel


    THE FAMILY APPROACH by Daniel Abma


    THE PRINCE OF NANAWA by Clarisa Navas (AR/PY/CO/DE)


    UNSTABLE ROCKS by Ewelina Rosinska (DE/PT)


     

  • 21 ACHTUNG BERLIN, April 2 - 9, 2025

    Every year since 2004, the film festival has presented current feature and documentary films that (or whose producers and directors) have a ...

    Every year since 2004, the film festival has presented current feature and documentary films that (or whose producers and directors) have a connection to Berlin or Brandenburg. The screenings of the films are accompanied by film discussions with authors, directors, producers and distributors. Achtung Berlin has developed into the second largest film festival in Berlin after the Berlinale and has made a name for itself throughout Germany as an important festival for up-and-coming filmmakers.
    The 21th edition of achtung berlin – new berlin film award 2025 takes place April 2 -9, 2025.


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions:



    • ABODE OF DAWN by Kristina Shtubert

    • BARBARA MORGENSTERN UND DIE LIEBE ZUR SACHE by Sabine Herpich

    • DER TOD IST EIN ARSCHLOCH by Michael Schwarz

    • FAMILIAR PLACES by Mala Reinhardt

    • IM PRINZIP FAMILIE by Daniel Adma

    • NIGHT OF THE COYOTES by Clara Trischler (DE/AT)

    • SPIELERINNEN by Asun Bademsoy

    • TRUTH OR DARE by Maja Classen

    • WE ALL BLEED RED by Josephine Links 

    • WOLKEN ÜBER LÜTZERATH by Lukas Reiter

  • Movies That Matter, Den Haag, March 21 - 29, 2025

    The Movies that Matter festival 2025 has several competitions in which international juries hand out awards to the winning film or director. During ...

    The Movies that Matter festival 2025 has several competitions in which international juries hand out awards to the winning film or director. During the Movies that Matter Industry Days  workshops, panel discussions, pitches of impact plans and masterclasses on film and human rights are taking place. The varied programme lets visitors travel along many themes and countries in more than 80 beautiful, exciting and touching documentaries, feature films and shorts, meeting brave activists, original filmmakers and scores of human, gripping, humorous and touching stories.


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions:


    KAMAY by Ilyas Yourish & Shahrokh Bikaran (AF/BE/FR/DE)


    THE SREBRENICA TAPE - FROM DAD, FOR ALISA by Chiara Sambuchi (DE/AT)

  • 22 CPH:DOX, Copenhagen, March 19 - 30, 2025

    CPH:DOX is considered the most important documentary film festival in Scandinavia and takes placetakes place in Copenhagen March 19 - 30, 2025. ...

    CPH:DOX is considered the most important documentary film festival in Scandinavia and takes place
    takes place in Copenhagen March 19 - 30, 2025. It focuses on the themes of science, society and art. They also have a focus on interactive installations and virtual reality. In this years edition they are showcasing more than 25 german (co-)productions.


    This year’s programme features six competition categories, judged by an international jury: DOX:AWARD, F:ACT AWARD, NORDIC:DOX AWARD, NEXT:WAVE AWARD, NEW:VISION AWARD, including the newest HUMAN:RIGHTS AWARD, which CPH:DOX and the institute for Human Rights introduced last year.


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions:



    • 9-MONTH CONTRACT by Ketevan Vashagashvili (GE/BG/DE) 

    • ABODE OF DAWN by Kristina Shtubert

    • ANIMALITY by Weiwei Ai

    • AZZA by Stefanie Brockhaus (DE/SA)

    • BOGANCLOCH by Ben Rivers (UK/DE/IS)

    • CITY CHILD by Austin Lynch (US/DE)

    • FISSION by João Pedro Prado & Anton Yaremchuk

    • GOOGOOSH - MADE OF FIRE by Niloufar Taghizadeh

    • HUMAN RACE by Simon Lec (DK/UK/NO/DE/CH/US)

    • HYDROGEN - REVOLUTION OR ILLUSION? by Andreas Pichler (DE/IT/NO)

    • LETTERS FROM WOLF STREET by Arjun Talwar (PL/DE)

    • LITTLE SYRIA by Madalina Rosca & Reem Karssli (PT/RO/DE)

    • MEMORY WARS by Hendrik Löbbert

    • MORIA SIX by Jennifer Mllmann

    • ON THE BORDER by Gabriela Schild & Gerald Igor Hauzenberger (AT/DE/CH)

    • PRIMITIVE DIVERSITY by Alexander Kluge

    • SILENT OBSERVERS by Eliza Petkova (BG/DE)

    • TATA by Lina Vdovii & Radu Ciorniciuc (RO/DE/NL)

    • THE GARDENER, THE BUDDHIST & THE SPY by Håvard Bustnes (NO/DE/UK)

    • THE HELSINKI EFFECT by Arthur Franck (FI/DE/NO)

    • THE SHARDS by Masha Chernaya (GE/DE)

    • THE SHIPWRECKED TRIPTYCH by Deniz Eroglu

    • THE TENDER REVOLUTION by Annelie Boros

    • THE WOLVES ALWAYS COME AT NIGHT by Gabrielle Brady (AU/MN/DE)

    • TRACING LIGHT by Thomas Riedelsheimer

    • TRUTH OR DARE by Maja Classen

    • UNSTABLE ROCKS + PERISHABLE IDOL + AVAILABLE LIGHT by Ewelina Rosinska, Nuno Barroso, Majid Al-Remaih & Morgan Quaintance (DE/PT/FR/KW/UK)

  • 27 TiDF, Thessaloniki, March 6 - 16, 2025

    A total of 261 documentary films will be presented at the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (TiDF), which took place from ...

    A total of 261 documentary films will be presented at the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (TiDF), which took place from March 6 to 16, 2025. These includes 72 world premieres, 40 international premieres and 11 European premieres. The films are shown both in local cinemas and via the festival's online platform.


    The festival offers a diverse program with several competition categories, including the International Competition, the Newcomers Competition and the >>Film Forward section.


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:


    ABO ZABAAL 89 by Bassam Mortada (EG/DE)


    ABOUT A HERO by Poitr Winiewicz (DK/DE/US)


    BECOMING ROOSI by Margit Lillak (EE/DE)


    GERHARD by Ulu Braun


    KICK OFF by Roser Corella & Stefano Obino


    RAPTURE II - PORTAL by Alisa Berger (FR/DE/UA)


    SUPER PARADISE by Steve Krikris (GR/DE)


    THE MOELLN LETTERS by Martina Priessner


    UNDER THE FLAGS, THE SUN by Juanjo Pereira (PY/AR/US/FR/DE)


    UPWIND by Florial Siebert


    YOU DON´T DIE TWO TIMES by Ager Oueslati (DZ/DE)

  • 23 FIFDH, Geneva, March 7 - 16, 2025

    The 23rd edition of the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights has 114 film screenings and is showcasing four german productions ...

    The 23rd edition of the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights has 114 film screenings and is showcasing four german productions and co-productions, at a total of 71 forums, spotlights and events. 


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions:


    KHARTOUM by Ahmad Ibrahim & Rawia Alhag & Anas Saeed & Timeea M.Ahmed & Phil Cox (DE/GB/QA/SD)


    SANTOSH by Sandhya Suri (GB/DE/FR/IN)


    SCARS OF GROWTH by Monika Grassl & Linda Osusky (DE/SK)


    THE TENDER REVOLUTION by Annelie Boro?

  • 54 IFFR, Rotterdam, Jan 30 - Feb 9, 2025

    With an average of 275,000 visits and over 2,000 film professionals from over 100 countries, International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR) ...

    With an average of 275,000 visits and over 2,000 film professionals from over 100 countries, International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR) is one of the largest audience and industry-driven film festivals in the world. Since its 50th edition in 2021, IFFR identifies itself as an organisation dedicated to bolstering the international film industry with activities both during the festival period as well as via year-round projects, by offering highly relevant masterclasses, talks, training labs, educational opportunities, project funding (through the Hubert Bals Fund) and an international market for industry professionals.  


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions



    • BAHAR BISS by Franziska von Stenglin (MT/DE)

    • CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG by Zhou Hao (DE/US, Mala Productions)

    • GERHARD by Ulu Braun

    • PAST IS PRESENT by Shaheen Dill-Riaz (BD/DE, MATCH FRAME)

    • REMINISCENE OF A MOVIEGOER (ERZÄHLUNGEN EINES KINOGEHERS) by Christiane Büchner (Büchner Filmproduktion)

    • STRANDZHA by Pepa Hristova (DE/BG, Fünferfilm)

    • THE NEW JEWS by Amir Steklov (The Glass Prince Productions)

    • ORANGEMOND by Gabriele Denecke (Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF)


    Focus: Katja Raganelli



    • ANNOT – PORTRAIT EINER MALERIN UND PAZIFISTIN by Katja Raganelli (Diorama Film)

    • DIE FRAUEN SIND AUF NATÜRLICHE WEISE SCHÖPFERISCH by Agnès Varda (Diorama Film)

    • DIE LIEBE IST EIN MYTHOS by Katja Raganelli (Diorama Film)

    • JOAN TEWKESBURY by Katja Raganelli (Diorama Film)

    • LOTTE REINIGER – HOMMAGE AN DIE ERFINDERIN DES SILHOUETTEN FILMS by Katja Raganelli (Diorama Film)

    • MARGERY WILSON – VOM STUMMFILMSTAR HOLLYWOODS ZUR FILMREGISSEURIN by Katja Raganelli (Diorama Film)

    • MÁRTA MÉSZÁROS – PORTRAIT EINER UNGARISCHEN FILMREGISSEURIN by Katja Raganelli (Diorama Film)

    • NICHT MANN, NICHT FRAU, NUR RABE by Katja Raganelli (Diorama Film)

    • VALIE EXPORT – PORTRAIT EINER FILMREGISSEURIN by Katja Raganelli (Diorama Film)

    • VIELLEICHT BIN ICH WIRKLICH EINE ZAUBERIN – FILMREGISSEURIN MAI ZETTERLING UND IHRE FILME by Katja Raganelli (Diorama Film)

  • 41 Sundance, Utah, Jan 23 - Feb 2, 2025

    The 41st Sundance Film Festival took place from January 23 to February 2, 2025 in the cities of Park City and Salt Lake City in the US state ...

    The 41st Sundance Film Festival took place from January 23 to February 2, 2025 in the cities of Park City and Salt Lake City in the US state of Utah. It is considered the most important US festival for independent film.


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions:



    • CUTTING THROUGH ROCKS by Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni (IR/DE/US/NL/QA/CL/CA, Inselfilm)

    • KHARTOUM by Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy Ahmad, Timeea Mohamed Ahmed, Phil Cox (SD/UK/DE/QA)

    • MR. NOBODY AGAINST PUTIN [FKA PUTIN’S CLASSROOM by David Borenstein, Pasha Talankin (DK/CZ/UK/DE)

  • 61 GRIMME PRIZE 2025

    ...and the winners are: EINHUNDERTVIER, EXILE NEVER ENDS, TOTAL TRUST in the category Information & culture as well as SISTERQUEENS in the ...

    ...and the winners are:


    EINHUNDERTVIER, EXILE NEVER ENDS, TOTAL TRUST in the category Information & culture as well as SISTERQUEENS in the children & youth cartegory. SEVEN WINTERS IN TEHERAN awarded by the Student Jury.


    The award ceremony for the 61st GRIMME PRIZE will take place April 4, 2025 at the THEATER MARL, Am Theater 1, 45768 Marl and will be broadcast on 3sat with a time delay from 10:25 pm.


     


     



    GRIMME PRIZE WINNERS



     


     



     


     GRIMME PREIS is the German equivalent of the Emmys. Only movies that have been broadcasted by a public or private TVstation or provided in the internet in Germany can be nominated or awarded. Therefore some of the nominated documentaries for Grimme Preis 2024 you'll knew from former edtions of our catalogue, because they have been shown at festivals and German cinemas for about two years, the common usage of the retention period for coproductions with TVstations before broadcasted in German speaking territories.


    The winners are announced March 6, 2025, source:  __sorry German only__


     


    In the Children & Youth category, “Sisterqueens” (Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg for ZDF/ZDF - Das kleine Fernsehspiel) is the first time since the category was introduced that a feature-length documentary has been awarded in the children's program category.  



     


     


     among the nominees GRIMME PREIS INFORMATION & KULTUR 2025 are:



     browse all nominees 2025 here.


     


     


    as single page
    61 GRIMME PRIZE 2025
    60 GRIMME PRIZE 2024
    59 GRIMME PRIZE 2023
    58 GRIMME PRIZE 2022
    57 GRIMME PRIZE 2021 • 


     


     

  • 75 BERLINALE, February 13-23, 2025

          THE MOELLN LETTERS | DIE MÖLLNER BRIEFE by Martina Priessner awarded with the Panorama Audience Award and the Amnasty-Filmprize-Berlinale ...

     


     


     


    THE MOELLN LETTERS | DIE MÖLLNER BRIEFE by Martina Priessner awarded with the Panorama Audience Award and the Amnasty-Filmprize-Berlinale 2025 by the jury around actress Florence Kasumba and director Soleen Yusef and Myriam Vitovec: "...Using the classic means of documentary filmmaking, the film about this special story has an enormous impact. The artistic decision to show the letters and have some of them read aloud by the letter writers unleashes a great narrative power: self-painted pictures by children, poems and the sentence “I am ashamed to be a German” – all of this is touching. The empathetic language of the letters in contrast to the violent attacks is striking when they are written about 'fellow human beings' or 'fellow citizens', about ‘togetherness’ instead of 'migrants'...." Browse the full statement of the jury —German only— here.


    The Amnasty-Filmprize-Berlinale jury as well as the Panorama Audience also awarded with a Special Mention the documentary KHARTOUM by Anas Saeed, Rawia Alhag, Ibrahim Snoopy, Timeea M Ahmed, Phil Cox, who are also the winners of the PEACE FILM PRIZE with the jury statement: "The documentary KHARTOUM follows five people in the Sudanese capital as they go about their daily lives in a burgeoning democracy. When war breaks out in April 2023, it is impossible to continue filming on location. The filmmakers decide to flee and also help the protagonists to flee. In exile, the five re-enact their traumatic war experiences in a confined space and encourage each other to keep pursuing their dreams. The skillful combination of documentary material and fictional elements creates images that are emotionally moving and at the same time make visible the processes of coming to terms with the past. Khartoum strikes a unique balance between political urgency and poetry. The film is a plea for the healing power of sharing stories. In doing so, it creates a hopeful outlook for the future and for building peace."


     


    The TEDDY AWARD for the best queer documentary film of the festival goes to SANTANIC SOW | SATANISCHE SAU by Rosa von Praunheim with the jury statement: "A filmmaker awaits death but sees no need to tidy up the apartment beforehand. The summary of a life unfolds not as monologue but as pagan ritual, performed with an alter ego through shared experiences. Their almost paroxysmal, incessant creative production is fueled by a lifetime of queer encounters with death: HIV, murder threats, and finally, old age – with sex and filmmaking emerging as antidotes to disappearance, silence, and untouchability. The jury honors this document of vitality that refuses closure, make-up, or cinematic coherence..."


     


    The HEINER CAROW PRIZE for the promotion of German cinematic art is awarded to PALLIATIV CARE UNIT | PALLIATIVSTATION by Philipp Döring. Jury statement: "With death in sight, the human condition becomes the focus of this film. Everyday life in a clinic for terminally ill patients is observed sensitively and clearly. Together with the ward staff and the dying, the audience is confronted with existential questions and reminded of what is essential in life: listening, comforting, sincerely being there for each other –  in the face of this film, it is basically inconceivable that we live in such hateful times. PALLIATIVSTATION is deeply humanistic and shows the indispensable importance of empathy, which we actually all have within us. The most precious commodity is time. This movie shows how valuable it is. It is a quiet but deeply moving homage to life, which also includes dying." Source DEFA Stiftung.


     



     


    premiering a total number of 19 German productions and co-productions documentary form, as well as THREE STONES FOR JEAN GENET with Patti Smith by Frieder Schlaich ©2014, produced by Filmgalerie 451 as Berlinale Shorts Special.


     


     


    The 75th edition of the Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin is showcasing German productions and co-productions documentary form such as:



     


     


     FORUM:


    The 55th Forum main program comprises 30 films from five continents – including seven feature debuts – and encounters a world and its people that are not in good shape. “Sounding out a diverse range of cinematic forms, the Forum shows contemporary cinema that moves beyond the cult and the commercial – giving off sparks of humanity, interrogating the status quo and functioning as a seismograph of our time”, said section head Barbara Wurm.
    Film titles become indicators of time here, among them Stefan Hayn’s 2024 (2023) places the political Berlin and the private Bavaria within the two respective frames he makes for himself as a painter of his surroundings: that of the film shot and that of the painting shown in it.
    more information here:


    PANORAMA:


    In the international documentaries, Panorama catches a glimpse of the faded but still present ghosts of a fallen dictatorship via archive footage in UNDER THE FLAGS, THE SUN | BAJO LAS BANDERAS, EL SOL while BEDROCKS looks at ten Holocaust memorials and reflects on the power of remembering and the threat posed by forgetting.
    Likewise set in Poland, LETTERS FROM WOLF STREET | LISTY Z WILCZEJ observes personal and political developments on the titular Wilcza Street in Warsaw through the lens of director Arjun Talwar. In her documentary collaboration Yalla Parkour with the young freerunner Ahmed and his friends in Gaza, director Areeb Zuaiter deals with memory, homesickness, living conditions and everyday life before the start of the current war.


    In 2025, queer cinema bares its claws and reveals a sense of adventure. From the classic artist portrait of MONK IN PIECES .... browse more information here.


    The Berlinale’s queer film prize is on the verge of celebrating a big anniversary: on February 21, a three-person jury will be presenting the coveted TEDDY AWARD for the 39th time. As is tradition, queer cinema will be celebrated with a lavish party at Berlin’s Volksbühne. And none other than this year’s Jury President of the Berlinale, Todd Haynes, will be honoured with the 2025 SPECIAL TEDDY for his lifetime achievement.
    Browse all prizes and juries here.


     


    as single page
    75 BERLINALE 2025  
    74 BERLINALE 2024 
    73 BERLINALE 2023
    72 BERLINALE 2022 
    71 BERLINALE 2021  
    • 70 BERLINALE 2020
    69 BERLINALE 2019 
    68 BERLINALE 2018   

  • 7 FIPADOC, Biarritz, Jan 24 - Feb 1, 2025

    The 7th edition of FIPADOC in Biarritz is taking place from january 24th - february 1st and showcases about 180 films in 9 different categories.  ...

    The 7th edition of FIPADOC in Biarritz is taking place from january 24th - february 1st and showcases about 180 films in 9 different categories. 


    This years festival also offeres a diverse supporting program with over 250 screenings and numerous encounters between filmmakers and audiences. In 2025, special emphasis is placed on the topic of “Ocean” in the context of the Year of the Seas and beyond that focusses on a series of films about the Balkan states.


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:


    THE CORRIDORS OF POWER by Dror Moreh (IL/FR/DE)


    KASH KASH - WITHOUT FEATHERS WE CAN´T LIVE by Lea Najjar (DE/LB/QA)


    SAVOY by Zohar Wagner (IL/DE/FR)


    VOY by Kilian Armando Friedrich


    THE SILENCE OF 600 MILLION RESULTS by Sophie Lahusen

  • 46 FF Max Ophuels Preis, January 20–26, 2025

      #46ffmop   YUMI – THE WHOLE WORLD by Felix Golenko, 89min, produced by MSZ Production & Consulting, awarded with the AUDIENCE AWARD ...

     



    #46ffmop

     


    YUMI – THE WHOLE WORLD by Felix Golenko, 89min, produced by MSZ Production & Consulting, awarded with the AUDIENCE AWARD endowed with 5,000 Euros by Dillinger and Saarstahl.


    Eleven documentaries from DACH countries – including seven German productions and co-productions – have been competing for four prizes such as:



    • MAX OPHÜLS PRIZE: BEST DOCUMENTARY, endowed with 7,500 Euros, which is provided by the Max Ophüls Preis film festival

    • MAX OPHÜLS PRIZE: BEST FILM MUSIC, endowed with 5,000 Euros, which is offered by Saarland Medien GmbH and endowed by the Strecker Foundation.

    • MAX OPHÜLS PRIZE: AUDIENCE AWARD DOCUMENTARY is endowed with 5,000 Euros by Dillinger and Saarstahl. The prize is awarded to a film from the documentary film competition by a vote of the festival audience.

    • MAX OPHÜLS PRIZE: FILM CRITICS' AWARD (non-endowed) is decided by a three-member jury made up of film critics' associations from Germany (BVMJ and VdFk), Austria (Austrian Film Critics' Guild) and Switzerland (SVFJ).


    The Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis is considered the most important newcomer film festival in the German-speaking world, giving voice to and presenting the works of new talents from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The documentary competition is open to first, second and third works by young German-speaking directors with a length of 65 minutes or more. Only world premieres and German premieres will be considered.


     


    German productions and co-productions in the DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION are:



    • DEATH IS AN ASSHOLE | DER TOD IST EIN ARSCHLOCH by Michael Schwarz, 79min, P: nachtschwärmerfilm, D: mindjazz pictures, [Competition]

    • GOD'S OTHER PLAN by Moritz Müller-Preißer, 79min, P: kinescopefilm, HFF Munich, [Competition]

    • NIGHT OF THE COYOTES by Clara Trischler, 82min, P:
      Horse&Fruits Filmproduktion, Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF [Competition]

    • OUT OF SIGHT | BÜRGLKOPF by Lisa Polster, 78min, WS: sixpackfilm, [Competition]

    • RATIONALLY ENRAGED | MENSCH, ÄRGERE DICH! by Franziska Brozio, 87min, P: Apollonia Film GmbH, HFF Munich, [Competition]

    • WOLKEN ÜBER LÜTZERATH by Lukas Reiter, 110min, P: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Transparent Film, [Competition]

    • YUMI – THE WHOLE WORLD by Felix Golenko, 89min, P: MSZ Production & Consulting, [Competition]


     


    as single page:


    46 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2025
    45 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2024
    44 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2023
    43 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2022
    42 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2021
    41 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2020
    40 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2019 •

  • 37 IDFA November 13–24, 2024 at Amsterdam

    The Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award went to Farahnaz Sharifi for MY STOLEN PLANET and the Special Mention in the IDFA Competition for ...

    The Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award went to Farahnaz Sharifi for MY STOLEN PLANET and the Special Mention in the IDFA Competition for Short Documentary goes to MAMA MICRA by Rebecca Blöcher. “The filmmaker’s personal and family story, particularly her mother’s life, unfolds through a narrative enriched by diverse animation techniques. These vividly reimagined moments beyond old photographs bring untold realities to life. Themes of personal freedom, aging, and abandonment are poignantly explored, forging a deep emotional connection with viewers. Through the visual magic of animation, the filmmaker delicately portrays her inner world, preserving the bonds of affection and memory, even in the face of absence.” statement of the jury members Eroll Bilibani, Monica Taboada-Tapia, and Darunee Terdtoontaveedejm.



     Pathé City Kino, Amsterdam 
     Worlpremiere of MAMA MICRA

     

     


     


    The Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award went to Farahnaz Sharifi for MY STOLEN PLANET | SAYYAREYE DOZDIDE SHODEYE MAN. The award is accompanied by a €5,000 cash prize. The jury members were Qutaiba Barhamji, Fredrik Gertten, and Oksana Sarkisova: "The jury would like to award a film that uses archives in a sensitive and creative way to tell a moving personal story that is both a singular and a shared, generational experience. The film reflexively explores the unique ability of private images to preserve untold histories, giving voice to those who are attempted to be fully silenced by oppressive political forces and safeguarding the traces of radically shattered private universes. Saving the dispersed, orphaned family archives, the filmmaker rediscovers the traces of the past and allows us travel between beauty and pain, sending a message that resistance and shared joy give life a meaning. With a delicate balance of personal memory and collective struggle, it is a poignant exploration of identity, defiance, and the reclaiming of narrative. The Beeld & Geluid IDFA ReFrame Award goes to My Stolen Planet by Farahnaz Sharifi."


     


     



      


    The Danish/German/US co-production ABOUT A HERO by Piotr Winiewicz is an adaptation of a script written by an AI trained on Herzog’s body of work and the opening film of the 37th edition of IDFA. The fictional narrative is produced, ironically self-reflective, is intertwined with a series of interviews with artists, philosophers and scientists reflecting on the notion of originality, authenticity, immortality, and the soul in the age of AI. 
    The film presents a bold exploration into largely uncharted territories of artificial intelligence—reflecting on questions of authenticity and our understanding of what is real. With Werner Herzog's permission, Winiewicz sets out to challenge Herzog's assertion that "a computer won't be able to create a film as good as mine for at least another 4,500 years." In a tantalizing experiment, Winiewicz trained an AI-system on Herzog's oeuvre and asked it to generate a screenplay. The result is a disturbing search for the soul—of human beings and of creative work. ABOUT A HERO has been selected for the International Competition. In the early stages of development, the project was supported by the IDFA DocLab R&D Program.


     


     



     IDFA 2024, November 13–24


     


     


    LineUp of productions with German participation:



     


     



    German Documentaries Representative is Julia Teichmann Head of Documentary Marketing & Subtitling Support, German Films GmbH.  

     


    During IDFA 2024, Docs for Sale returns to the central markets location of Felix Meritis. Film entries period started June 10 and closed September 9, 2024. Additional to documentaries showcased in the programme of the festival the Docs for Sale 2024/2025 catalogue includes German productions and co-productions such as:



     


     


     



     Stay tuned!


     


    The 32nd edition of the festival's co-production and co-financing market unveils an exceptional line-up of 55 projects, including 7 with German participation, from among 820 entries, welcoming both established filmmakers and new voices to the international stage. This year's selection is dominated by women filmmakers across all formats, including the Forum Pitch, Producer Connection, Rough Cut Presentations, and IDFA DocLab Forum. Production countries span all continents, with Europe taking the lead, followed by Asia, the Americas, and Africa.


    The selected projects with German participation are [so far]:



    • BEYOND? by Yango González, P: Yango González (Germany) [IDFA DocLab Forum]
      The belief in life after death and the assumption that consciousness depends solely on the brain share a common trait: neither has been scientifically proven.

    • BURNING DADDY by Tana Gilbert, P: Paola Castillo/Errante (Chile), Dirk Manthey/Dirk Manthey Film (Germany, [Forum Pitch]
      Camila and her family reconstruct their father's image through old photographs and legal archives, navigating memories of his troubled past marked by violence and cheating.

    • DO YOU LOVE ME by Lana Daher, P: Jean-Laurent Csinidis/Films de Force Majeure (France), Lana Daher/My Little Films (Lebanon), Jasper Mielke/Wood Water Films (Germany) [Rough Cut Presentations]
      The film is an archival journey through Beirut. Using mainly Lebanese cinema from the 50’s to today, it weaves together past & present to explore Lebanon’s current status and psyche.

    • THE ETERNAL SOLDIER by Aleksandar Nikolic, P: Miloš Ivanovic/Set Sail Films (Serbia), Friedemann Hottenbacher/Inselfilm Produktion (Germany), Monica Lazurean-Gorgan/Manifest Film (Romania), Jure Pavlovic/Sekvenca (Croatia), Mandy Chang/Undeniable Productions (United Kingdom) [Rough Cut Presentations]
      Archive footage of soldiers, drawn from different times and places, is edited together into an epic story of The Soldier, a timeless character who keeps rising from his grave to fight in yet another war. Through his story, the film provides a poetic exploration of human nature and our addiction to war.

    • HOME MOVIE by Anu Czerwinski, prod. Anna Stylinska, Katarzyna Slesicka/My Way Studio (Poland), co-prod. Alex Tondowski/Tondowski Films (Germany) [Forum Pitch]
      Anu is a transmasculine director. But when he visits his family he shaves off mustache and plays the role of beloved daughter and sister, Anna. By filming his family he hopes to overcome the fear of coming-out, longing to restore authentic ties.

    • QUEEN OF STONE AGE by David Bernet, P: Sarah Born/Catpics (Switzerland), Katharina Bergfeld/Ma.ja.de. Filmproduktions (Germany), Rajko Jazbec/Catpics, Dario Schoch/Catpics [Forum Pitch]
      A road movie through the European Stone Age and the present day with star archaeologist Bettina Schulz-Paulsson - between scientific meticulousness and political discourse, between family madness and the tangible dream of being able to retell the history of Europe.

    • TO THE OTHER SIDE... by Oliver Czeslik, P: Kathrin Brunner/mYndstorm productions (Germany) [IDFA DocLab Forum]
      Through an artistically and analytically curated combination of BCI and the latest generative AI, a live installation is created from my archive and symphony of memories.


      


     


     


    as single page
    IDFA 2024
    IDFA 2023
    IDFA 2022
    IDFA 2021
    IDFA 2020
    IDFA 2019
    IDFA 2018
    IDFA 2017


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  • 15 DOC NYC Nov 13 – Dec 1, 2024

                is showcasing nine feature-lenght documentaries with German participation, and two shorts in the Main Slate, as well as HOLLYWOODGATE ...

     



     


     


     



     

     


    is showcasing nine feature-lenght documentaries with German participation, and two shorts in the Main Slate, as well as HOLLYWOODGATE in the section Winners's Circle.


    The 15 DOC NYC will screen more than 110 feature-length documentaries, dozens of short films and special events programming, with filmmakers expected in person at most screenings. The festival venues include IFC Center, SVA Theatre, and Village East by Angelika.


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



    ••••••• Explore the full LineUp here ••••••••


     


     


    DOC NYC, America’s largest documentary festival, is an annual event based in Manhattan at the IFC Center and other venues. Voted by MovieMaker magazine as one of the top five coolest documentary film festivals in the world, the nineteen-day event showcases new achievements in documentary film along with panels and conversations with acclaimed filmmakers and industry professionals. DOC NYC seeks to make connections that happen "only in New York." Filmmakers whose projects are selected to screen at DOC NYC will receive festival badges providing rush access to all regular films as well as to DOC NYC PRO panel programming. 


    DOC NYC gives strong programming priority to World or U.S. premieres for feature films, but the minimum status to participate in the festival for both features and shorts is a New York City (5 Boroughs) premiere. The only exceptions to the NYC premiere policy are for films playing in the Short List or Winner’s Circle sections- these do not require any type of premiere status.


     


     


     


    as single page
    15 DOC NYC 2024
    14 DOC NYC 2023


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  • 27 RIDM Nov 21 – Dec 1, 2024 at Montreal

       SOUS LE SOLEIL EXACTEMENT by Noa Blanche Beschorner awarded with SPECIAL JURY PRIZE FOR NATIONAL SHORT OR MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM presented by ...

     



     SOUS LE SOLEIL EXACTEMENT by Noa Blanche Beschorner awarded with SPECIAL JURY PRIZE FOR NATIONAL SHORT OR MEDIUM-LENGTH FILM presented by Paraloeil

     


     


     


     


     


    With opening film, the Swiss/German production PREPARATIONS FOR A MIRACLE by Tobias Nölle at the 27th edition of the RIDM from November 20 to December 1, no fewer than 146 documentary films from diverse horizons and a host of activities will be on offer.

    The New Visions competition, originally dedicated to the first feature films by Quebec and Canadian filmmakers, this year the competition will welcome films from around the world, further strengthening the international focus of the RIDM, including TONGO SAA – RISING UP AT NIGHT by Nelson Makengo (Congo, Belgium, Germany, Burkina Faso)


     


     



    27 RIDM Nov 21 – Dec 1, 2024 at Montreal 

     


     


     LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     


    Download the program of 27 RDM as PDF here.


     


     



     20 Forum RIDM


     


    The Bavarian participants of this year's edition of the international Bavaria-Quebec Doc CoPro programme, DOK.forum and Forum RIDM’s successful collaboration to strengthen the exchange between our respective local industries. This initiative has been made possible thanks to the investment of the Bayerische Staatskanzlei and the Ministère de la Culture et des Communications within the framework of the Quebec-Bavaria Cooperation.


    Filmmaker Christian Wittmoser and producer Moritz Bundschuh (Kick Film) will present their documentary project in development BANGKOK NOX at the DocLab in Montreal and will take part in a closed circuit of workshops, masterclasses and discussions on documentary creation and production.


    Project infos BANGKOK NOX:
    Bangkok is sinking. In the course of a single, poetic night, Bangkok and its residents are confronted with the grim prognosis that the city on the Gulf of Thailand will be under water in a few decades. Is it possible to live a normal life when the destruction of your own city is inevitable?


    The Bavarian delegation will be completed by the producer Emanuel Rotstein, Head of Documentaries at Icon Docs (Bavaria Fiction). He will be one of the international industry representatives at Forum RIDM’s One-on-One pitches. Emanuel Rotstein is a multiple award-winning author and producer who currently oversees all non-fiction output at Bavaria Fiction. Previously, he served as the Senior Director of Programming at A+E Networks Germany, overseeing channels like The History Channel and Crime + Investigation. 


     


    as single page:
    27 RIDM 2024
    26 RIDM 2023
    25 RIDM 2022


     


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  • 65 Festival dei Popoli, Nov 2-10 at Florence

        BOGANCLOCH by Ben Rivers awarde with Second Prize Best Feature Film by the Internationl Competiton Jury. CITY MUSEUM by Boris Dewjatkin ...

     



     


    BOGANCLOCH by Ben Rivers awarde with Second Prize Best Feature Film by the Internationl Competiton Jury. CITY MUSEUM by Boris Dewjatkin awarded with Special Mention by the Discoveries International Jury.


     



     Special Mention Discoveries Competition Prize

    CITY MUSEUM by Boris Dewjatkin

     ‘The jury would like to recognise an exploratory work by a young filmmaker, rich in philosophy, politics and ideas about the form of contemporary cinema and urban spaces.’


     


     



     Second Prize Best Feature Film

    BOGANCLOCH by Ben Rivers 

     'A film with an extraordinary ability to reveal the intimacy of a man's everyday life, immersed in his surroundings, whether pre-existing or constructed by himself. It succeeds in poetically and realistically capturing the essence of the human experience, inviting us to empathise deeply with the protagonist and making us experience a total harmony between man and nature’.


     


     


     


    Democracies at risk around the world, the courage of women fighters, and dreams of another possible future in 90 films at the 65FDP. Among them six productions with German participation.


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



       


    65° Festival dei Popoli sections
    Download 65FDP programme as PDF


     


     


     


     


     


    A woman wanders through the streets of Florence: she is an explorer from a faraway place and she comes to meet the festival audience. Who is she and where does she come from? What message does she bring with her?



     


    She is the protagonist of the poster for the 65th edition of the Festival dei Popoli (from 2 to 10 November in Florence), a pioneer from the future, an innovator walking the streets of Florence. The image created with the aid of generative artificial intelligence software is inspired by the great themes of the moment: between global fears and new local solutions, the word goes back to the cinema.


     


     


    as single page:
    FDP65 2024#FdP65
    FDP64 2023FB

  • 67 DOK Leipzig, Oct 28 – Nov 3, 2024

          THE FAMILY APPROACH by Daniel Abma, MORIA SIX by Jennifer Mallmann, SISTERQUEENS by Clara Stella Hünek, THE KING OF SPAIN by Leonard ...

     



     


     


    THE FAMILY APPROACH by Daniel Abma, MORIA SIX by Jennifer Mallmann, SISTERQUEENS by Clara Stella Hünek, THE KING OF SPAIN by Leonard Volkmer, TARANTISM REVISITED by Anja Dreschke are the awarded German documentary productions and co-productions of the 67th edition of the Internationales Leipziger Festival für Dokumentar- und Animationsfilm. For more information scroll down to the LineUp.


     


    Record attendance at DOK Leipzig 2024


    The 67th edition of the documentary and animated film festival DOK Leipzig was exceptionally well received by audiences and members of the film industry. The festival drew a total of 55,000 filmgoers this year – more than ever before. Last year, the festival welcomed 45,500 filmgoers. The previous record (48,000) was set in 2019, the year before the pandemic.


    "DOK Leipzig 2024 drew well over two thousand accredited professionals, who boosted attendance at the festival cinemas and noticeably increased the popularity of the industry events," explains Festival Director Christoph Terhechte. "But it's undeniable that sales of individual and season tickets were up as well, enabling lively discussions in sold-out cinemas and memorable feedback for the numerous filmmakers who came here from all over the world. This is a good sign for cinema screenings of documentaries and animated films."


    The films in the Audience Competition, the short film reels and the feature-length animated films were particularly well received, and the high attendance figures for events such as the Animation Night, the Interactive Cinema at DOK Neuland and Animation Perspectives were satisfying. The free screenings at Leipzig Central Station were also particularly well attended. The DOK Neuland XR exhibition drew 2,500 visitors, more than twice as many as in the previous year.


    At DOK Industry, keen interest was observed in the two-day DOK Exchange XR programme on interactive and immersive storytelling, as was an increase of one-on-one meetings at the DOK Co-Pro Market. The further events for networking and expanding knowledge with a focus on animation were also very well received.


    DOK Leipzig 2024 presented 209 films and extended reality works from 55 countries over seven days. The seven Golden Doves and two Silver Doves as well as a number of partnership awards were presented on the Saturday of the festival.


    The 68th edition of the festival will be held from 27 October to 2 November 2025.


     


     



     


    This year, 73 feature-length and short films, including 33 world premieres, are competing for the Golden and Silver Doves. The International Competition Documentary Film is presenting eight feature-length films from Argentina, France, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Mexico, the United States and Colombia. The festival is showcasing a total number of 209 films. 


    67 DOK Leipzig 2024 to open with TRACING LIGHT by Thomas Riedelsheimer
    This documentary looks at the phenomenon of light, bringing together scientific insights and artistic perspectives. Since 2018, Riedelsheimer has overseen dok.art, a programme he devised to develop content for documentaries by first-time directors. He will discuss the programme in a master class at the Ex Oriente Workshop at DOK Leipzig. 


    The German Competition Documentary Film brings together nine feature-length documentary films, all of them world premieres. In addition to Thomas Riedelsheimer TRACING LIGHT, director Daniel Abma is also returning to the festival with his latest film. THE FAMILY APPROACH | IM PRINZIP FAMILIE observes a community of young people in the care of social workers and how they relate to them. THE VAGABOND'S GARDEN | LICHTER DER STRASSE by Anna Friedrich reveals what a nomadic life in Germany entails. BARBARA MORGENSTERN – DOING IT FOR LOVE | BARBARA MORGENSTERN UND DIE LIEBE ZU SACHE by Sabine Herpich accompanies the titular singer and composer during the production of her latest album. In GAME CHANGERS | SPIELERINNEN, Aysun Bademsoy returns to her former protagonists, female Turkish-German footballers in Berlin. TARANTISM REVISITED by Anja Dreschke and Michaela Schäuble and ABODE OF DAWN | SONNENSTADT by Kristina Shtubert look at various forms of religion and spirituality. MORIA SIX by Jennifer Mallmann deals with EU migration policy by reflecting on the fire in the refugee camp on Lesbos. And in TRUTH OR DARE by Maja Classen, the protagonists explore sex-positive interactions and talk about lust and personal boundaries. 


    67 DOK Leizig makes documentarist Thomas Heise’s (1955–2024) voice heard. It survives its owner: in IRON AGE | EISENZEIT and BARLUSCHKE, both of which won awards in Leipzig, and in the monumental HEIMAT IS A SPACE IN TIME | HEIMAT IST EIN RAUM AUS ZEIT film with which his filmography ends. His voice still resonates: permeable to old and new German presents, between whose fragments it searches for a foothold and a stance. 


     


     



     


      


     Line up German documentary productions and co-productions:



     Explore all 209 films and XR works at 67 DOK Leipzig 2024 here.


     


     


     


     



    INDUSTRY


    The Industry Programme also comprises a number of events, organised by DOK Leipzig’s trusted partners. AG DOK will present their new mentoring initiative and reflect on the use of AI in documentaries during the respective panels (held in German). ARD will host speed meetings for serial storytellers and hold their TopDocs finale, where the five finalists for 2024 will showcase their projects. AG Animationsfilm will run a panel, ‘Twentysomething – The Shift to Medium Length Film in Animation’, focusing on the emerging trend toward longer formats in animation films, along with the possibilities and challenges that arise from this shift, which affect the way these films are financed, produced, and distributed.


     




    Every year, about 1,600 film industry professionals come to Leipzig to participate in over 50 events under the umbrella of DOK Industry. Browse the TIMETABLE here.


     


    DOK Co-Pro Market 2024 selects 35 Projects 
    The 20th edition of the DOK Co-Pro Market welcomes 35 documentary projects from 30 countries, including 6 German co-productions that will have the opportunity to find international financing and co-production partners. This year sees a further increase in the number of entries, totalling 366 projects. 
    The 20th edition continues to see immense international interest from beyond the European borders, welcoming this October directors and producers from the US, five countries from Central and South America, five Asian countries, and five African countries. The DOK Co-Pro Market 2024 is set to take place from 28 October 28–29 at Leipzig, with complementary online meetings on November 5, 2024.  



    • FROM HERE by Philipp Diettrich, Sara Woldeslassie, P: PINKY SWEAR FILM, Germany

    • THE LAND WE BREATHE by Manuel Inacker, P: Restart, Germany, Croatia

    • LETTERS by Andrei Kutsila, P: DocEdu Foundation, DOCDAYS Productions, Poland, Germany

    • MY DAD'S A FARMER by El Kheyer Zidani, P: Z§K Production, jip Film & Verleih, Poland, Germany,

    • OH, HEART DON'T BE AFRAID by Ana Kvichidze, P: Moonbow Production, parabellum film, Georgia, Germany, awarded with Saxon Prize for the best documentary film project by a female director.

    • SITTING THE MONTH by Marita Stocker, P: eikon media, Germany


     


     


    DOK Short n’ Sweet .
    is a short film pitch focusing on the financing and distribution of short documentary, animated documentary and animated films as well as series. DOK Short n’ Sweet spotlights eight new exciting short film projects in diverse stages of production. A panel of international buyers, distributors and programmers share feedback and ask questions to increase the projects’ potential and unlock financing opportunities. Among the selected projects are two German productions, such as



     


     


    Generation Ukraine is an initiative by the ARTE group aimed at supporting the Ukrainian filmmaking industry by co-producing 12 documentaries that explore the Ukrainian reality from the inside, telling the effects of the war on the people, land, bodies and souls. It’s also about creating a strong ecosystem with partners such as DAE – Documentary Association of Europe, Doc Society, Ukrainian Institute, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc. The collection is the result of a collaboration between ARTE France, ARTE G.E.I.E, ZDF/ARTE, MDR/ARTE, SWR/ARTE, BR/ARTE and RBB/ARTE. #StandWithUkraine
    [source PR Sept 24]


    At DOK Industry 2023, DOK Leipzig presented the initiative and showcased six of the projects in presence of the creative teams. Among the six selected projects are three German co-productions with the working titles:



    • THE BLESSED – ARTIST AT WAR by Andrii Lysetskyi, 75min or 52min, produced by Olha Beskhmelnytsina, Gennady Kofman (MaGiKa Film, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Uldis Cekulis (VFS Films, Latvia), Erik Winker (CORSO Film, Germany) [Generation Ukraine, DOK Industry Talk]

    • SILENT FLOOD by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, produced by Karina Kostyna (TABOR, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer (Elemag Pictures, Germany)

    • WOMEN OCCUPIED by Tetiana Hanza, Zoia Volk, produced by Oksana Ivantsiv, Regina Maryanovska Davidzon (Real Pictures, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Zoia Volk (ZOVA Films, Germany)


     


     


    DOK Preview Germany is is a launch pad for works-in-progress projects and freshly completed German documentary films seeking world premiere and international distribution opportunities. [FB]
    DOK Preview Germany showcases German feature-length documentaries ready to enter the international market. The teams present their projects to international buyers, commissioning editors, world sales, festival curators and distributors looking for outstanding films to offer their audiences. With the project presentation and subsequent opportunity for networking and exchange, we want to support the selected projects on their journey to international distribution and create new working ties. 2024 project selection for DOK Preview Germany wil be announced on Oct 1,2024. The event wil be moderated by Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer and Zeynep Güzel.


    DOK Preview Germany takes place on Monday, October 28, 2024, 3:30 p.m. as part of DOK Industry. The venue is located in Leipzig’s city centre with festival cinemas and the festival centre within walking distance at Nonnenmühlgasse 2,  St. Trinitatis, Leipzig. Access by invitation only. Livestream accessible for all accredited guests. Presented by Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer and Zeynep Güzel.
    Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer is an EAVE producers workshop-alumna, has represented Germany as a European Producer on the Move in 2020 and is a member of EWA, DAE, Produzentenverband, AG DOK, the German and European Film Academy.
    Zeynep Güzel is ia filmmaker, consultant and the head of Doc Station at Berlinale Talents and works as consultant on storytelling, grant writing, pitching and co-financing strategies including the Doc Toolbox program at Berlinale EFM, DOK Leipzig Industry and East Doc Platform. 


     


    Selection DOK Preview Germany:



    • CURTAINS by Alina Cyranek, P: hug films, awarded with D-Facto Motion Works-in-Progress Prize.

    • LIGHTS (WT) by Mila Teshaieva, Marcus Lenz, P: wildfilms,
      Beginning with the liberation of Bucha and following five characters as they navigate their life through conflicts, trauma, and hopes, the film tells a story of transformations of the nation shaped by war.

    • THE MOELLN LETTERS by Martina Priessner, P: inselfilm produktion,

    • SIHANOUKVILLE 2566 OR IN CASE I COMPLETELY DISAPPEAR by Selina Becker, P: Rosenpictures Filmproduktion,

    • SPRING IN KANGIQSUALUJJUAQ by Marie Zrenner, P: Leykauf Film in cooperation with HFF Munich,

    • WHY WE PLAY – ENSEMBLE MODERN by Thorsten Schütte, 90min, P: Ama Film,
      WHY WE PLAY is the first full-length documentary about the work of one of the world's best international music collectives, Ensemble Modern. The film is a sensory voyage of discovery. It provides a better understanding of the creation and meaning of contemporary music in the context of our time. It presents the audience with the motives, struggles and motivations of the musicians and composers who bring this musical organism to life.

    • For more information, please contact the producers.


     


     


    The DOK Archive Market Talk Archive Producers: What’s Next? Discussing the Trends and Developments From the Inside will examine current industry developments and what the future holds for archive producing, particularly in light of the rising use of AI in this work. Archive producer and founder of GRAP e.V. (German Researchers and Archive Producers) Monika Preischl will be in conversation with Canadian archive producer Elizabeth Klinck.


     


     


     


     



     Two Events organized by AG DOK – German only


    SAVE THE DATE Monday, 28.10.2024 at 1 pm, Nonnenmühlgasse 2,  St. Trinitatis, Leipzig. The event will be hold in German.


    Branchen-Einstieg im Branchen-Umbruch
    Perspektiven für junge Dokumentarfilmschaffend

    Industry entry in the industry upheaval - perspectives for young documentary filmmakers – AG DOK and futurDOK discuss the conditions for starting a career and launch mentoring program


    Rarely have documentary films been more important than in these challenging times. At the same time, production conditions are in a structural crisis. Public broadcasters are withdrawing from long-form documentaries, cinema is struggling with a loss of significance and rapid technological innovations are profoundly changing filmmaking. In light of these upheavals, starting a career has also become more challenging. Together with experts and up-and-coming filmmakers, we will shed light on the current conditions for young filmmakers and ask how a successful career start can be achieved today. At the same time, the event marks the start of the AG DOK mentoring program, in which ten talents will be accompanied by experienced mentors for one year.



    • Keynote by co-chair of AG DOK Susanne Binninger, director, producer, professor at the Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf .

    • ModerationNele Dehnenkamp, author, director, futurDOK member

    • Moderation: Raphael Schanz, director, producer, futurDOK member.


     


     


     


    SAVE THE DATE Tuesday, 29.10.2024 at 11:30 am,Nonnenmühlgasse 2, St. Trinitatis, Leipzig.


    Dokumentarfilm & künstliche Intelligenz
    Paradoxer Widerspruch oder Chance für das Genre? 
    Documentary film & artificial intelligence – Paradoxical contradiction or opportunity for the genre?


    The support of artificial intelligence is now possible in all phases of the realization of a film: research, pre-production, shooting, post-production and marketing. The genre-specific binding references to pre-film reality pose particular challenges for documentary work. On the one hand, this involves specific aspects of copyright and personal rights and, on the other, the unwritten contract with the audience. What does the use of AI mean for the genre? Does the documentary film need a voluntary commitment or a code of conduct from the authors in order to maintain a basis of trust when using artificial intelligence? 



    • Moderation: Valentin Thurn / director and producer

    • Keynote: Artificial intelligence versus reality?
      Daniel Sponsel / Festival director DOK.fest München and filmmaker

    • Keynote: Overview and classification – AI in documentary film:
      Erec Brehmer / filmmaker and author

    • Keynote: AI in documentary film – Status of the rules at public broadcasters.
      Martin Paul, part of the Digital Information team at MDR SACHSEN-ANHALT

    • Keynote: Do we need a code of conduct? Pros and cons, with examples.
      Alice Agneskirchner / documentary filmmaker


     


     



     

     


     


     


    as single page:
    •  67 DOK Leipzig 2024
    •  66 DOK Leipzig 2023
    •  65 DOK Leipzig 2022
    •  64 DOK Leipzig 2021
    •  63 DOK Leipzig 2020
    •  62 DOK Leipzig 2019
    •  61 DOK Leipzig 2018 • 


     


    DOK Leipzig @ VIMEO
    DOK Leipzig @ FB
    DOK Leipzig @ INSTA


     


     

  • 28 Ji.hlava IDFF, Oct 25 – Nov 3, 2024

        Until November 17, viewers in the Czech Republic can enjoy a selection of over 150 films from the Ji.hlava online programme. The Ji.hlava ...

     


     


    Until November 17, viewers in the Czech Republic can enjoy a selection of over 150 films from the Ji.hlava online programme. The Ji.hlava online selection includes films in the competition programme including the winners, as well as titles from the retrospective sections. The 29th edition of Ji.hlava IDFF, is scheduled for October 24 – November 2, 2025.  


     


     


     



     


     


    28 Ji.hlava IDDF showcasing 340 films including 13 with German participation in the sections Constellations, Fascinations, Testimonies, Fascinations: Computing Film, as well as Short Joy.


    The programme of Ji.hlava shows the extraordinary power of documentary film. Documentary filmmakers replace the literalness of reality with playfulness and originality of thought. They show us the world as we could hardly see it ourselves – unless, like them, we would like to spend long years with a camera in those places,says Marek Hovorka, the festival's director. “Dialogue has been important to Ji.hlava since its beginning, so of course the screenings will be followed by talks. I am delighted that the audience will be able to meet many filmmakers in person, including Kirsten Johnson, Tsai Ming-liang, Roberto Minervini, Andrei Ujica and Albert Serra.


    Download the catalogue of 28 Ji.hlava as PDF here.


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     


     


     


    INDUSTRY PROGRAM 2024


    Ji.hlava New Visions Forum – pitching of 28 carefully selected upcoming project from Europe, United States, and East & Southeast Asia including the hybrid documentary WIND AND VIEW by Sheng-Hung Hsieh, 80min, Producer: Ina Hon / Maurane Cugny, (Taiwan, Japan, Germany), in Production.
    Ji.hlava New Visions Market – featuring 30 remarkable European projects in development, production and post-production
    Festival Identity – workshop and creative hub for film festival representatives
    Visegrad discussion – representatives of national film institutes sharing success stories and failures of films from the Central and East European region
    Matchmaking Accelerator – over 500 expected one-on-one meetings taking place during four busy industry days
    Emerging Producers 2025 – introduction of 18 up-and-coming European film producers  
    Czech Joy in the Spotlight – interactive presentation of new Czech documentary films
    • Discussions, masterclasses, presentations, and more.
     


    JNV Forum Selected Projects 2024 (PDF)


     


     


     


     


    as single page:
    28 Ji.hlava 2024
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  • 22 doclisboa, October 17-27, 2024

          showcasing 183 films from 55 countries – including 17 films with German participation –  28 world premieres, 19 international premieres ...

     


     



     


    showcasing 183 films from 55 countries – including 17 films with German participation –  28 world premieres, 19 international premieres and 30 Portuguese films, which together compose a portrait of contemporaneity and humanity, and of what surrounds, impassions and torments them both.  


     


     


     


     LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     


     


     


     


     


    as singel page:
    22 doclisboa 2024
    21 doclisboa 2023
    20 doclisboa 2022


     


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  • 41 Kassel Dokfest, Nov 12-17, 2024

          41 Kassel Dokfest     PROGRAM OVERVIEW of 41 Kassel Dokfest as PDF ready for download. The festival catalog will follow at the end of ...

     


     


     



    41 Kassel Dokfest


     


     


    PROGRAM OVERVIEW of 41 Kassel Dokfest as PDF ready for download. The festival catalog will follow at the end of October and will be available in Filmladen, the BALi Cinemas, and the Gloria Cinema, as well as online as a PDF. Stay tuned!


    The 41st Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival will take place, from November 12-17 on site and virtually as DokfestOnline until November 24, 2024. 59 feature-length films and 153 short films from 57 countries will be presented to a wide audience in Kassel's arthouse cinemas. Professional visitors, students and press representatives have the opportunity to apply for accreditation until November 4, 2024. Accreditation for the 41 Kassel Dokfest is possible in the service area of the festivals homepage.


     


    LineUp German productions with German participation a.o.



     


     


    The Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival is a yearly six-day event taking place in Mid-November, organizer is the Filmladen Kassel e.V.


    The film program, which includes short and feature documentary films and artistic-experimental productions, is the main part of the festival. During the six festival days about 235 films are presented. The festival’s profile also includes the trans-media section Monitoring, an exhibition of current video and media installations, the workshop symposium interfiction, the DokfestConnection, the film educational side program junges dokfest, the DokfestGeneration, as well as the DokfestForum.


    With the Hessian University Film Day, the presentation of a European Film School and hands-on workshops and lectures, the Kassel Dokfest offers possibilities for further education, information on education opportunities and access to professional networks for (Hessian) up-and-coming filmmakers.


     


    as single page:
    41 Kassel Dokfest 2024
    40 Kassel Dokfest 2023

  • 58 Hof IFF October 22-27, 2024

    Documentaries as strongly represented as ever before. With 34 long documentaries, from countries such as Italy, Spain, Serbia, the Netherlands ...

    Documentaries as strongly represented as ever before.


    With 34 long documentaries, from countries such as Italy, Spain, Serbia, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, Bangladesh, the United Kingdom,  and Germany confront us with serious topics such as environmental destruction, wars and their consequences, climate change, human rights and the shift to the right in society. Browse all movies presented at 58 Hof IFF, den 58. Hofer Filmtagen here.


     


     


     LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions:


     



     


     


      


     


     Download PDF with all [50-120mins] documentaries in the programme of 58 Hof IFF here.


    as single page:
    58 Hof IFF 2024
    57 Hof IFF 2023
    56 Hof IFF 2022
    55 Hof IFF 2021
    54 Hof IFF 2020


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  • 48 Duisburger Filmwoche, Nov 4–11, 2024

         48 Duisburger FilmwocheNov 4–11, 2024     The Duisburger Filmwoche is the festival of documentary films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. ...

     


     



     48 Duisburger Filmwoche
    Nov 4–11, 2024

     


     



    The Duisburger Filmwoche is the festival of documentary films from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Filmmakers are cordially invited to submit their works for selection. The MOTTO that will accompany the 48th Duisburg Film Week and the partner festival doxs! documentary films for children and young people in 2024 is ENTFERNTES SORTIEREN | SORTING FROM THE DISTANT. The motto encourages us to reflect on the power of documentary processes: How does documentary film approach realities? What position is taken, what distance is maintained? In what order is the unknown sorted and in what sequence is it told?


     



     


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:
    [some of them Germen only – others on request]




     


     as single page
    48 Duisburger Filmwoche
    47 Duisburger Filmwoche

  • 66 Nordic Film Days Lübeck, Nov 6-10, 2024

            One of the nine sections of the 66 Nordic Film Days Lübeck, Nov 6-10, 2024 is the FILMFORUM dedicated to all kinds of filmmaking in ...

     



     

     


     


    One of the nine sections of the 66 Nordic Film Days Lübeck, Nov 6-10, 2024 is the FILMFORUM dedicated to all kinds of filmmaking in northern Germany, bringing together narrative and documentary shorts and features, independent films, and large-scale theatrical movies. The section offers audiences an opportunity to see new work by established directors, as well as to discover unknown talent and artistic films outside the mainstream. The section was launched in 1988 with the aim of providing the film scene in Schleswig-Holstein a space within the international festival to showcase their creative work. As the film scene and funding opportunities evolved over the years, the section has grown and expanded its horizons. The Filmforum accepts submissions from any production with local funding, works by northern German filmmakers, and any film that was shot in the region or deals with issues pertinent to life in the north.


     


    LineUp of German documentary productions and co-Productions:



     


     


    as single page
    66 Nordic Film Days Lübeck 2024
    65 Nordic Film Days Lübeck 2023


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  • Shortlisted EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS 2024

      SULTANA'S DREAM by Isabel Herguera is nominated for the 37 European Film Awards fiction festure.   DIRECT ACTION and MY STOLEN PLANET are ...

     


    SULTANA'S DREAM by Isabel Herguera is nominated for the 37 European Film Awards fiction festure.


     


    DIRECT ACTION and MY STOLEN PLANET are shortlisted in the documentary section of the



    37 EUROPEAN FILM AWARDS 2024 at Lucerne

     


    Twelve strong feature-length documentary films have been chosen for a powerful Documentary Film Selection for the upcoming European Film Awards 2024 on 7 December in Lucerne, honouring the greatest achievements in European cinema. A committee consisting of a diverse range of invited European experts has chosen these 12 films that can be nominated for the European Film Awards 2024. With 9 European countries represented – both EU and non-EU – the selection demonstrates the great diversity in European cinema.
    Please find the list of all selected documentaries here, further candidates [shorts] tba until 30 September 2024.


     



     


     


    The 37th European Film Awards – Change in the Award Votes
    From now onwards, nominated documentaries and animated feature films will additionally compete with nominated fiction films in the category European Film 2024.


    In its commitment to recognising the diversity and creativity of European cinema, the European Film Academy is proud to announce an important change concerning the vote for the category European Film. This summer, the Board of the European Film Academy decided with immediate effect that starting from the 37th European Film Awards, not only fiction feature films but also feature-length documentaries and animated feature films are considered as candidates for the category European Film... [source: www.europeanfilmacademy.org/press/change-in-the-award-votes]


     as single page
    37 efa 2024
    36 efa 2023
    35 efa 2022

  • Filmography as Autobiography: Heinz Emigholz

    presented at the 16th edition of DMZ Docs Sept 26 – Oct 2, 2024,  International Documentary Film Festival at Goyangsi, Korea.   Heinz Emigholz's ...

    presented at the 16th edition of DMZ Docs Sept 26 – Oct 2, 2024,



     International Documentary Film Festival at Goyangsi, Korea.


     


    Heinz Emigholz's early experimental films, heavily influenced by American structural cinema, laid the groundwork for a career that would later earn him recognition as a 'master of architectural cinema' through his distinctive cinematic explorations of architecture and architects. Following extensive discussions and close collaboration with the artist, the DMZ International Documentary Film Festival presents a comprehensive retrospective featuring 15 films, including two new works, alongside an exhibition showcasing hundreds of drawings.



    Filmography as Autobiography: Heinz Emigholz 



     


      


    LineUp of further German productions and co-productions:



     


     


     


    as single page
    DMZ Docs 16


     


    SAVE THE DATE
    17 DMZ Goyangsi, Korea, September 11 – 17, 2025

  • 32 FILMFEST HAMBURG Sept 26 – Oct 5, 2024

        #FFHH24     In ten sections, FILMFEST HAMBURG shows national and international feature films and documentaries as world premieres, European ...

     


     



    #FFHH24

     


     


    In ten sections, FILMFEST HAMBURG shows national and international feature films and documentaries as world premieres, European or German premieres. The programme spectrum ranges from sophisticated art house films to innovative mainstream cinema. Browse the full LineUp of 32FFHH here.


     


     


    LineUp German documentary prodctions and co-productions



     


    FILMFEST HAMBURG is once again a guest of Hapag-Lloyd and will present the NDR documentary BORIS HERRMANN – SEGELN AM LIMIT (director: Jan Zabeil) about the extreme sailor Boris Herrmann as a special screening outside of the curated TV programme. The exceptional sailor is taking part in the Vendée Globe for the second time in November. The preparations for the toughest solo sailing race in the world were accompanied exclusively by the production company Beetz brothers film production. In Hamburg Boris Hermann will present his film in person.  


    ALL FILMS: Discover the films of this year’s edition, or browse through film archive of FILMFEST HAMBURG since 2003.


     


    Save the date September 30, 2024
    EXPLORER CONFERENCE: CHANGE OF THE SYSTEM
    The Explorer Conference is all about producing for cinema, streaming and TV. Under the theme CHANGE OF THE SYSTEMS, the half-day conference for professionals from the film and TV industry highlights new trends and analyses challenges and opportunities created by the current upheavals in the film industry. International and German speakers give insights into their strategies, share future-oriented knowledge and discuss critical aspects of their work with the audience. The Explorer Conference is aimed at producers, filmmakers, financiers and political decision-makers. Programm details and speakers will be announced in summer.


     


     


     


    as single page
    FFHH24
    FFHH23
    FFHH22 • 


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  • 5 LETsDOK all across Germany, September 2024

          The German nationwide documentary filmdays LETsDOK 2024, organized by the Association for the Promotion of Documentary Film Culture ...

     



     

     


    The German nationwide documentary filmdays LETsDOK 2024, organized by the Association for the Promotion of Documentary Film Culture [Verein zur Förderung der Dokumentarfilmkultur] in Cologne and Partners all over Germany, take place for the fifth time and started as documentary day celebrating the 40th anniversary of the AG DOK, German Documentary Association in September 2020.


     


     


    Here a selection of German documentary productions and co-productions in the program of the 5th edition of  LETsDOK showcasing all across Germany in September 2024 here. Find the screening dates via [LETsDOK]


     



     


     



     



     


     



     PUSHING BOUNDARIES by Lesia Kordonets

     When the Crimean peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014, the Ukrainian Paralympic team lost their new training centre overnight...


     


    ... find all films in the program here.


     


     


     


     


     


    as single page:
    LETsDOK 2024
    LETsDOK 2023
    LETsDOK 2022
    LETsDOK 2021D


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  • RIEFENSTAHL by Andres Veiel premiering at 81 Biennale, Venice

      in the Out Of Competition - Non Fiction section of the Biennale, August 28 - September 7, 2024   "Now as then Riefenstahl’s visual worlds ...

     



    in the Out Of Competition - Non Fiction section of the Biennale,
     August 28 - September 7, 2024

     


    "Now as then Riefenstahl’s visual worlds are about triumph. Triumph over doubt, ambivalence, supposed weakness and imperfection. Thus, looking at the world today, a film about Riefenstahl became an urgent necessity for me. Riefenstahl’s extensive legacy, reinterpreted in the light of her private estate, offered the opportunity for a new take on the timeless attraction of imperial greatness and its need for the glorification of muscular, perfect and victorious bodies, an urge that is on the rise again today." Andres Veiel says.


     


    RIEFENSTAHL by Andres Veiel, 115min, P: Vincent Productions, WS: Beta Cinema, D: Majestic Filmverleih, Rai Cinema, [Venice IFF]


     


     



     Simone Baumann, Managing Driector of German Films was among the guests, as...



    ...Andres Veiel and producer Sandra Maischberger celebrated their premiere of RIEFENSTAHL, a documentary that critically examines the role of OLYMPIA filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl in Nazi Germany.

     

     


     


     


    as single page:
    81 Venice IFF 2024, BIENALE CINEMA

  • 77 Locarno FF, August 7-17, 2024

    The 34 Semaine de la critique is premiering the two German documentaries FAMILIAR PLACES by Mala Reinhardt as well as HIS PARENTS by Katharina ...

    The 34 Semaine de la critique is premiering the two German documentaries
    FAMILIAR PLACES by Mala Reinhardt as well as HIS PARENTS by Katharina Köster and Katrin Nemec.


     



     


      


      


    Browse the large LineUp of German productions and co-productions in the programme of the 77 Locarno FF 2024 at the website of German Films including two German documentary productions in the programme of the  34 Semaine de la critique, August 9-16 the independent section, organised by Swiss Association of Film Journalists, in cooperation with the director and organisers of the Locarno Film Festival. 



    Pamela Akosua Twinwaah Amponsah, Mala Reinhardt, Katharina Voß
    77 LOCARNO FF Red Carpet

     



     


     


    The Semaine de la critique was first held in 1990. Since then it has reviewed state of the art documentary film-making annually with a selection of works chosen for their specific expressive value or essence. To date, a total of 223 films have been screened, including productions by Gerd Kroske, Marc Wiese, Niko von Glasow,  Douglas Wolfsperger, Thomas Riedelsheimer, Heidi Specogna, Milo Rau, Stefanie Brockhaus, Andreas Wollf, Matthias Bittner, Benjamin Geissler, Angela Christlieb, Stephen Kijak, Christian Bauer, Elfi Mikesch, Sibylle Schönemann, Harald Bergman, Volker Koepp, Romuald Karmakar,


     


     



    Poster of 77 LOCARNO FILM FESTIVAL August 7 – 17, 2024

    Foto: Annie Leibovitz

     


     


     


    as single page:
    77 Locarno FF 2024
    76 Locarno FF 2023
    75 Locarno FF 2022


     


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  • annually MIPCOM at Cannes in October

       Let's meet again at booth P-1, K19 during the    40 MIPCOM,  October 21—24, 2024 at Cannes, Frankreich. Contact for joining German Delegation ...

     


     Let's meet again at booth P-1, K19 during the 



     


    40 MIPCOMOctober 21—24, 2024 at Cannes, Frankreich.


    Contact for joining German Delegation Björn Jensen to get enlisted under the German Umbrella. More information __ German only __ here.


     



    Björn Jensen, Eva-Maria Pellikan, Simone Baumann 


    The picture was taken at the 37 MIPCOM 2021 with
    Björn Jensen, representativ German Documentaries,  AG DOK
    Eva-Maria Pellikan, Head of Communications & Marketing, Liasion TV & Series German Films
    Simone Baumann, Managing Director German Flms


     


     


    Spain announced as MIPCOM Cannes Country of Honour 2024
    MIPCOM CANNES 2024 will be marked with a programme highlighting Spain's significant growth in recent years as a major international production hub and provider of quality content to global audiences. The recognition comes with Spain seeing a marked rise in scripted and non-scripted productions in recent years by both domestic and global producers, and with Spanish content not only consistently ranking amongst the highest viewed worldwide but gaining wider recognition and awards internationally. Browse an interview with Elisa Carbonell, CEO of ICEX here.


     


     


     


     


     


    Find the Report 2021 MIPCOM 2021 by Björn Jensen —German only— here.
    Find the Report 2022 MIPCOM 2022 by Björn Jensen —German only— here.
    Find the Report 2023 MIPCOM 2023 by Björn Jensen —German only— here.


    as single page

  • #StandWithUkraine

    67 DOK Leipzig, Oct 28 – Nov 3, 2024 _ Following last year’s success, DOK Leipzig will hold a showcase of six Generation Ukraine projects, with ...

    67 DOK Leipzig, Oct 28 – Nov 3, 2024 _


    Following last year’s success, DOK Leipzig will hold a showcase of six Generation Ukraine projects, with the participation of the film teams. The six projects are presently in the rough-cut stage and are nearing completion, looking for festival premieres and distribution. Generation Ukraine is an initiative of the ARTE Group and its European partners, which was rolled out in 2023 as part of a collective effort to champion uncompromising voices from Ukraine and support local documentary filmmakers and production structures by co-producing 12 documentaries that examine Ukrainian reality since the onset of the full-scale invasion.


    Generation Ukraine is an initiative by the ARTE group aimed at supporting the Ukrainian filmmaking industry by co-producing 12 documentaries that explore the Ukrainian reality from the inside, telling the effects of the war on the people, land, bodies and souls. It’s also about creating a strong ecosystem with partners such as DAE – Documentary Association of Europe, Doc Society, Ukrainian Institute, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, etc. The collection is the result of a collaboration between ARTE France, ARTE G.E.I.E, ZDF/ARTE, MDR/ARTE, SWR/ARTE, BR/ARTE and RBB/ARTE.


    At DOK Industry 2023, the festival presented the initiative and showcased six of the projects in presence of the creative teams. Here is the overview of the six Generation Ukraine projects presented at DOK Leipzig 2024:



    • ANOTHER MAN'S DIARY by Oleksandr Tkachenko | Production: Illia Gladshtein (Phalanstery Films, Ukraine) | Co-production: Antoine Goldet (Amok Films, France)

    • THE BLESSED by Andrii Lysetskyi | Production: Olha Beskhmelnytsina, Gennady Kofman (MaGiKa Film, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Uldis Cekulis (VFS Films, Latvia), Erik Winker (CORSO Film, Germany)

    • PALINGENESION by Alina Gorlova, Yelizaveta Smith, Simon Mozgovyi | Production: Eugene Rachkovsky (TABOR, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Ralph Wieser (Mischief Films, Austria), Nabil Bellahsene (Les Valseurs, France)

    •  QUEENS OF JOY by Olga Gibelinda | Production: Ivanna Khitsinska (Quatros Group, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Louis Beaudemont (Les Steppes Productions, France), Hana Blaha Šilarová (Films & Chips, Czech Republic)

    • SILENT FLOOD by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk | Production: Karina Kostyna (TABOR, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer (Elemag Pictures, Germany)

    • WOMEN OCCUPIED by Tetiana Hanza, Zoia Volk | Production: Oksana Ivantsiv, Regina Maryanovska Davidzon (Real Pictures, Ukraine) | Co-Production: Zoia Volk (ZOVA Films, Germany)


    A number of completed films from the Generation Ukraine collection have already enjoyed success at major international film festivals. Olha Zhurba’s unflinching audiovisual diary of the effects of war SONGS OF SLOW BURNING EARTH premiered at the Venice Film Festival to critical acclaim. Premiering at Berlinale Forum, Oksana Karpovych’s harrowing film INTERCEPTED received two Special Mentions for the Ecumenical Jury Prize and the Amnesty International Film Award, further screening at more than 30 festivals. Svitlana Lishchynska’s intimately personal film A BIT OF A STRANGER (DOK Co-Pro Market 2022) celebrated its world premiere at Berlinale Panorama, while Roman Blazhan’s THE BASEMENT made its debut across the globe at the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema (BAFICI).


     



     


     


    31 Sheffield DocFest will open on June 12 with the world premiere of Kevin Macdonald’s KLITSCHKO: MORE THAN A FIGHT. Annabel Grundy, Sheffield DocFest Managing Director, says: “Kevin Macdonald joined us in Sheffield in 2023 as Mentor for our Filmmaker Challenge, inspiring participants to take a creative and compassionate approach to their works. With KLITSCHKO: MORE THAN A FIGHT we see his commitment to artistry and authenticity in equal measure; we’re honoured to welcome him back to present this incredible portrait of hope, charisma and determination to make a difference.





     


    KLITSCHKO: MORE THAN A FIGHT offers audiences unprecedented access to former heavyweight boxing world champion Vitali Klitschko and his brother Wladimir, who together dominated the sport for more than a decade. Now the longest serving Mayor of Kyiv, this feature-length documentary charts Vitali’s journey from the ring to political office, leading the defence of the capital when it was attacked by Russian forces in February 2022 to the present day.
    While Wladimir uses his celebrity status and popularity to help raise funds and military support for the defence of Ukraine, the heart of the story is the remarkable transformation of Vitali from sporting hero to political figurehead. From the face of the opposition in the 2014 Maidan Revolution to the mayor running on an anti-corruption card, Vitali tests his leadership capabilities as he’s put in charge of the safety of millions of Kyiv citizens, with the eyes of the world watching.


     


     



     


    KFF INDUSTRY: V4 Co-Pro Meetings During 64. KFF @ Krakow
    29 May: 17.00 – 18:30 |  V4+ Ukraine Round Table


    The V4 Co-Pro Meetings – a co-production event for film professionals from the Visegrad countries will be held during the upcoming edition of the Krakow Film Festival. Its idea is to initiate contacts between film producers and filmmakers from the region in order to establish cooperation in a field of film production. Participants of the V4 Co-Pro Meeting will also meet with Ukrainian producers to discuss co-production opportunities.


    An important highlight of this year’s event will be a discussion on the possibility of launching a ‘V4 Film Fund’, a Visegrad co-production fund, which was a demand of the 2023 Visegrad producers’ meetings. The discussion will be attended by representatives of producer organisations and film institutions from Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. The meetings in a round-table formula will be accompanied with the individual consultations with invited experts from Tv stations, VOD platforms, production companies or sales agencies.


     


     


     


     



     


    ... and the OSCAR® goes to 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL | 20 TAGE IN MARIUPOL by Mstyslaw Tschernow, co-financed by SWR/ARD German Public Broadcasting Network, responsible SWReditors: Eric Friedler and Thore Vollert. World Sales by DOGWOOF.



    20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL by Mstyslaw Tschernow

    Foto © 2022 SWR/Mstyslav Chernov


    CONGRATULATION to Mstyslaw Tschernow, who sadly says in his acceptance speech among others: "This is the first Oscar in Ukrainian history. And I’m honored, but probably I'll be the first director on this stage who says I wish I had never made this film. I wish to be able to exchange this for Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities...Russians are killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians. I wish for them to release all the hostages, all the soldiers who are protecting their lands, all the civilians who are now in their jails. But I cannot change the history. I cannot change the past … We can make sure history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail. … Cinema forms memories, and memories form history …


     


    The other nominees for the documentary feature category of the 96 Academy Award®  are:
    • BOB WINE: THE PEOPLES PRESIDENT by Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp, John Battsek
    • THE ETERNAL MEMORY by Maite Alberdi
    • OLFAS TÖCHTER | LES FILLES D'OLFA | FOUR DAUGHTERS by Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha
    • TO KILL A TIGER by Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe, David Oppenheim


     



     


     


     


     


     



    36 IDFA November 8–19, 2023, Pressconference with Orwa Nyrabia

     

     


     


    IDFA 2023 opens with the world premiere of A PICTURE TO REMEMBER by Olga Chernykh. The film presents a deeply personal and essay-style account of the ongoing war in Ukraine and its violent history, seen through the prism of three generations of women: Chernykh herself, her mother, and her grandmother. In a bid for connection and intimacy, the filmmaker uses old family films, recordings of conversations, and news reports to bridge the distance between her and her grandmother. The result is a kaleidoscopic and personal film that travels through time fluidly. A PICTURE TO REMEMBER has been selected for the Envision Competition and received IDFA Bertha Fund support in 2023. 


    "This is a film by an independent filmmaker that is both personal and political. By building her film around three generations of women in her family, Chernykh carriers us to the daily experience of Ukrainians today. The director does not shy away from trying to build a cinematic world with fragile elements. The courage and originality of the film's approach opens up to a much larger world view. That's what place films like A Picture to Remember at the heart of IDFA," said IDFA's Artistic Director, Orwa Nyrabia.


     


     


     


     


     


     



     

     


     DOK Industry Talk at 66 DOK Leipzig presents ARTE initiative


    GENERATION UKRAINE


    In this year's edition, DOK Leipzig is presenting a DOK Industry Talk on Generation Ukraine, a new initiative by the ARTE Group aimed at supporting the Ukrainian filmmaking industry by co-producing 12 documentaries that explore Ukrainian reality in the throes of the ongoing war.


    The Talk, held on 10 October at 16:30 – 18:00 CEST, will present the ARTE initiative and showcase six of the projects with the participation of the film teams. The Talk will be moderated by documentary film producer and consultant Heidi Fleisher.


    The ARTE Group and its European partners launched the project Generation Ukraine in a concerted effort to bolster the realisation and distribution of the Ukrainian film projects that have been conceived since the beginning of the Russian invasion and are in dire straits documenting the lasting impacts of the war on their country, its collective memory, land, and its people. The kick-off workshop of the Generation Ukraine project took place in Strasbourg in January 2023. From Wednesday, October 11th, a three-day workshop on "Generation Ukraine" will commence at the MDR headquarters in Leipzig.


    Following the example of Generation Africa, which gave a platform for young African filmmakers across the continent to tell their stories and reach diverse audiences, ARTE is supporting 12 Ukrainian documentary projects in various stages of development, selected from some 30 high-quality submissions. The selected Ukrainian film projects are financed by the ARTE group (ARTE France, ARTE GEIE and ARTE Germany), through co-productions or pre-sales, and in collaboration with the broadcaster's European partners. Projects completed by autumn 2024 will be included in the ARTE Media Library. All films will be broadcast on ARTE at a later date.


    The Generation Ukraine project is one of many ARTE's recent initiatives championing daring and uncompromising voices from Ukraine. One of them is the web series "Ukraine: The War from Within" where Ukrainian journalists offer "an authentic view of the East from the East."


     


    The following projects are participating in ARTE's Generation Ukraine:



    • "Displaced", director Olha Zhurba, production Darya Bassel (Moon Man / UKR), Anne Köhncke (Final cut for real / DK), ARTE France

    • "Basement 341", director Roman Blazhan, production Roman Blazhan (Minimal Movies / UKR), Christilla Huillard-Kahn (Elda / FR), ARTE France

    • "Intercepted", director Oksana Karpovych, production Giacomo Nudi (Films Cosmos / Canada), Darya Bassel (Moon Man / UKR), Pauline Tran Van Lieu (Hutong Prod. / FR), ARTE France

    • "Cuba & Alaska", director Yegor Troyanovsky, production Olha Beskhmelnytsina (2Brave / UKR), Christian Popp (Tag Films / FR), ARTE France

    • "Queens of Joy", director Olga Gibelinda, production Ivanna Khitsinska (Quatros Group & Malanka Studios / UKR), Louis Beaudemont (Les Steppes Productions / FR), ARTE GEIE

    • "The Days I would Like to Forget", directors Alina Gorlova, Yelizaveta Smith, Maksym Nakonechnyi, Simon Mozgovyi, production Eugene Rachkovsky, Maksym Nakonechnyi, Karina Kostyna (Tabor Films / UKR), Ralph Wieser (Mischief Films / GER), SWR / ARTE

    • "Another Man's Diary", directors Oleksandr Tkachenko, Dmytro Dokunov, production Illia Gladshtein (Phalanstery films / UKR), BR / ARTE

    • "The Blessed Ones", director Andrii Lysetskyi, production Olha Beskhmelnytsina, Gennady Kofman, (MaGiKa-film / UKR), Uldis Cekulis (VFS Films / LAT), Erik Winker (CORSO Film / GER), MDR / ARTE

    • "Nukemailing", directors Pavel Cherepin, Anton Bazelinsky, production Heroes Creative Studio, Kyiv, DOCDAYS Productions GmbH, Berlin, RBB / ARTE

    • "A Bit of a Stranger", director Svetlana Lischynska (Albatros / UKR), production Anna Kapustina; Alex Tondowski (Tondowski Film / GER), ZDF / ARTE

    • "Women Occupied", directors Tetiana Hanza, Zoia Volk, production Zoia Volk, Valentina Boye (Zova films / GER), Regina Maryanovska-Devidzon (Real Pictures, UKR), SWR / ARTE

    • "Silent Food", director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, production Karina Kostyna, Eugene Rachkovsky (Tabor / UKR), Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer (Elemag Pictures / GER), MDR / ARTE


     


     


     



     

     


     


     


    30 HOT DOCS Toronto with nine documentaries MADE IN UKRAINE:



     


     


     


     



     


     


    73 Berlinale Special Gala with Documentary on Ukraine


     



    Sean Penn, Volodymyr Zelensky in SUPERPOWER

     

     



    • SUPERPOWER by Sean Penn, Aaron Kaufman, USA 2022
      This past year the weight of the real world has had a significant impact on people’s lives. Among the films premiering this year at the festival there is one in particular that witnesses the shock we all felt. More than a documentary, SUPERPOWER is the chronicle of a film project that reality forced to change in to something less controllable but more meaningful. In a festival that will take place one year after the Russian invasion in Ukraine, it is important to show the film that Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman made under such difficult conditions. Like their colleagues who risked their lives in order to testify the cruelty of the war, they prove once more that art can inspire action worldwide.

    • EASTERN FRONT | SHIDNIY FRONT by Vitaly Mansky & Yevhen Titarenko, Latvia / Czech Republic / Ukraine / USA [Encounter]

    • IT'S A DATE by Nadia Parfan, Ukraine [Short]

    • IRON BUTTERFLIES by Roman Liubyi, Ukraine / Germany [Panorama]

    • DO YOU LOVE ME? | TY MENE LUBYSH? by Tonia Noyabrova, Ukraine / Sweden [Panorama]

    • IN UKRAINE | W UKRAINIE by by Piotr Pawlus, Tomasz Wolski, Poland, Germany [Forum]

    • WE WILL NOT FADE AWAY | MY NE ZGASNEMO by Alisa Kovalenko, Ukraine / France / Poland [Generation]

    • WAKING UP IN SILENCE | IM STILLEN ERWACHEN by Mila Zhluktenko, Germany / Ukraine, [Generation]

    • and

    • THE BLINDSIGHT by Ruslan Batytskyi, [Berlinale Co-Production Market]


    The EFM is supporting the industry with a package of special measures.
    find out more in the press release 73 BERLINAE of January 20, 2023.


     



    IRON BUTTERLIES by Roman Liubyi

    is premiering Januar 23 2023 at the Sundance Film Festival
    and 73 BERLINALE Panorama Dokumente 2023


    In summer 2014, sunflower fields and coal mines in eastern Ukraine turned into a 12 square kilometer crime scene. A multi-layered investigation into the downing of flight MH17, in which a butterfly-shaped shrapnel was found in the pilot’s body, implicated the state responsible for a war crime that remains unpunished.


    Since 2013, the film director Roman Liubyi has been working with the #BABYLON’13: Cinema of Civil Society group of independent film producers who came together during the Revolution of Dignity. Since 2015 Roman has been working on the full-length documentary project WAR NOTE, based on videos from soldiers’ cell-phones. In cooperation with the Security Service of Ukraine, Roman Liubyi has created two films based on materials from the major war-crimes cases. 


     


     



     

     

     


     



     


    THE HAMLET SYNDROME premiered in Amsterdam, NYC and Kyivi!


    An exciting weekend for THE HAMLET SYNDROME: incredible screenings and Q&A’s on IDFA, the next day flight to New York, and the same evening, our American premiere on DOC NYC. Sunday, our Ukrainian premiere in Kyiv. Bomb alerts and power outages before and after the screening, and no light on the streets, but the cinema shone the strength and determination of our protagonists. The screening finally took place, and even Rodion and Roman could attend! It’s heart-wrenching that the war has already lasted nine months, and trauma continues to sew its seeds into the everyday lives of ordinary Ukrainians.
    Source: FB/TheHamletSyndrome


    ...and upcoming screenings at 39 Kassel Documentary FF  & Human Rights FF, Zurich .



     

     

     


    The twenty-sixth edition of Ji.hlava, October 25-30, 2022 will open with 8TH DAY OF THE WAR by Ukrainian director Oksana Moiseniuk. The film was made on the eighth day of the Russian aggression in Ukraine and is not about the war as such, but about its impact on the Ukrainian diaspora in the Czech Republic.


     



     



     


     



    65 DOK Leipzig October 17–23, 2022


     


    Svitlana Lishchynska received the Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director at the opening ceremony of 65 DOK Leipzig.


    Saxon State Minister for Culture and Tourism Barbara Klepsch presented the Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director, worth 5,000 euros, to Ukrainian filmmaker Svitlana Lishchynska for her project A BIT OF A STRANGER. It tells the story of Svitlana’s mother, daughter and granddaughter — three generations of a family from Mariupol who have lost their national identity due to the long-term imperial policy of Moscow and are currently facing the Russian war of aggression.


     



     © 2022 DOK Leipzig, Viktoria Conzelmann


     



    In the Competition for the 65 DOK Leipzig Audience Award, the Golden Dove including 3,000 Euros went to THREE WOMEN by Maxim Melnyk. In encounters with three independent women, Melnyk documents rural life in the Ukrainian village of Stuzhytsya near the EU border. "This film brings us images of joie de vivre and lightness. Images that we don’t often see coming from that country at the moment. It creates connections and unites people through the screen," according to the statement by the audience jury.
    The DEFA Sponsoring Prize, which includes 4,000 Euros granted by the DEFA Foundation, went to Maxim Melnyk for THREE WOMEN as well.


     


     


     


     



     


    Spotlight on: Docudays UA 2022 at 65 DOK LEIPZIG


    The DocuDays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival could not be held in Kyiv this past March 2022 due to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Therefore, in a show of solidarity with the Docudays UA team, DOK Leipzig is providing a venue for the 19th edition of that festival. This programme presents the four films selected for the DOCU/UKRAINE national competition along with the opening film BONEY PILES [image above and PDF with the loglines of all five films here] These works paint a nuanced portrait of the country, telling of property disputes in Kyiv and flea markets in Odesa, of first responders amid the pandemic in rural Transcarpathia, and also of the consequences of the war that has been going on in eastern Ukraine since 2014.



     


     



     


     




     Kundschafter Filmproduktion | BALAPOLIS sp.zo.o.

     


     


     IDFA's FALL SPECIAL Wedensday evening September 28, 2022.


    With THE HAMLET SYNDROME by Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski, winner of Roman Brodmann Prize as well as Grand Prix Semaine de la critique – 75 Locarno IFF,  on Wednesday evening September 28, 2022 IDFA's Fall Special is taking place in Pathé Tuschinski in Amsterdam. IT's the Dutch premiere of the documentary. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Elwira Niewiera.


     


     


     


     


     


     


     



    #lola22 DEUTSCHER FILMPREIS — German Film Award

    with Marina Stepanska and Alisa Kovalenko live from Ukraine


    Sandra Maischberger announced the award ceremony of BEST DOCUMENTARY #lola22 streaming two video from the Ukraine.



    1. Wladimir Klitschko very much regrets that the circumstances are so bad, that he cannot be in Berlin to discuss the importance of documentaries with the filmmakers on site.

    2. Marina Stepanska thanked for the donations from Germany, which were made on the basis of an initiative by AG DOK members, to which the German Film Academy, Producers' Association, German Academy for Television, Crew United and from Austria the interest group documentary dok. at, the Producers' Alliance The producers and the Academy of Austrian Film joined to support Ukrainian documentary filmmakers with protective vests and equipment in their work.
      Alisa Kovalenko, who many of us know from her documentary ALISA IN WARLAND premiering at IDFA 2015.


     



    ALISA IN WARLAND IDFA 2015 catalogue: Alisa is a 26-year-old student at the film academy in Kiev. Her life is pretty normal until the day that President Viktor Yanukovych refuses to sign the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. Suddenly, everything changes: protests erupt in the capital, with the inhabitants demanding the president’s resignation. Alisa witnesses the demonstrations and embarks on a trip through Ukraine in an attempt to understand the war. Her journey takes her to the east of the country, where she comes across demonstrations again, this time of a pro-Russian character. Along the way, she faces shootings, explosions and the searing consequences of the war for the people of her country. Very much against her will, Alisa is then personally caught up in the war when she is arrested by separatists for spying. The risks she is taking also jeopardize her romantic relationship with a French journalist. This candid self-portrait shows us a sensitive, concerned woman in search of answers. The direct, often handheld camerawork gives us an impression of Ukraine in the wake of the protests and of the tensions that arose among the various population groups. 


     



     


     


    WHAT'S AT STAKE IN UKRAINE a Filmmaker's Conversation


     





     


     This podcast episode is a special edition dedicated to the current invasion of Ukraine. Tamara Tatishvili (Head of Training - MEDICI the Film Funding Journey) is moderating this episode and speaks with Julia Sinkevych (Producer, Ukraine), Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer (Producer, Germany), and Keti Machavariani (Producer/ Director, Georgia). They talk about the fact that the war in Ukraine did not start on 24 February, but eight years ago with the annexation of Crimea. We hear four women and their fear on the one hand and their will to stand up for peace on the other. Film and cinema have enormous power; those have to be used and supported in the right way. Because the misuse for propaganda purposes is a real a danger. In this time more than ever the film industry needs to stand together. Filmmakers have the tools to reach a big audience. The industry should endorse Ukrainian film projects from the past to achieve awareness and gather financial resources to support the fight for freedom in Ukraine.


    Industry Insights – The EFM Podcast is presented by the European Film Market of the Berlinale.


    The podcast is available on all major podcast platforms, e.g. Spotify or Apple Podcasts


     



    UKRAINE FOCUS @ Sheffield DocFest, June 23—28 June, 2022


    Sheffield DocFest in solidarity with Ukraine Password: Palianytsia launch a collaborative documentary programme with Docudays UA, which will launch the British Council and Ukrainian Institute's 'UK/Ukraine Season of Culture'. The focus will launch with the World Premiere of One Day in Ukraine, by media activist and filmmaking collective Babylon'13. This co-created film centres on a single day during the war in Ukraine, March 14 2022.


    The Ukraine focus includes work across the Film programme, Alternate Realities exhibition, Industry programme and Talks & Sessions with:



    • 4 feature documentaries in the Official Selection
      FRAGILE MEMORY by Igor Ivanko, Ukraine, Slovakia
       ONE DAY IN UKRAINE by Volodymyr Tykhyy, Ukraine, Poland
       OUTSIDE by Olha Zhurba, Ukraine, Netherlands, Denmark
       OVERCOMING THE DARKNESS by Kinodopomoga, Ukraine

    • 4 feature documentaries from Docudays UA Official Competition
      Docudays UA is the leading international human rights documentary film festival in Ukraine. Prevented from taking place in Kyiv in March this year, due to the war, Docuday’s presents the four Ukrainian films in its Official Competition selection at Sheffield DocFest:
       INFINITY ACCORDING TO FLORIAN by Oleksiy Radynski
       MOUNTAINS AN HEAVEN IN BETWEEN by Dmytro Hreshko
       PLAI. A MOUNTAIN PATH by Eva Dzhyshyashvili
       PRYVOZ byEva Neymann

    • Docudays curated screening with talk that contextualises Russia’s current military aggression against Ukraine, looking at how Ukrainian documentary filmmakers have experienced and comprehended the years since the Revolution of Dignity (Maidan), follows the screening of two films:
       PEACE & TRANQUILITY by Myro Klochko 
       BONEY PILES by Taras Tomenko

    • VR, art and TikTok works in our Alternate Realities exhibition
      Alternate Realities exhibits and showcases innovative non-fiction and immersive documentary in all forms with a flagship exhibition at Sheffield’s Site Gallery and other works across the city.

    • 5 projects in development selected for our MeetMarket
       INTERCEPTED by Oksana Karpovych, Producers: Giacomo Nudi, Rocío Barba Fuentes, Ukraine/Canada
       IVAN & MARTA A DAY BEFORE THE WAR by Sergey Bukovsky, Producer: Oksana Ivaniouk, Ukraine
       SHUT THE FUCK UP! by Taisiia Kutuzova, Producers: Stephane Siohan, Olga Beskhmelnytsina, Ukraine/France
       UP IN THE AIR by Oksana Syhareva, Producers: Oksana Syhareva, Nataliia Pogudina, Karla Stojakova, Ukraine/CzechRepublic

    • 3 projects in Works-in-Progress in partnership with Ukrainian Institute
       EXPEDITION 49 by Alisa Kovalenko, Producers: Stephane Siohan, Valery Kalmykov, Tomek Morawski, Ukraine/France/Poland
       FRAGMENTS OF ICE by Maria Stoianova, Producers: Alina Gorlova, Maksym Nakonechnyi, Ukraine
       IRON BUTTERFLIES by Roman Liubiy, Ukraine/Germany/France


    This comprehensive programme is an expression of solidarity with Ukraine. It provides a powerful encounter with contemporary Ukrainian life – including the horrific reality of this war. It creates a space in which Ukrainian filmmakers and artists can continue to have their work seen, develop new projects, and keep Ukrainian culture alive.


     


     



    MARIUPOLIS 2 by Mantas Kvedaravicius


    Sadly, the Lithuanian filmmaker Mantas Kvedaravicius, who directed MARIUPOLIS ©2016, was captured and murdered by the Russian army in Mariupol in early April 2022. His fiancée, Hanna Bilobrova, who was with him at the time, was able to bring back the footage filmed there and edited it with Mantas' editor Dounia Sichov. The film is entitled MARIUPOLIS 2 and premiered May 19 at 75 FESTIVAL DE CANNES 2022
    .


     Mariupolis 2: footage saved from the ravages of the war in Ukraine written by Tarik Khaldi


     


     


     



     


     


    VIKTOR DOK.international, the main award of 37 DOK.fest Munich goes to the French production TRENCHES by Loup Bureau, who accompanied Ukrainian soldiers fighting Russia-backed separatists in the Donbass. He shows how the soldiers try to lead a reasonably normal everyday life between explosions and enemy attacks. The Berlin based company FILMS BOUTIQUE is in charge of World Sales of the awarded documentary.



    TRENCHES by French director Loup Bureau



     


    VIKTOR DOK.international jury:
    "For weeks, months, years they have been living in their trenches. Loup Bureau accompanied them there. This commitment alone is prize worthy. But TRENCHES is also a beautiful film: without any grandstanding, with a lot of respect for its protagonists and in a black and white that emphasizes the timelessness of war, Bureau documents life in the trenches, the daily shoveling and fastening, but also cooking, cutting hair, talking. The calmness that Bureau's pictures radiate is, of course, a deceptive one, which we – even as viewers – cannot forget for a second. At any time another attack can occur. And it takes place. The urgency of the film has increased immeasurably since its completion in 2021."


     


     


     


     


     



    PUSHING BOUNDARIES by Lesia Kordonets, 102min



     


    The Ukrainian director Lesia Kordonets receives the megaherz Student Award for PUSHING BOUNDARIES at the 37 DOK.fest Munich. The documentary follows five Ukrainian athletes preparing for the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro when suddenly Putin's Russia annexes the Crimea, where the Ukrainian team's new training center is located. But the athletes don't want to give up their dream, continue their work out in other places under the most adverse conditions and, despite everything, try to qualify for the next Paralympic Games.


    Jury: "Lesia's athletes are everyday heroes who suddenly come up against sporting, political and existential limits and yet tirelessly give everything to achieve their goals. In the film, every story is told unobtrusively and at eye level. PUSHING BOUNDARIES, that means pushing boundaries, expanding boundaries. The sensitive editing pushes boundaries as well and shows us that there are no disabled people – only people whith handicap. We learn what it means when we play down wars as 'conflicts'. The documentary is also about addressing uncomfortable truths, which was important to us in our decision, but PUSHING BOUNDARIES is not only an important film in this respect."


    The film was also awarded with Prix Zonta 2021 at Nyon, Visions du Réel, Nyon, Best Directing Documentary –Zürcher Filmpreis 2021, as well as Brave Rebels Award 2022 at Budapest International Documentary Film Festival.


     


     


     



    The Roman Brodmann Prize was awarded for the first time April 28, at the Roman Brodmann Colloquium in Berlin, honoring an outstanding political-investigative documentary film, is endowed with €10,000,  and goes to the Polish/German co–production The Hamlet Syndrome depicting the young Ukrainian generation scarred by war and political breakthroughs.


    THE HAMLET SYNDROME | DAS HAMLET-SYNDROM by Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski, 85min P: BALAPOLIS sp.zo.o., Kundschafter Filmprod, Neue Celluloid Fabrik


     


     



     


     


    In view of Russia’s brutal war of aggression on Ukraine, the 37th DOK.fest München is showing five films that deal with its background: four current films from Ukraine as well as the opening film NAWALNY about Russia’s most important opposition figure Alexei Nawalny, which is running in the international competition.
    Festival directors Daniel Sponsel and Adele Kohout: “The opening film comprehensively outlines that our expectation that stable democratic structures would be established in Russia after the collapse of the Soviet system did not come true. The idea of partnership oriented towards the economy and the market is also proving to be obsolete. The flourishing landscapes in the East are more or less reserved for the oligarchs, and the country under Putin remains trapped in the Soviet Union’s claims to world power. The brutal present follows its long shadow of the past, which we did not want to see for so long. The first casualties of any war are truth and humanity. The films from and about Ukraine in our programme impressively testify to how the weakest members of a society are affected.”


     


     


     



    Online Talk : Ukraine : Filming in resistance.
    THU 14.04 | 16:00-17:30pm | Online only visionsdureel.ch
    Since 24 February, the war in Ukraine has also been conducted through the images that report on it or distort its reality. Visions du Réel wishes to offer a platform to young Ukrainian filmmakers and producers who are currently standing alongside their compatriots under the Russian bombs, to reflect and debate with them on the possibility of resisting the ongoing onslaught with images that document it. 


     



     


     


    ICFR launches "Emergency Fund for Filmmakers" in Wake of Ukraine War.


    The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk has set up a special "Emergency Fund for Filmmakers" for film practitioners directly in danger due to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The Coalition and the Fund have been canvassing for funding and donations as soon as war broke out. In the past days, significant financial contributions have been pledged by Germany's key national and regional film funding bodies (100K EUR), by La Scam*, the Netherlands Film Fund, and by many individual donors.


    The German funds include Filmförderungsanstalt FFA, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, HessenFilm und Medien, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG - Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, MV Filmförderung, nordmedia - Film- und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen.


     


    see also PR by IDFA .


     



     



    The NGO Docudays and Docudays UA festival team has initiated a fund to support Ukrainian filmmakers who are bravely and daringly documenting the events of the war in Ukraine right now: recording war crimes, filming footage for the international media and for their future films which will later give the world a more in-depth perspective on the situation in our country. Darya Bassel, producer and festival representative is one of eight on the board with the German Filmmakers SUPPORT FILMMAKERS UKRAINE, as well as Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer.



     



     



    • MARIUPOLIS by Mantas Kvedaravicius © 2016  Everyday life is defined by bomb threats in Mariupol, a city in the Ukraine, situated to the east of the Crimea and once populated by Greeks. It is a visually powerful homage to a city in crisis, dedicated to its poets and shoemakers. 
      April 3, 2022. While trying to leave Mariupol, the occupiers killed Mantas Kvedaravicius.

    • THIS RAIN WILL NEVER STOP by Alina Gorlova ©2020
      Filmed in striking black-and-white, This Rain Will Never Stop observes the endless cycle of war and peace, in which we meet 20 year-old Andriy Suleyman. Fleeing the Syrian civil war, Andriy and his Kurdish family start a new life in a small town in Eastern Ukraine, only to be caught up in another military conflict. [CPH:DOX]*

    • RODNYE - CLOSE RELATION by Vitaly Mansky ©2015
      Russian citizen and Soviet-born Ukrainian native Vitaly Mansky crisscrosses Ukraine to explore Ukrainian society after the Maidan revolution as mirrored within his own large Ukrainian family.

    • PIPELINE by Vitaly Mansky ©2013
      Has not only connected but also inextricably merged
      'this' Russia with 'that' Europe.

    • COURAGE by Aliaksei Paluyan @2021
      During the presidential elections in Belarus, three actors from an underground theatre in Minsk are caught up in the wake of mass protests. It draws them onto the open streets of Minsk to protest for freedom of speech and the long-awaited change of power. But the people's voice is brutally crushed by the regime's security apparatus. Members of the theatre group are arrested.

    • COLOURS IN THE SNOW – BELARUSIAN WOMEN IN RESISTANCE by Juliane Tutein ©2021
      Belarus in December 2020. It has become quiet on the streets of Minsk, where just a few months ago thousands of demonstrators were protesting against the outcome of the presidential elections. Lukashenko used all the force he could muster against the demonstrators, and many of the participants are now in prison. In public, only the red-white-red colours symbolizes still that the resistance against the autocratic regime nevertheless continues.

    • ANYA AND SERYOZHA by Ivette Löcker ©2018
      Anya and Seryozha, eighteen and nineteen years old, have been close friends since school. They live in Mariupol, an industrial city in southeastern Ukraine.

    • SCHÖNBORN  by Maxim Melnyk © 2020
      Two villages with the same name: Schönborn. One located in Transcarpathia in Ukraine, the other one in Brandenburg in Germany. They are both struggling to find their identity, almost 30 years after the fall of communism in Germany and the founding of independent Ukraine.

    • SUMMERWAR by Moritz Schulz © 2019
      The war has been going on for five years now, and there are many Ukrainians who want to do something for their country. The right-wing Azov Regiment offers training for citizen militias, partly through summer camps for thousands of children. We follow two of the star candidates.

    • BOY OF WAR by Cyprien Clement-Delmas, Igor Kosenko ©2018
      "Why are you here? Are you mentally sick? Do you want to kill people?“ the Ukrainian military commander asks the 18-year-old recruit Artiom.

    • THE LAST TAPE by Igor Kosenko, Cyprien Clement-Delmas ©2016
      As Artiom prepares to fight for the Ukrainian army Anatoly his 88-year-old grandfather and war veteran records their diminishing time together and questions his choice.

    • LEARNING TO MILK A COW by Juliana Saragosa ©2016
      A 64min experimental documentary about my grandmother's personal experiences of being stolen from her family in Soviet Ukraine and taken to work for German farmers under National Socialism.

    • POSTCARD FROM UKRAINE by Sieva Diamantakos ©2016
      From the suburbs of Donetsk and the separatists camps in Lugansk, to the block posts in Mariupol and Crimea, passing by the still occupied Maidan Square in Kiev, Postcards From Ukraine sheds light on the country’s new generations – their values, their dreams – and the class tensions in the biggest crisis between East and West since the collapse of Soviet Union.

    • LANGES ECHO | LONG ECHO by Veronika Glasunowa, Lukasz Lakomy ©2017
      LONG ECHO – does it refer to the explosion not far from the town? Or to the time when people searched for a new idea for their country? Or is it rather the long echo of Soviet mentality that led to this bloody conflict? The film portrays the town Dobropolye, in Eastern Ukraine – 70 km from the border with the breakaway republics – and some of its people against the backdrop of the war. 

    • KHAN'S FLESH by Georg Kussmann, Krystsina Savutsina ©2021
      ...Like a Dziga Vertov on Lexomil, Krystsina Savutsina’s camera captures a series of gestures, micro non-events and simultaneous rituals, like so many daily choreographies to which the inhabitants of this Belarusian village, from every generation, devote or submit themselves... [Emmanuel Chicon, Visions du Réel] 

    • THE MYTH OF ODESSA by Inga Wolfram ©2017
      Odessa is a city of tradition and recommencement. Even the political dispute between Ukraine and Russia isn’t as present as somewhere else. Odessa is a multicultural microcosm since 225 years.

    • DONBAS DAYS by Philipp Schaeffer © 2021
      A short portrait of a young man, who choses Ukraine as the destination for his year abroad so he can teach juggling to children who have been affected by war. Surrounded by trenches, he confesses that he feels more comfortable here than in Czech Republic because the people are so kind-hearted. With great sensitivity the film shows a search for meaning surrounded by gunfire.


     


     




    • Are there still heroines in Putin’s Russia?
      FAITH HOPE LOVE by Katja Fedulova ©2017
      She finds three young, beautiful women, each fighting for their own vision of what their country should be. Their struggle offers a complex picture of modern Russian – full of dramatic, desperate, absurd and funny moments.

    • WEATHERMAKER by Stanislaw Mucha ©2021
      The loneliest workplace in the world on a weather station on the edge of the Russian polar sea.

    • MOSCOW – ART AND THE CITY by Inga Wolfram ©2020
      We introduce Moscow artists, designers and dancers to shed light on this latest chapter in the city’s art history. Moscow’s cultural scene dazzles these days with its splendid diversity.


     


     



     


     



    • POLISH SOLO – HOW DEMOCRACY IS DISMANTELED by Andrzej Klamt ©2021
      The documentary analyses the new 'Polish Order' in its effects, with a special focus on Poland's conflict with the EU, the systematic dismantling of press freedom and women's rights in the country.


     


     



     



    • ICE OF CHERNOBYL by Maryna Dymshyts ©2019
      Ice of Chernobyl is the treatise on the thrill of the forbidden: entering the restricted zone of a damaged nuclear power plant. 33 years after the disaster.?5 days and nights illegally in the restricted area, in Pripyat and on the Duga-1 antenna.?

    • CHERNOBYL THE INVISIBLE THIEF by Christoph Boekel ©2006
      April 26th 1986. The day a nightmare scenario became horrific reality: the day reactor block 4 of the Chernobyl atomic power station exploded. The early summer heat, insufficient security measures and lack of knowledge and training exposed the emergency workers to extreme risk. One of them was the young artist Dmitrij Gutin. During the last days of his military service he was posted to the highly contaminated 30 km. zone around Chernobyl. He died just short of his 40th birthday, after many painful years of suffering the effects of radiation poisoning.


     


     



    recomended Ukrainian films:



    • THE EARTH IS BLUE AS AN ORANGE by Iryna Tsilyk, 74min “War is when some people shoot. And other people shoot the people who shot first. When they start to shoot, mum wakes us up and we go to the corridor. And when they stop, we go back to sleep.” © 2020 [source 70 BERLINALE Generation 14plus, WS: CAT&Docs][CPH:DOX]*

    • A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS by Simon Lereng Wilmont, 87min, ©2022, Tears turn to soap bubbles and hugs turn to fights in this award-winning film about an orphanage in eastern Ukraine. Eminently observed, and with unforgettable moments of hope.WS: RISE AND SHINE [CPH:DOX]*

    • NOVOROSSIYA by Luca Gennari, Enrico Parenti, 64min, ©2022, takes us into the grey zone of war in Donetsk, where we meet an American communist and foreign fighter in the bitter conflict, alongside a heavy metal band and two elderly women in their eighth year living in a Soviet bunker. Life in the borderlands continues despite the bombings, but the future is as uncertain as ever. P: elliot films, Susanna Trojano [CPH:DOX]*

    • MAIDAN by Sergei Loznitsa, The 2014 Ukrainian uprising depicted as a powerful historical fresco by director Sergei Loznitsa, a maestro of the contemporary and historical chronicle. Ukraine/Netherlands © 2014, 130 min [CPH:DOX]*

    • OUTSIDE by Olha Zhurba, As a 13-year-old boy, he became the poster boy of the Ukrainian revolution. Now Roma is back on the streets with nothing in his pocket but a lighter and a knife. Can he get his life together before it’s too late? Ukraine, Denmark/Netherlands ©2022, 79 min  [CPH:DOX]*

    • THE TREASURES OF CRIMES by Oeke Hoogendijk. A collection of historical artefacts from Ukraine is stranded in a museum in Amsterdam as Russia annexes Crimea. For to whom should they be returned? A deep dilemma turns courtroom drama. Netherlands © 2021, 82 min [CPH:DOX]*


     



     


    [CPH:DOX]*: 'Before the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine was sadly underrepresented in Western media. We have selected a number of strong films offering a range of views on life in the independent state whose existence is now threatened by Putin and his army.'


     



     


     [#dokfest2022 _ 37 DOK.fest Munich]


    • A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS by Simon Lereng Wilmont, 87min, DNK, SWE, FIN, UKR 2022, P: Cinephil, Final Cut for Real,
    • DONBAS DAYS by Philipp Schaeffer, 16min, UKR, DE 2021, streetsfilm.
    • NAWALNY by Daniel Roher, 98min, USA 2022, WS: Dogwoof
    • PUSHIING BOUNDARIES by Lesia Kordonets, CH 2021, 102min, P: Dschoint Ventschr
    • TRENCHES by Loup Bureau, FRA 2021, Loup Bureau, 85min, WS: Films Boutique

  • 35 Sunny Side of the Doc, June 24–27, 2024

    Jury’s word on the winner of the HISTORYsection “Through an intimate story OUR SISTER ANGELA opens a new window on the story of Angela Davis’s ...

    Jury’s word on the winner of the HISTORYsection “Through an intimate story OUR SISTER ANGELA opens a new window on the story of Angela Davis’s visit to the GDR in the seventies to reveal propaganda and intrigue between East and West adding surprising insight to the dangerous tensions of today.


    OUR SISTER ANGELA – BLACK POWER IN THE GDR by Jascha Hannover, Katharina Warda, P: Florianfilm GmbH (Germany), Dare Pictures (United Kingdom), La Lutta (United States)


     


     

     


    "This 35th anniversary edition was a blast! Over four days, the market gathered 2100 participants from 68 countries, over 1000 companies, 90 exhibitors, and 250 international decision-makers including major broadcasters, streamers, foundations, distributors, financiers, and museums from around the world. The event welcomed 40 delegations from countries such as Australia, Spain, Brazil, Canada, and a large number of participants from China once again this year." The 36th edition of Sunny Side of the Doc, is scheduled for June 23-26, 2025.


     


     


     


     


     




    Let's meet again at our booth and join our meet&greet on June 27, 5-6. p.m. 


     


    Selected projects with German participation:



    • OUR SISTER ANGELA – BLACK POWER IN THE GDR by Jascha Hannover, Katharina Warda, P: Florianfilm GmbH (Germany), Dare Pictures (United Kingdom), La Lutta (United States)
      In the 1970s, an enthusiastic solidarity movement for Black civil rights activist Angela Davis emerges in the GDR. She attracts hundreds of thousands of people during her visits to the country. But all this enthusiasm is deceptive…. Katharina Warda tells this often-overlooked piece of Black East German from her personal perspective. [history]

    • NIEMEYER 4 EVER by Aurélia Makedessi, P: Special Touch Studios (France), The Attic Productions (Lebanon), Mayana Films (Germany)
      In northern Lebanon, an improbable place revives hope: the International Fair of Oscar Niemeyer, yet officially closed to the public. The walls do not prevent dreams, nor birds from flying. [arts & culture]

    • OUR LAND, OUR FREEDOM by Meena Nanji, Zippy Kimundu, P: Twende Films (United States), Afrofilms International (Kenya), Muiraquitã Filmes (Portugal), Autentika Films (Germany)
      A powerful Kenyan woman’s search for her father’s remains becomes an investigation into British colonial atrocities and a grassroots movement to reclaim ancestral land. [impact campaigns]

    • UNCONVENTIONAL GARDENERS by Alessandro Bernarnd, Paolo Ceretto, P: Zenit Arti Audiovisive (Italy), Dirk Manthey Film (Germany).
      In an ancient valley devastated by a hurricane, two visionary scientists listen to the genius loci of the wounded forest. A cinematic journey to the edge of science in search of a new intelligence that can change our future. [science]

    • Browse all selected projects here.


     


     



     


     


     


     


    The official jury for Sunny Side of the Doc 2024 with 21 professionals will have the challenging task of selecting the winners in each pitch category. For this 35th edition, diversity will be emphasized, with a jury consisting of producers, distributors, broadcasters, former pitchers, foundations, and market representatives from 12 countries.


     


    global issues [cash prize € 3,000.-] jury members:
    Natasha Gadd (AIDC)
    Catherine Olson (Passionate 4 Docs)
    Anthony Dufour (HIKARI)


    nature & conservation [cash prize € 3,000.-] jury members:
    Amy Stone (ITV Studios)
    Annette Scheurich (MARCO POLO FILM AG)
    Emma Ross (BIG WAVE PRODUCTIONS)


    science [cash prize € 3,000.-] jury members:
    Valérie Abita (INA)
    Laurence Thiriat (GOOD TO KNOW S.A.S.)
    Peter Bardehle (VIDICOM MEDIA GMBH)


    history [cash prize € 3,000.-] jury members:
    Judy Rymer (Rymer Childs)
    Catherine Alvaresse (KM PRODUCTION)
    Marco VISALBERGHI (DOCLAB SRL)


    arts & culture [cash prize € 3,000.-] jury members:
    Anna Ferens (TELEWIZJA POLSKA S.A.)
    Tiago Ornaghi (GLOBOPLAY)
    Mireia GUBERN (FUNDACIÓN “LA CAIXA”)
    impact campaigns


    impact campaigns [cash prize € 3,000.-] jury members:
    Opal H. Bennet (PBS / POV / American Documentary)
    Kristian Kaehler (BERLIN PRODUCERS MEDIA GMBH)
    Hollie Fifer (Doc Society)


    new voices [cash prize € 3,000.-] jury members:
    Adel Ksiksi (Aljazeera Documentary Channel)
    Julianna Ugrin (ECLIPSE FILM)
    Aleksandra Drewienko (CAT&Docs)


     


     German producers find more information 'how to join the German delegation' here: __German only__.


     


     


     



    with 250 decision-makers / 134 companies / 36 countries


    The Guide to Decision Makers 2024 — for only 90€ (Excl. Tax) — is designed to help producers and industry professionals find buyers, sharing keys to understanding what buyers want as you develop concepts and create strategies for pitches.


    • Which channels/platforms worldwide buy documentaries, specials, and series?
    • Who are the key decision-makers?
    • What are they looking for?
    • How many hours most buyers commission and acquire each year.
    • How to contact them?


    Report of Sunny Side of the Doc 2024, La Rochelle 24.06.24 - 27.06.24 by Björn Jensen und George Kalomenopoulos –German only– for download as PDF here.


    as single page:
    #35ssd #SSD24 •
    #34ssd #SSD23 •
    #33ssd #SSD22 •
    #30ssd #SSD19 •


    [FB]

  • 41 FILMFEST MÜNCHEN June 28 – July 7, 2024

            The Special Mention – Young Jury  Award goes to SISTERQUEENS by Clara Stella Hüneke, 97min, P: Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. The ...

     



     

     


     



     


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions
    41 FILMFEST MÜNCHEN June 28 – July 7, 2024



     


     


    Democracy is under pressure: Across Europe, and even in Germany, far-right populists have been elected to parliaments, spreading ideas that violate human dignity and using social media to amplify them. This comes at a time when the last witnesses to the Holocaust are dying off. The MUNICH INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL is therefore clearly positioning itself in favor of diversity of opinion, tolerance and open-mindedness. [source


    as single page
    41 FILMFEST MÜNCHEN 2024
    40 FILMFEST MÜNCHEN 2023




     



     
  • German Documentary Award 2024

          The German Documentary Award goes to TOTAL TRUST by Jialing Zhang. The Best Music German Documentary 2024 is SCHLEIMKEIM | OTZE – SCHLEIMKEIM ...

     



     


     



    • The German Documentary Award goes to TOTAL TRUST by Jialing Zhang.

    • The Best Music German Documentary 2024 is SCHLEIMKEIM | OTZE – SCHLEIMKEIM UND DIE DDR VON UNTEN by Jan Heck.

    • The German Documentary Film Award 2024: Honorary Lifetime Achievement Award goes to ULRIKE OTTINGER.

    • The Audience Award goes to PLASTIC FANTASTIC by Isa Willinger.

    • The Supporting Award goes to GOLDHAMMER by André Krummel, Pablo Ben Yakov.


     


     


     


     


     


    The 8th edition of the SWR Doku Festival will take place at Stuttgart from June 18–22, 2024. Twelve films have been nominated for the GERMAN DOCUMENTARY AWARD, covering a broad range of topics and creativity. hree other productions are competing separately for the award for the BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY. In addition the festival showcases a Retrospective of the HONORARY AWARD 2024 winner Ulrike Ottinger. The award ceremony will take place at the end of the film festival, on June 21, 2024 at Stuttgart.


     


     


    GERMAN DOCUMENTARY AWARD | DEUTSCHER DOKUMENTARFILM PREIS 2024 NOMINEES:



     


    BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY 2024 NOMINEES:



     


    ULRIKE OTTINGER RETROPSPECTIVE:
    [Deutscher Dokumentarfilmpreis 2024: Ehrenpreis fürs Lebenswerk]



    ©2024 Ulrike Ottinger

     "Ulrike Ottinger's films are real strokes of luck. They manage to penetrate the audience in a special way. Ottinger's handwriting and artistic expression are unmistakable, her visual language is particularly sensitive. It is a great pleasure to be able to see our multifaceted world through her films and thus through her eyes. On behalf of SWR, I would like to warmly congratulate Ulrike Ottinger on receiving the German Documentary Film Award" said SWR Intendant & ARD-Vorsitzender Kai Gniffke. [source SWR]


     


    Out of Competition:



     


      [LineUp SWR DOKUFESTIVAL 2024 German only]


    as single page:


    German Documentary Award 2024
    German Documentary Award 2023
    German Documentary Award 2022
    German Documentary Award 2020
    German Documentary Award 2019
    German Documentary Award 2018

  • 31 Sheffield DocFest, June 12–17, 2024

        showcasing 109 films from 56 countries of production, including about a dozen projects with German participation. "Sheffield DocFest is ...

     



     


    showcasing 109 films from 56 countries of production, including about a dozen projects with German participation.


    "Sheffield DocFest is the UK’s leading documentary festival and one of the world’s most influential markets for documentary projects. We champion and present the breadth of documentary form – film, television, immersive and art – in the vibrant city of Sheffield each June. We offer a place for inspiration, debate, development, learning and challenge. Our programming represents our core values – creativity, empathy, freedom, inclusivity and internationalism."


     Browse the 2024 Sheffield DocFest Award Winners here.


     


     



    31 Sheffield DocFest, June 12–17, 2024


     


    LineUp projects with German participation:



     


     


    GERMAN DELEGATIONThis year again, there will be a German delegation, organized by Björn Jensen.
    More information _German only_


     


     


     



     


      


    The 19 MeetMarket will take place June 13+14, 2024. Drawn from 533 submissions, the this slate includes 50 projects in production, development and rough cut stage encompassing 44 countries of production and co-production. Two of them are with German participation:



    • THE GODS MUST BE MISTAKEN by Jakob Krese, P: Ivana Naceva (Nosorogi), Annika Mayer (Majmun Films) coP: Vanja Jambrovic, Marina Gumzi, (Slovenia, Germany)
      A Yugoslav family reflects on over half a century of upheaval, hope, destruction and new-beginnings. A dialogue about missing gods, an end that is not, the necessity to never give up and the price that must be borne.

    • SCARLET GIRLS by Paula Cury Melo, P: Cury Melo (Cristal Cine), Samuel Didonato (Cristal Cine), coP: Natalia Imaz (parabellum film), Omar Lara (Disruptiva Films),  (Dominican Republic, Germany, Mexico)
      What does it mean to be a woman in a country where abortion is banned in all circumstances? In this lyrical documentary, women and girls speak about the challenges and consequences regarding unsafe abortion in the Dominican Republic.

    • WAR ON WOMEN by Maris Salumets, P: Elina Litvinova (Three Brothers), Tereza Nvotova (Talking Stone Production) (Estonia, Slovakia)
      A single mom goes on a global quest to reveal a network of organisations behind the recent rise of the ultra-conservative movement and its attacks on our constitutional rights.


     


     _FB_PR_


    as single page:
    31 Sheffield DocFest 2024
    30 Sheffield DocFest 2023
    29 Sheffield DocFest 2022
    28 Sheffield Doc|Fest 2021
    27 Sheffield Doc|Fest 2020
    26 Sheffield Doc|Fest 2019
    25 Sheffield Doc|Fest 2018
    24 Sheffield Doc|Fest 2017

  • FIDMarseille June 25–30, 2024

        LineUp German productions and co-productions: A FIDAI FILM by Kamal Aljafari, 78min, P: Kamal Aljafari Productions, [CINÉ + COMPETITION] ...

     



     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     


     


     


     


     


     



    The 16th edition of FIDLab will be held on 27 and 28 June 2024, during the 35th edition of FIDMarseille 


    The FIDLab is a working space for film projects selected in response to an international call for entries. Each year, around a dozen projects are selected, regardless of format, length or subject, whether fiction, documentary, animation or series, at the writing, development or post-production stage.


    Browse the selected projects here.


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    as single page
    FID Marseille 2024
    FID Marseille 2023

  • 64 Krakow Film Festival, May 26 – June 2, 2024

      #64KFF showcasing 180 films from all over the world, including 15 productions with German participation. KFF is on the exclusive list of ...

     



    #64KFF


    showcasing 180 films from all over the world, including 15 productions with German participation. KFF is on the exclusive list of qualifying events for the OSCARS® in the categories of short film (live action, animated, documentary) and documentary feature, as well as a recommending event for the European Film Awards in the same categories.


    Browse more information on
    International Documentary Competition.
    DocFilmMusic.
    National Competition.
    International Short Film Competition.
    Polish Documentary Panorama.


     


    The 64th Krakow Film Festival will be held in Kraków’s cinemas from 26 May to 2 June 2024 and across Poland at the KFF VOD online streaming platform between 31 May and 16 June 2024.


    The submissions for international entries are closed now. The results will be known in April 2024 and the list of films qualified for the competitions will be published on the festival’s website.


     


     


    Queer stars straight from the BERLINALE. Documentaries about Peaches and Jürgen Baldiga in two of the 64th Krakow Film Festival competitions.


    He’d be attending her concerts, and she’d probably end up being one of his muses. Strong, uncompromising artistic personalities, who have found their place to live, love, and create in Berlin’s underground scene. The legendary, controversial vocalist Peaches and the provocative chronicler of Berlin’s nooks and crannies, Jürgen Baldiga, are the subjects of two films showcased at the ongoing festival in Berlin, which will appear in two competitions at the Krakow Film Festival in late May." source PR February 20, 2024 #64KFF


    Such bold, scandalous figures couldn’t afford sanitized portraits. Both TEACHES OF PEACHES by Philipp Fussenegger and Judy Landkammer – invited to the international DocFilmMusic competition – and a contender in the international documentary competition, BALDIGA – UNLOCKED HEART by  Markus Stein, are strong, provocative propositions aimed at adult audiences. Both titles can be found in the prestigious Panorama Dokumente section at this year’s BERLINALE.


     These have been the first german documentaries of the 64 KFF programme announced. Scroll down and stay tuned for more!


     



    64 KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL May 26 – June 2, 2024 [kino]
    KFF VOD across Poland May 31 – June 16, 2024 [online]

     


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions: 



    Browse all confirmed titles of 64KFF here.


     


     


     


     


     



     10 KFF INDUSTRY May 27 – June 1, 2024


    KFF Industry is a part of Krakow Film Festival dedicated to film industry professionals. In 2024 KFF Industry will be held on-site. Filmmakers and producers of documentary, animated and short films will meet the experts, festivas and industry events programmers, sales agents, distributors, funds, TV, VOD and online platoform representatives and other international decision makers. Access with passes: INDUSTRY, INDUSTRY, LIGHT, MEDIA, INDUSTRY PRO. Some the events are open to a wide audience.


    CEDOC MARKET This year’s 10th edition of the Central European Documentary Co-Production Market, the only documentary co-production market in Poland for producers who are looking for partners from Europe and around the world, will host 35 documentary films in development — including LEAVE EASY COME BACK SAFE by Sasha Kulak, Masha Maroz, P: Einbahnstraße Productions, Julia Shaginurova — and 10 producers without projects, with German producers such as  Alex Tondowski – Tondowski Film, Natalia Imaz – Parabellum film GmbH, Ümit Uludag – CORSO Film- und Fernsehproduktion.
    More information: IndustryNews, May 2, 2024.


     


     



    Krakow Film Festival is one of the oldest events in the world dedicated to documentary, animated and short feature films. Since 2006, the festival is accompanied by Krakow Film Market, dedicated to film industry professionals. It core consists of three competitions of equal rank: documentary film competition, short film competition and national competition. During the eight festival days, the viewers have a chance to watch about 250 films from Poland and from around the world. They are shown in competition sections and in special screenings. The festival is accompanied by exhibitions, concerts, open-air shows and meetings with artists. Every year, the festival is visited by approximately 900 Polish and international guests: directors, producers, festival programmers and numerous Krakow audience.


     


    as single page
    64 KFF 2024

  • 21 Millenium Docs Against Gravity, May 10–19, 2024

    For its immense courage in entering a closed, closely guarded world and exposing the mechanisms of authoritarian systems, the Mayor of Gdynia ...

    For its immense courage in entering a closed, closely guarded world and exposing the mechanisms of authoritarian systems, the Mayor of Gdynia Award goes to HOLLYWOODGATE by Ibrahim Nash'at. The film was awarded with the special mention of Bydgoszcz Regional Bar Council as well.


     



     


     


    The special mention of the Bydgoszcz Regional Bar Council for a film that addresses human rights issues goes to HOLLYWOODGATE by Ibrahim Nash'at with the justification:
    "The author of the film, demonstrating great intuition, courage and responsibility, shows almost day by day the behind-the-scenes of the Taliban military regime taking over Afghanistan, which is gradually turning the country into a religious and patriarchal dictatorship, where disobedience is punishable by death.
    The filmmakers managed to show in a brave yet artistically mature way the resistance of defenseless Palestinian villagers to the brutal violence of the Israeli army.
    The silent heroes of this film are the citizens of Afghanistan, especially women, whose rights are systematically suppressed. The current authority, based on the principles of Sharia, restricts their right to be present in public life, bans their education at universities, work in NGOs, interferes with their clothing, controls every aspect of their lives, and reinstates corporal punishment and its public execution.
    The artist, recording at risk and showing the world this case study of the birth of a dictatorship, penetrating with his camera into the very interior of the dictatorship and showing the mechanisms of power from the inside, stands up for all those citizens who are deprived of their rights by this power, and who have no possibility in their country to express any opposition." Statement of the Jury.


    Browse all awards of 21MDAG here.


     


     



      #21MDAG


    showcasing 190 documentaries from all ove the world, including about 16 German productions & co-productions. The largest Polish film festival takes place in eight cities, such as Warsaw, Wroclaw, Gdynia, Poznan, Katowice, Lódz, Bydgoszcz, and Lublin, followed by an online edition.  Browse the catalogue 2024 A-Z.


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     


    _ TRAILER_
    _FB_


    as single page:
    21mdag2024
    20mdag2023

  • 39 DOK.fest Munich, May 1–12, 2024 [May 6-20 @home]

               showcasing 109 films from 51 countries           DOK.fest München is Germany's largest documentary film festival showcasing ...

     





             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


     


     


     

  • DEUTSCHER FILMPREIS – German Film Award 2024

          ...and the German Film Award BEST DOCUMENTARY goes to Melanie Andernach, Knut Losen, Steffi Niederzoll for SEVEN WINTERS IN TEHERAN. ...

     



     


     


    ...and the German Film Award BEST DOCUMENTARY goes to Melanie Andernach, Knut Losen, Steffi Niederzoll for SEVEN WINTERS IN TEHERAN. German Film Award BEST EDITING goes to the editor of the film, Nicole Kortlüke. Jabbaris mother, Shole Pakravan thanks the Akademie for the support for Iranian women and survivors of sex abuse victims all over the world in this way. DO NOT LOOK AWAWY!


     



     Shole Pakravan

     

     


     


     


     



     

    NOMINEES BEST DOCUMENTARY



     




    links to LOLA TALKS in  _German only_ above.

     


    The award ceremony at the THEATER AM POTSDAMER PLATZ on May 3, 2024 streamed live online 7:30p.m. by ARDmediathek and available until May 10, 2024.


     


     



     


     


    From September 4, production and distribution companies can submit German feature films, children's films and documentaries (with theatrical release from December 7, 2023 to May 8, 2025) for the DEUTSCHER FILMPREIS selection process The deadline for submissions is September 19, 2024. The award ceremony is scheduled for May 9, 2025 at the THEATER AM POTSDAMER PLATZ.


     


     


     


    as single page
       German Film Award | LOLA 2024
       German Film Award | LOLA 2023
       German Film Award | LOLA 2022
       • German Film Award | LOLA 2021
       German Film Award | LOLA@Berlinale 2020
       • German Film Award | LOLA@Berlinale 2019
       German Film Award | LOLA@Berlinale 2018

  • 31 Hot Docs, April 25 – May 5, 2024

      is taking place in cinemas across Toronto, programming 168 documentaries from 64 countries including 10+1 German productions and co-productions. ...

     



    is taking place in cinemas across Toronto, programming 168 documentaries from 64 countries including 10+1 German productions and co-productions. The 11-day festival features 274 live screenings on seven screens at three venues across the city, with 248 live filmmaker Q&As. 


    In the Best Mid-Length Documentary category, the jury acknowledged OMI NOBU – THE NEW MAN (D: Carlos Yuri Ceuninck, | P: Aurélien Bodinaux, Natasha Craveiro, Paulo de Carvalho, Gudula Meinzolt, Alyaa Musa | Cape Verde, Belgium, Germany, Sudan | 2023 | 64 min), which tells the story of Quirino, the sole inhabitant of Ribeira Funda, isolated by his village’s superstitious legacy and living beneath the very real threat of the unstable cliffside that borders it. Jury Statement: “Honourable mention goes to a breathtaking, cinematic film that closely observes the last days of the last man to live in a remote and ghost-ridden village on an island in Cape Verde. The New Man captures the symbiotic relationship between man and nature raising important questions about the implications of climate breakdown.” [source: all award winners]


     


     



     


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     Browse all documentaries in festival programme here and stay tuned via FB.


     



     #HotDocs24


     


     


    Hot Docs INDUSTRY


     


    Hot Docs Industry Programs include the Hot Docs Forum, Deal Maker, Close Up With...sessions, Workshops and Conference, market & funds.


    Among the selected projects are with German participation:



    • TEA WITH THE TALIBAN by Ovidio Salazar, P: Faction Films Ltd. (UK), Nadcon GmbH (Germany). As Taliban leaders strive to rebuild Afghanistan in their own image, pulled between the demands of The West and their own ideology, pressures mount on the ground for the people.[hot doc forum pitch]

    • THE MOST IMPORTANT PRISONERS by Zakaria Rahmani, P: Fruitmarket Arts & Media GmbH (Germany), Ard Mhacha Productions (Ireland), One ends up being Guantanamo Bay’s highest value detainee while his cousin, a close advisor to Usama bin Laden, is detained in Iran, where he becomes the most important prisoner. Captured by opposing sides in the War on Terror, the two cousins shared the same fate of becoming the most important prisoners. There struggle for survival offers a unique and untold view on the war on terror, its causes and consequences. [deal makers]

    • THE SOLDIER'S JOURNEY by Helena Maksyom, Privu A. Adrian PFA (Romania), Perennial Lens GmbH (Germany), Een Van de Jongens (Netherlands), Astrae Productions (Switzerland) What does it take for Helena, a filmmaker to pick up a weapon in the most ruthless war the world has experienced since World War II and still try not to lose hope in humanity and the future? [deal makers]


    @HotDocsIndustry .


     


     


    Decisions Makers from Germany are:
    Monoduo Films, Ben Bassauer .
    NEW DOCS, Elina Kewitz .
    Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), Sabine Bubeck-Paaz .
    Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF), Wolfgang Bergmann .


     


     


     



    31 Hot Docs 2024
    30 Hot Docs 2023
    29 Hot Docs 2022
    28 Hot Docs 2021
    27 Hot Docs 2020
    26 Hot Docs 2019
    25 Hot Docs 2018


     


     


     


     


    _appeal_PR march8, 2024_
    31 Hot Docs Press Conference_
    _31 Hot Docs TRAILER_

  • Visions du Réel Nyon, April 12–21, 2024

            showcasing an official selection of 165 films from 50 different countries, with gender parity for the second year running, including ...

     


     



     


     


    showcasing an official selection of 165 films from 50 different countries, with gender parity for the second year running, including about 20 German productions and co-productions. With 88 world premieres and 14 international premieres amongst the 128 new films in the programme, Visions du Réel reaffirms its position as Switzerland’s second most important festival in terms of launching new films, and as an unmissable international event for non-fiction cinema.


    The award ceremony on April 20, 2024 evening marks the conclusion of the competitions of the 55th edition of Visions du Réel and reveals the eagerly anticipated 2024 winners, including three German co–productions.


     



     


     


     


    Let's Meet:


     • Switzerland Meets Austria and Germany, April 15, 2024, 2:30-6 p.m. for future co-productions opportunities as well as
    VdR–Magic Hour: Meet the Germans presented by German Films at THE FACTORY, April 15, 6-7 p.m.


     



    Co-Producing with Germany presented by German Films Managing Director Simone Baumann, April 15, 2024 at Petite Colombière 1. Learning the ins and outs of co-producing with one of Europe’s favourite producing partners – Germany.
    Photo©Nikita Thevoz

     


     


     


     


     


     



    55 Visions du Réel International Filmfestival Nyon 2024


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     


    Browse the full programme here.


     


     


     



    April 14 – 17, 2024 

     


    Dedicated to cinema professionals, VdR–Industry and its activities represent a springboard for future films to find support in every stage of their production. Meet the decision–makers (buyers, broadcasters, funders and commissioners) who will attend this year festival.


    The VdR–Industry Forums are:
    VdR–Pitching .
    VdR–Work in Progress .
    VdR–Rough Cut Lab .
    VdR–Development Lab .
    VdR–Film Market .
    browse all selected projects for the VdR- Industry Programme here.


     


    SAVE THE DATE


     


    Co-Producing with Germany presented by German Films Managing Director Simone Baumann, April 15, 2024, 2:30-3:15 p.m. at Petite Colombière 1. Come learn the ins and outs of co-producing with one of Europe’s favourite producing partners – Germany.


    Switzerland Meets Austria & Germany Co-Pro Pitch + One-on-Ones presented in collaboration with Austrian Films & German Films, April 15, 2024, 3:30-6 p.m. at Petite Colombière 1,


    Looking to meet producers from Austria, Germany or Switzerland? Want to find out about some projects you can join? Then come this producer-focused pitching session and see if you can find your next co-pro partner. This pitch will be followed by short one-on-one meetings for those interested in further exploring producing opportunites with our special Switzerland Meets Austria & Germany delegation.


    VdR-Industry Magic Hour: Meet the DACH
    To celebrate VdR's strong bond with our German-speaking neighbours, the team is hosting a VdR–Industry Magic Hour with our friends at the Federal Office of Culture. Open to Industry and Networking accreditations. At THE FACTORY on April 14, 6-7 p.m.


    In addition to this, if you’d like to meet and network with the delegations, all Industry and Networking guests are invited to book a meeting through our online Matchmaking Service or directly at our VdR–Lounge: VdR–Lounge, Usine à Gaz, Rue César Soulié 1, 1260 Nyon


     


    VdR–Film Market 2024 with German productions and co-productions such as:



     


     


     


    LineUp of the selected German projects, production and co-production:



    • BURNING DADDY by Tana Gilbert, Chile, Germany [VdR-Pitching]

    • THE HOUSE OF SHADOWS by Amine Hattou, Algeria, France, Germany [VdR–Pitching]

    • LISTENING TO THE WORLD by Yelizaveta Smith Ukraine, Germany, Sweden [VdR–Work in Progress]

    • MAGNETIC LETTERS by Demie Dangia, Philippines, France, Germany [VdR–Pitching]

    • TAU by Timofey Stekolschuk, Georgia, Germany [VdR–Rough Cut Lab]

    • TOTEMIC by Stéphanie Barbey, Switzerland, Germany [VdR–Pitching]


     


    The 2024 VdR–Film Market catalogue will be available from the start of the Festival on April 12 – July 21, 2024. This secured online platform offers key industry professionals the opportunity to view a selection of new creative documentaries. 


     


     


     PHOTOS&VIDEOS2024.
    56 Visions du Réel, Nyon sheduled for April 4–13, 2025.


     


    as single page
    55 Visions du Réel, Nyon 2024
    54 Visions du Réel, Nyon 2023
    53 Visions du Réel, Nyon 2022
    52 Visions du Réel, Nyon 2021
    51 Visions du Réel, Nyon 2020
    50 Visions du Réel, Nyon 2019
    49 Visions du Réel, Nyon 2018 • 


     


     

  • ROMAN BRODMANN PRIZE 2024

          goes to Farahnaz Sharifi. "MY STOLEN PLANET Farahnaz Sharifi tells the story of her life and her personal resistance against the dictatorship ...

     


     



     


    goes to Farahnaz Sharifi. "MY STOLEN PLANET Farahnaz Sharifi tells the story of her life and her personal resistance against the dictatorship of the mullahs in Iran. Even as a seven-year-old girl, being forced to wear a hijab becomes a symbol of the oppression of women.
    She began filming everyday family life, celebrations and parties with friends as a teenager… In MY STOLEN PLANET, she combines her own video material together with purchased private 8-mm films of Iranians leaving the country.
    Iranian women who had to or wanted to leave the country and whose possessions and property confiscated by the regime. In addition, she uses footage from current demonstrations and, in particular, footage that shows the struggle of Iranian women.
    In this way, Farahnaz Sharifi documents two living environments: the private living space, the 'free planet' of women among themselves and at home, and the public living space - monitored and harassed by a repressive, brutal and misogynistic mullah regime.
    MY STOLEN PLANET is personal, political and poetic - Farahnaz Sharifi succeeds in creating a unique aesthetic combination of image montage, linguistic narrative and music. The result is a resonating space that conveys great sadness and at the same time allows the audience a frightening realisation and deep emotional involvement."
    the jury states.


     



     Farahnaz Sharifi

     


     


       



     


    The €10,000 award recognizes politically and socially relevant documentaries. Around 130 submissions were received for the ROMAN BRODMANN PRIZE 2024, endowed for the third time by the Haus des Dokumentarfilms - Europäisches Medienforum Stuttgart e.V. (HDF) and the Institut für Medien- und Kommunikationspolitik (IfM).


     


    Participation in the colloquium and award ceremony at the Landesvertretung Rheinland-Pfalz beim Bund, In den Ministergärten 6, 10117 Berlin on April 19, 2024 is free of charge. Please register in advance by sending an email to hdf@hdf.de. Please indicate whether you would like to attend the colloquium (11 a.m. - 5 p.m.), the award ceremony (6 p.m. - 11 p.m.) or both. Browse the programm here or download as PDF.


     


    The nominated German Documentaries are:



    Melanie Andernach, Andrew Bird and Ulrich Stein, members of the main jury, are selecting a winner to be announced April 19, 2024, after the colloquium ZEREISSPROBEN – DIE FLUT DER BILDER [ORDEAL – THE FLOOD OF PICTURES], which is followed up by the award ceremony at the Landesvertretung von Rheinland-Pfalz, In den Ministergärten 6, 10117 Berlin, Germany. Get your [free entry] ticket by sending an E–mail to hdf@hdf.de.


    More Information browse here.


      


    as single page:
    ROMAN BRODMANN PREIS 2024
    ROMAN BRODMANN PREIS 2023

  • 21 dokumentarfilmwoche hamburg, april 23–28, 2024

           Three German documentaries in the programme  XARAASI XANNE – CROSSING VOICES as well as OPERATION NAMIBIA and FASIA, ON DEFIANT WOMEN ...

      



     


     


    Three German documentaries in the programme  XARAASI XANNE – CROSSING VOICES as well as OPERATION NAMIBIA and FASIA, ON DEFIANT WOMEN AN A TROUBADOURA are the basis of an event in English —with the German title— Dokumentierter Aktivismus & aktivistisches Filmen: Respondenzen von Onome Ekeh und Abdou-Rahime Diallo  taking place on Saturday, April 27, 2024 11am at festivalzentrum fux eG.


    To continue the discussion format that began in 2021 with the Panel on Colonial Reappraisal in Documentary Film, the festival invited Onome Ekeh and Abdou-Rahime Diallo for a discussion in this year's edition. The films XARAASI XANNE – CROSSING VOICES, OPERATION NAMIBIA and FASIA, ON DEFIANT WOMEN AN A TROUBADOURA form the basis of the discussion. Despite the diversity of political milieus, temporalities and narrative styles, the spirit of 20th century internationalism speaks from the films. The claim: all people can participate equally in the struggle against capitalism and exploitation. The discussion will focus on critical perspectives on self-empowered archive work and the image productions of subaltern positions. What were the promises of the internationalism of the time, how did it fall into disrepute and how can a transformation succeed?


     


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     Download the programme as PDF here. [FB]


     


     



     


     


    as single page
    • 21 dokumentarfilmwoche hamburg 2024 •
    20 dokumentarfilmwoche hamburg 2023
    19 dokumentarfilmwoche hamburg 2022


     


     


     


     


     


     


     

  • 29 It’s All True IDFF Brazil, April 3–14, 2024

        ...and the Melhor Documentário da Competição Internacional: Longas ou Médias-Metragens – Best Documentary Medium-Length Films Award goes ...

     



     


    ...and the Melhor Documentário da Competição Internacional: Longas ou Médias-Metragens – Best Documentary Medium-Length Films Award goes to EINHUNDERTVIER by Jonathan Schöring.


     Find all award winners here.


    29 It's All True 2024 programming a total number of 77 documentaries from 34 countries – including four german documentaries – as well as debates and training events in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and, streaming on Itaú Cultural Play from April 15–30, 2024.


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     


     


    29 É Tudo Verdada 2024 at São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and an event tour in Brazil.
    • Follow the festival on facebook.


    Browse the list of contacts of the festival here.


    as single page
    29 It's All True 2024

  • 20 ACHTUNG BERLIN FF, April 10–17, 2024

            The 20th edition of achtung berlin – new berlin film award 2024 is showcasing a dozen german documentaries in the documentary competition. ...

     


     



     


     


    The 20th edition of achtung berlin – new berlin film award 2024 is showcasing a dozen german documentaries in the documentary competition. And the winners are:



     


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions:



     


     as single page:
    20 achtung berlin

  • Movies that Matter Festival, March 22–30, 2024

    showcasing nine german documentaries. Directors Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu receive a Special Mention from the jury for the documentary OUR ...

    showcasing nine german documentaries. Directors Meena Nanji and Zippy Kimundu receive a Special Mention from the jury for the documentary OUR LAND, OUR FREEDOM, about Wanjugu Kimathi’s search for the body of her father who was hanged by colonial rulers.


     



     in The Hague and at satellite locations throughout The Netherlands.


     


    #MtMF24 has several competitions in which international juries hand out awards to the winning film or director. During the Movies that Matter Industry Days  workshops, panel discussions, pitches of impact plans and masterclasses on film and human rights are taking place. The varied programme lets visitors travel along many themes and countries in more than 80 beautiful, exciting and touching documentaries, feature films and shorts, meeting brave activists, original filmmakers and scores of human, gripping, humorous and touching stories.


     


    LineUp German Documentaries:



     


     Browse Award winners Movies that Matter Festival 2024 here.


    The Movies that Matter Festival 2025 will take place from March 21st till 29th, 2025.


     as single page:
    MtMF24

  • 26 Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, March 7–17, 2024

      26 Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, March 7–17, 2024. The Golden Alexander of the international Competition Section as well as the FIPRESCI ...

     


    26 Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, March 7–17, 2024.



    • The Golden Alexander of the international Competition Section as well as the FIPRESCI Award are bestowed to MY STOLEN PLANET by Farahnaz Sharifi.

    • The Golden Alexander of the >>Film Foreward Competition as well as the Mermaid Award go to REAS by Lola Arias.

    • Find all award winners and jury statements at the website of the festival.


     


     JURY STATEMENTS:



    • MY STOLEN PLANET by Farahnaz Sharifi, 82min, WS: CAT&Docs, P: JYOTI Film GmbH, Pak Film GmbH, [International Competition] wins the Golden Alexander int. Competiton, accompanied by €12,000-, Reasoning: A well-crafted and moving first-person essay that brilliantly confirms that every political reality has a subreality and that resistance comes in many forms, not least among them in the private realm
      as  well as the FIPRESCI Award to the Best Documentary of the International Competition Reasoning: An exemplary piece of guerrilla filmmaking comprising the secret history of a country and its women through a series of home made movies culminating to a bloody revolution in the making

    • REAS by Lola Arias, 90min, P: GEMA FILMS, Buenos Aires, SUTOR KOLONKO Germany, Mira Film GmbH Switzerland, WS: LUXBOX, Paris, France [>>Film Forward] wins the The Golden Alexander >>Film Forward Competition, accompanied by €6,000.-, Reasoning: The film tackles a relevant social issue that is both timely and urgent. Its impact extends far beyond the confines of the screen, inspiring audiences to take action towards positive change.
      as well as the Mermaid Award. Resoning: REAS is a musical, set in an old, abandoned prison building in Argentina, where stories from their lives are re-enacted by formerly incarcerated queers. Relationships, dreams, dance and music are playfully, buoyantly, central. The monochrome malaise of the prison film is upended as the characters burst into song and dance, mixing sad longing and exuberant desire. Embracing, while at the same time subverting, the tropes of melodrama and musical, REAS does not attempt to tell a general or meta story of queer life in Argentinian prisons. Instead, Lola Arias’s film explores what storytelling can do, finds truth in artifice, and embraces fluidity in form, content and identity categories.


     


     


     



    26 Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, March 7–17, 2024 


     


    #TiDF 26 showcasing 250 documentaries, among them 112 world, international and European premieres. The festival will take place in its tradition home ground, the movie theaters Olympion and Pavlos Zannas at the Olympion complex, the movie theaters Frida Liappa, Tonia Marketaki, John Cassavetes and Stavros Tornes at the Port of Thessaloniki, as well as Makedonikon theater. Moreover, the audience will have the chance to watch movies online, through the Festival’s digital platform, online.filmfestival.gr


    The festival’s programme, as well as more info on the films, are available at www.filmfestival.gr. Download PDF of the catalogue A—Z TiDF26 here


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     


     



    • International Competition: The twelve feature lenght films taking part in the International Competition have their eyes set on the Golden Alexander, accompanied by a cash prize of 12,000 euros, and the Silver Alexander, accompanied by a cash prize of 5,000 Euros.

    • Newcomers: The Newcomers competition section showcases twelve debut or sophomore films of up-and-coming directors contending for the “Dimitri Eipides” Golden Alexander, featuring a cash prize of 10,000 euros, and the Silver Alexander, featuring a cash prize of 4,000 Euros.

    • >>Film Forward: Film Forward competition section, hosting movies that challenge conventions and utter a bold and daring cinematic language, offers the audience the chance to watch twelve films. The awards include the >>Film Forward Golden Alexander, featuring a 6,000 Euros cash prize, and the >>Film Forward Silver Alexander, featuring a 3,000 Euros cash prize.

    • Within the framework of the Immersive: All around cinema competition section, eight pioneering films - including four German co-productions – are lining up for the Golden Alexander Immersive, accompanied by a 2,000 Euro cash prize.

    • Open Horizons section with dynamic and out-of-the-box docs

    • TiDF is presenting the cream of the crop of the documentary production at the Top Docs section.

    • TiDF turns attention to the younger generation through the NextGen section.

    • A total of 33 documentaries - including GENDERNAUTS by Monika Treut ©1999 – that honor and praise the liberating act of self-determination, having left their mark on world queer cinema, take center stage at the grand tribute Citizen Queer of the 26th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival. Beloved artists, activists and acclaimed personalities of cinema and culture, academics and scientists will attend the screenings to discuss with the audience. In addition, the festival’s much-loved Non-Catalog will complement the tribute, featuring texts that explore the themes, components and origins of queer documentary.



    The tickets’ presale kicks off on Tuesday March 5th. Stream the press conference here.


     


    AGORA (March 8-16), the industry section of the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival, has selected for the Thessaloniki Pitching Forum 12 projects from 11 countries and for the AGORA Docs in Progress 11 films from 16 countries, all deriving from Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean region.


    The re-shaped Thessaloniki Pitching Forum is the co-financing and co-production Forum for documentaries in the development phase, highlighting the countries of Southeastern Europe and the Mediterranean region (including the Visegrad countries, part of the Black Sea region, North Africa and Mediterranean Middle East). It has attracted many ambitious projects and has the support of valuable sponsors and partners.


    Thessaloniki Pitching Forum has secured 3 new awards for its participants. The prestigious IEFTA Award for Best Documentary in Development 10.000 EUR cash-prize, the Eurodoc Award of 1.000 EUR along with a VIP membership and the Sunny Side of the Doc Prize of 2 industry passes and 500 EUR towards travel expenses.


    Long term partnerships include the Onassis Foundation who present to the Greek filmmakers with a project to either Thessaloniki Pitching Forum or the Agora Docs in Progress the Onassis Film Award of 5.000 EUR, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) which presents the ERT Award of 2.000 EUR for a Greek project, the Mediterranean Film Institute Script2Film granting a Scholarship for the Doc Lab participation, the Documentary Association of Europe (DAE) presenting a Consultancy Award with a bespoke consultation on a project with an industry expert, Aylon Digital Services who offer a Digital transfer of archival material,  the International Documentary Film Festival - Beldocs which present the Beldocs Networking Award to attend the next edition and meet additional potential partners and the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film offering the Dok Leipzig Award which includes 2 industry passes and accommodation.


     


     



    The Agora Docs
    IN PROGRESS FILMS:



    • THE FIRST LADY by Udi Nir, Sagi Bornstein, Producer: Udi Nir - udiVsagi production, Co-producer: Georg Tschurtschenthaler - Beetz Brothers Film Production [Israel, Germany]

    • THE SECRET HAND  by Valerio Valente, Producer:  Paolo Maria Spina - Revolver, Co-producers: Enrico Cannizzo - Filmine, Boris Despodov - Arthouse Blockbusters, Wojciech Karubin - Movie Mates [Italy, Germany, Bulgaria, Poland]

    • SUPER PARADISE  by Steve Krikris, Producers: Dafni Kalafati, Paul Typaldos - Filmiki S.A, Co-producer: Titus Kreyenberg - unafilm [Greece, Germany]


     


     


     


    as single page:
    26 TiDF 2024

  • CPH:DOX, March 13–24, 2024 at Copenhagen

            More than 200 new films – including about 20 German productions and co-productions – representing the perspectives of filmmakers from ...

     


     



     

     


    More than 200 new films – including about 20 German productions and co-productions – representing the perspectives of filmmakers from all over the world: 84 world premieres, 32 international premieres and 9 European premieres are featured in this year's festival. Running from March 13-24, CPH:DOX 2024 takes off with a new nation-wide festival approach, with new thematic sections focusing on the most urgent topics of our time, from geopolitics to body politics.


    This year’s programme features six competition categories, judged by an international jury: DOX:AWARD, F:ACT AWARD, NORDIC:DOX AWARD, NEXT:WAVE AWARD, NEW:VISION AWARD, including the newest HUMAN:RIGHTS AWARD. Check out this year’s competition line-up here.


    CPH:DOX and the Institute for Human Rights are introducing the brand new HUMAN:RIGHTS AWARD to this year's festival, marking the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This new award underscores the ongoing relevance of human rights in challenging times. Valued at €5,000, the award emphasizes films addressing human rights issues.
    The award honors filmmakers – incuding nominee Agnieszka Zwiefka with SILENT TREES – who depict the human rights challenges of our time. It has been 75 years since the UN Declaration of Human Rights was signed. Yet, discrimination and inequality are still daily realities for millions of people around the world. The candidates for this year’s Human Rights Award cover a wide range, but all share in common that they, in one way or another, bring human rights to life in a way that illuminates them for us.


    Browse the winning films of CPH:DOX 2024 here.


     


     



    #21CPH:DOX

     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



    Browse all films showcasing at CPH:DOX 2024 here.


     


     



    2024 with more than 2.000 industry professionals from around the world

     


    Key dates for filmmakers and professionals:


    INTRO:DOX Day (17 March)
    CPH:FORUM (18-21 March)
    INTER:ACTIVE SYMPOSIUM (18 March)
    DELEGATIONS (18-22 March)
    CPH:CONFERENCE (19-22 March)


    Starting off with the 2-day INTRO:DOX programme dedicated to emerging talents on March 17, the industry programme will further unfold with the INTER:ACTIVE Symposium showcasing the prototypes of the 2023/2024 CPH:LAB cohort on March 18, followed by the trend-setting 5-day CPH:CONFERENCE curated and presented in partnership with the leading training initiative Documentary Campus. The excitement of the industry days will start with the CHANGE and WIP project presentations on March 18 and peak March 19 when CPH:FORUM will showcase a total of 32 hand-picked high-quality projects in different stages of development looking to find their right financiers. Last but not least, the CPH:INDUSTRY buzz will be enriched by a record-breaking number of 16 international delegations which will promote their countries' potential for co-production. German Delegation with Björn Jensen (representative), Antje Boehmert, Christian Beetz, Dorothea Braun, Jutta Pinzler, Martin Pieper, Michaela Kirst


     


     


    CPH:FORUM is CPH:DOX's international financing and co-production event dedicated to facilitate the development and financing of creative and visually strong film projects with international potential, whether they are features, series or new media projects.


    The 2024 CPH:FORUM line-up puts forward a curated group of projects, ranging from deeply personal to global stories, all painting a portrait of the state of our world and representing diverse documentary styles. These 32 projects – bringing together over 65 filmmakers and producers from 26 countries echo each other and reflect on pressing themes. CPH:DOX’ flagship financing and co-production event is going to welcome hundreds of guests in Copenhagen from Tuesday to Thursday, March 18-21, 2024, with CPH:WIP and CHANGE presentations taking place on Monday, March 18.


    The LineUp of the selected projects include following German productions and co-productions:



    • ABOUT A HEREO by Piotr Winiewicz, produced by Mads Damsbo and Rikke Tambo Andersen [DK/DE]
      After Dorem Clery supposedly commits suicide in despair over losing his job to a machine, Werner Herzog travels to Getunkirchenburg to investigate his perplexing death. But Herzog, our narrator, is not who he seems, and the film, not what we expect.

    • THE INVISIBLE WORLD by Talal Derki, produced by Talal Derki, Heba Khaled, Maarten Schmidt and Ansgar Frerich [DE]
      Traveling from the Western Sahara through Mongolia's plains and mountains to the Amazon rainforests, I delve into the existence of invisible consciousness among us.

    • LAND OF FAIRY TALES AND DREAMS (WT) by Denis Pavlovic, [MD/DE]
      A light hearted story about Europe's smallest tourism industry, in a place known as Transnistria (PMR). A film about one man and his family, who are fighting to become the greatest tour guides in this worldwide unrecognized region, in Moldova

    • LANGUAGE X by Tanya Haurylchyk, produced by Katerina Barushka / Skaryna Foundation [PL/DE]
      A young couple starts a social experiment - for nine years their child is the only student in class. This is the price for choosing the Belarusian language of education over Russian. Their values lead to persecution, exile, and true resilience.

    • MY SKIN AN I by Milton Guillen and Fiona Hall, produced by Zorana Mušikic, May Odeh, [NI/US/DE]
      Via images of the Nicaraguan authoritarian regime, the filmmakers address questions of aesthetics, power, and discipline. The film builds lyrical realms in collaboration with artists in exile, visualizing ongoing tragedy in a multi-linear timeline that traces what led to the national protests of 2018. At the core, the film explores Guillén’s personal relationship to political power and exile via fictional embodiments of his family, as well as archival material, and a collage of experiences interwoven into a long poem. [source]

    • OUR SISTER ANGELA – BLACK POWER IN THE GDR by Katharina Warda, Jascha Hannover, produced by André Schäfer FLORIANFILM and DARE Pictures [DE/UK]
      In the 1970s, an enthusiastic solidarity movement for Black U.S. civil rights activist Angela Davis emerges in East Germany. Davis attracts hundreds of thousands of people during her visits to the GDR. But all this enthusiasm is deceptive…


     


    Every year, CPH:FORUM welcomes a wide variety of professionals from all over the world representing public service and commercial broadcasters, arts institutions, film funds and foundations in addition to private equity funders, sales agents and distributors.


     


     


     


    as single page: 


    CPH:DOX 2024
    CPH:DOX 2023
    CPH:DOX 2022
    CPH:DOX 2021
    CPH:DOX 2020
    CPH:DOX 2019


     upcoming CPH:DOX, March 19-30, 2025 at Copenhagen.


    Download as PDF the report by Björn Jensen on CPH:DOX 2024 here.

  • 22 FIFDH Geneva, March 8–17, 2024

          The 22nd edition of the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights is showcasing 41 films, including five German Documentaries ...

     


     



     


    The 22nd edition of the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights is showcasing 41 films, including five German Documentaries, at 24 forums and 23 events. [schedule]


    RUSSIAN SOCIETY ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE, a FORUM event scheduled for March 9, 3p.m. includes the screening of OF CARAVAN AND THE DOGS with Askold Kurov. Beyond the propaganda and repression emanating from the Kremlin, what do Russians think about the war with Ukraine? To what extent do they subscribe to Putin's rhetoric? What forms of resistance are viable within Russia? Diccussion moderated by Maurine Mercier, Special correspondent in Ukraine for RTS, panel with Dmitry Muratov, o-founder, publisher and former editor in chief of Novaya Gazeta, Mariana Katzarova, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation, Natalie Nougayrède, Former Le Monde correspondent in Moscow and Russia specialist.


     


     


    LineUp German Documentaries:



     


    Explore the programme for the 22nd edition of the FIFDH Geneva, which will seek to outline the contours of a brighter future by harnessing the power of cinema and the influential voices of human rights.


     


     


    as single page
    22 FIFDH Geneva 2024

  • 74 BERLINALE, February 15–25, 2024

      premiering about two dozen german productions and co-productions documentary form in different sections, including ARCHITECTON in the competition ...

     


    premiering about two dozen german productions and co-productions documentary form in different sections, including ARCHITECTON in the competition and showcasing about seven documentaries in retrospective strands. The entire programme browse here.


     



     


     


     


     AWARDS


     


     


    Since 1986, the Berlinale has awarded the BERLINALE CAMERA to honour personalities and institutions who have made a special contribution to filmmaking and with whom the festival feels closely connected.  



     Mariëtte Rissenbeek, Carlo Chatrian honoring Edgar Reitz
    with the BERLINALE CAMERA 2024


    The 74th Berlin International Film Festival honoures the German director and author Edgar Reitz with the BERLINALE CAMERA 2024. "Edgar Reitz is one of the most influential filmmakers of his generation; he has created an oeuvre that will forever remain a milestone in the history of cinema. At 91, Reitz is still willing to question who we are and where we come from. In his latest work, FILMSTUNDE_23, he succeeds in transposing the idea of home – as both a real and an imaginary place of longing – to the cinema. We are delighted to welcome his new film to the festival and to award him this much-deserved recognition," comment Executive Director Mariëtte Rissenbeek and Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian on the tribute to Edgar Reitz. Find more information here. For further information read the Artistic Directors Blog by Carlo Chatrian on Edgar Reitz.


     


     


     



     Guillaume Cailleau, Jay Jordan, Ben Russell
    and another protagonist of DIRECT ACTION

     


    Tizza Covi, member of the jury says at the award ceremony: "WELL! The jury wants to salut the very patient and non judgement delicate approach. We deeply enjoyed the quality of observation of this radical film. The Best Film award of the Encounters section goes to Guillaume Cailleau and Ben Russell for  DIRECT ACTION." The 216minutes longterm documentary, produced by CASKFILMS & Volte Film was awarded with a Special Mention of the Berlinale Documentary Award as well.


     [Awards Ceremony at full lenght, feb 24, 2024 at DIRECT ACTION on stage starts 1:00:47]


     


     


     


    FIPRESCI, the international federation of film critics awards as Best Documentary:
    FARUK by Asli Özge, 97min, WS: HERETIC, [Panorama]
    Statement of the jury: "This mock-documentary is a tremendously profound film. The genuine and nuanced portrayal of the evolving perspectives of both a father and his daughter on their home and relationship over time elevates it, challenging stereotypes by embodying the vitality and joys that remain in older age. For deeply and authentically illuminating global themes through personal stories of aging and change, this mock-documentary achieves artistic excellence and social insight. It deserves this recognition for its moving and powerful work."


     


     


    Panorama Audience Award Winner 2024 – Documentary:
    This year, Panorama presented a total of 31 titles from 36 production countries, ten of them were in the section Panorama Dokumente. The winner is the Palestinian, Nowegian co–production NO OTHER LAND by by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor. The second and third place of the Panorama Audience Award – Documentary go to the German documentaries:


    MY STOLEN PLANET | SAYYAREYE DOZDIDE SHODEYE MAN by Farahnaz Sharifi, 82min, WS: CAT&Docs, P: JYOTI Film GmbH, Pak Film GmbH, [Panorama]


    TEACHES OF PEACHES by Philipp Fussenegger, Judy Landkammer, 102min, WS: MAGNETFILM GmbH, P: avanti media fiction GmbH, D: farbfilm verleih GmbH, [Panorama]


    Best Documentary of the 38 TEDDY AWARD goes as well to TEACHES OF PEACHES. Statement of the Jury: "Seamlessly weaving together exclusive archival gems with dynamic tour footage, this documentary captures the transformative journey of Canadian Merrill Nisker into the internationally acclaimed cultural powerhouse that is Peaches."


     


     


    Special Mention Generation 14plus
    goes to the Iranian, Germa, French co-productin MAYDEGOL by Sarvnaz Alambeigi, 30min, P: noori pictures, [Generation 14plus]
    Jury statement: "For a film that is in itself a political act, using the tools of verité cinema to tell the story of a young Afghan woman living without papers, or autonomy, in Iran, a film in which the strength and fortitude of the protagonist radiates from the screen."


     


     


     



     


    CICAE ART CINEMA AWARD as well as the 39 CALIGARI film award  go to
    SHAHID by Narges Kalhor, 82min, P: Michael Kalb Filmproduction, [Forum]
    CICAE jury statement: "The Arthouse Cinema Award 2024 goes to a unique and bold piece of filmmaking that manages to tear down conventions and borders. For its stylistically and thematically multi-layered approach that crafts a very honest and intimate film that uses self-irony while touching upon significant and consequential issues. For a director that manages to gracefully balance reality and fiction, humor and tragedy, various art forms and emotions into a powerful cinematic blend."
    She receives the prize for a 'complex, multi-voiced work' that leads us 'into the depths of one's own biography and the collective past.' Browse the full CALIGARI jury statement and more infromation on the award here. Find out more about Narges Shahid Kalhor "A feeling of happiness on the one hand and a massive sense of guilt on the other" in a conversation with Afsun Moshiry and Barbara Wurm.


     Download as PDF BERLINALE PREISE 2024 here. or browse more infornation on awards and jury members here.


     


     


     



     74 BERLINALE
    Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin
    February 15–25, 2024


     



     about two dozen german documentaries are premiering at the 74 BERLINALE 

      



     as well as eleven short documentaries part of the project
    BERLINALE MEETS FUSSBALL


     


     


    LineUp German productions and co–productions documentary form:



     


    Find the Press Releases 74 BERLINALE here.
    Find the NEWS 74 BERLINALE here.
    Find the YouTubeChannel here.
    Find all titles of German productions and co-productions listed here.
      Find all awards and winners listed here.


     


     


     



     RETROSPECTIVE


     



    will be showcased in the 74 BERLINALE RETROSPECTIVE among others. A satirical documentary with fictional elements: Lieschen Müller from Austria comes to Bonn, then the capital of West Germany, to look for a suitable man working in politics. She asks the 'alpha males' in this strange sociotope how they see themselves as (German) men and reveals the Bonn Republic to be fairly resistant to feminism.


     


     


    LineUp German documentary productions in restrospective sections:



    • DIE DEUTSCHEN UND IHRE MÄNNER – BERICHT AUS BONN by Helke Sander ©1989 [Retrospektive]

    • THE GOAT'S INTENSITY | LEUCHTKRAFT DER ZIEGE – EINE NATURERSCHEINUNG by Jochen Kraußer ©1988  [Retrospektive]

    • IN THE COUNTRY OF MY PARENTS | IM LAND MEINER ELTERN by Jeanine Meerapfel ©1981 [Retrospektive]

    • LITTLE GODARD | DER KLEINE GODARD. AN DAS KURATORIUM JUNGER DEUTSCHER FILM by  Hellmuth Costard, ©1978 [Retrospektive]

    • TECHQUA IKACHI, LAND – MY LIFE by Anka Schmid, James Danaqyumptewa, Agnes Barmettler ©1989, GDR/Switzerland [Forum Special]

    • THOSE DAYS IN TEREZIN | DIESE TAGE IN TEREZIN by Sibylle Schönemann, ©1997 [Forum Special]

    • UNSICHTBARE TAGE ODER DIE LEGENDE VON DEN WEIßEN KROKODILEN by Eva Hiller ©1991 [Retrospektive]


     


     


     



     


     



     

     



    • Find our virtual stage at the EFM online — with the ID 613920 – under the umbrella of German Films with the title AG DOK / German Documentaries, edited by Ingrid Molnar, redaktion@german-documentaries.de, available until end of March 2024.

    • Find our booth 18 at the groundfloor of the GROPIUS BAU, tel: 49 30 25920 – 842, with Kordula Hildebrandt, under the umbrella of German Films during the 74 BERLINALE.


     



      EFM #18 groundfloor GROPIUS BAU

     


     


     


     


     


     


     


    EFM Screening Schedulde
    The full version of the EFM Screening Schedule with film details is displayed here if you are registered for the EFM with an (Online) Market Badge and logged into 'My Account'. The Screening Schedule is constantly updated and information is added up until and during the market.
    ...and therefore the [online] stage of AG DOK / German Documentaries will be updeted on a regular basis with screening dates of documentaries listed in the catalogue as well as new ones.


     


     


     


     


    EFM at facebook.


     


     


     


    as single page
    74 BERLINALE 2024 
    73 BERLINALE 2023
    72 BERLINALE 2022 
    71 BERLINALE 2021  
    • 70 BERLINALE 2020
    69 BERLINALE 2019 
    68 BERLINALE 2018  


     


  • 60 GRIMME PRIZE 2024

          Award ceremony at Theatre Marl April 26, 2024. [available until April 25, 2025 — 3sat mediatheque]     With GRIMME PREIS 2024 awarded ...

       


     




    [available until April 25, 2025 — 3sat mediatheque]

     


     


    With GRIMME PREIS 2024 awarded german documentaries are:



    All GRIMME PRIZE WINNERS – German only –.


     


    GRIMME PREIS is the German equivalent of the Emmys. Only movies that have been broadcasted by a public or private TVstation or provided in the internet in Germany can be nominated or awarded. Therefore some of the nominated documentaries for Grimme Preis 2024 you'll knew from former edtions of our catalogue, because they have been shown at festivals and German cinemas for about two years, the common usage of the retention period for coproductions with TVstations before broadcasted in German speaking territories.


     


     



    This year, among the nominees are the authors and producers of eleven titles listed in the german documentaries catalogue

     

     


     


    2024 the nominated german documentaries are:



     


      


     


    as single page
    60 GRIMME PRIZE 2024
    59 GRIMME PRIZE 2023
    58 GRIMME PRIZE 2022
    57 GRIMME PRIZE 2021 • 


     


    Find nominated films online.

  • Nominated for 96 OSCARS® Best Documentary Feature:

              FOUR DAUGHTERS by Kaouther Ben Hania, 107min, a French, Tunisian, German, Saudi-Arabian co-production coproduced by Twenty Twenty ...

     


     



     


     


     


    FOUR DAUGHTERS by Kaouther Ben Hania, 107min, a French, Tunisian, German, Saudi-Arabian co-production coproduced by Twenty Twenty Vision, Berlin, distributed by The Party Film Sales, Paris.


     



    OLFAS TÖCHTER | LES FILLES D'OLFA | FOUR DAUGHTERS
     by Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha

     


     


     


    ... and the OSCAR® goes to 20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL | 20 TAGE IN MARIUPOL (German version SWR/ARD German Public Broadcasting Network)
    CONGRATULATION to Mstyslaw Tschernow, who sadly said in his acceptance speech among others:  "This is the first Oscar in Ukrainian history. And I’m honored, but probably I'll be the first director on this stage who says I wish I had never made this film. I wish to be able to exchange this for Russia never attacking Ukraine, never occupying our cities...Russians are killing tens of thousands of my fellow Ukrainians. I wish for them to release all the hostages, all the soldiers who are protecting their lands, all the civilians who are now in their jails. But I cannot change the history. I cannot change the past … We can make sure history record is set straight and that the truth will prevail. … Cinema forms memories, and memories form history...


    The other nominees for the documentary feature category of the 96 Academy Award®  are:
    • BOB WINE: THE PEOPLES PRESIDENT by Moses Bwayo, Christopher Sharp, John Battsek
    • THE ETERNAL MEMORY by Maite Alberdi
    • TO KILL A TIGER by Nisha Pahuja, Cornelia Principe, David Oppenheim
    and as mentioned above
    • OLFAS TÖCHTER | LES FILLES D'OLFA | FOUR DAUGHTERS by Kaouther Ben Hania and Nadim Cheikhrouha



     


     


    The 96th Academy Awards is an upcoming ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which will honor the best films of 2023, and is scheduled to take place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, on March 10, 2024. Click here for the complete list of nominees.


     



     


     


     


     



     Submitted to the competition for the 96th OSCARS® have been:

     


    THE WAITING by Volker Schlecht 

    LAMARCK by Marian Mayland

    RED EARS by Paul Drey

    THE UNICORN IN SNOWPANTS SUDDENLY RAN OFF | DAS EINHORN MIT DER SCHNEEHOSE RANNTE PLÖTZLICH LOS by Philipp Schaeffer

    • TURTLENECK PHANTASIES by Gernot Wieland, an Austrian/German co-production

    in the category Documentary Short Films.

    A total number of 18 German prodactions and coproductions of short films have been submitted to the competition for the 96th OSCARS® in the categories Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film and Documentary Short Film, after winning a qualifying award or theatrical exhibition in the USA between October 1, 2022 and September 30, 2023.

    Browse all titles in the category Documentary Short Films at the website of German Films.


     


     ...further


     



    IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT



    IN THE SHADOW OF BEIRUT by Stephen Gerard Kelly, Garry Keane, an Irish, German, Eebanese, GB co-production, is the 96 Academy Awards, Best International Feature Film — Irish entry.


     


     


    as single page:
    96 OSCARS® •


     


    Recomended links:
    96 documentary feature qualifying festival list
    How to Qualify for the Academy Awards
    RULES & ELIGIBILITY
    ••• documentary feature lenght
    ••• documentary short
    ••• international feature film award


     

  • 45 FF Max Ophuels Preis, January 22–28, 2024

           The four documentary awards go to • ECHOES FROM BORDERLAND • • LOVE ALONE CAN'T MAKE A CHILD • • BERLIN EVICTION • • EXILE NEVER ENDS ...

     


     


     




     The four documentary awards go to
    • ECHOES FROM BORDERLAND •
    • LOVE ALONE CAN'T MAKE A CHILD •
    • BERLIN EVICTION •
    • EXILE NEVER ENDS •
    ________________________________________________________




    • MAX OPHÜLS PRIZE: BEST DOCUMENTARY, endowed with 7,500 Euros, provided by Saarland Medien GmbH goes to ECHOES FROM BORDERLAND by Lara Milena Brose, 70min, P: HFF Munich, [COMPETITION]
      "A film with strong protagonists and a gripping story that touchingly and impressively shows us that Europe is closing its borders to refugees, thereby disregarding humanistic values and failing to take its responsibility. The way the film tells of this great injustice and suffering, but also of longing and hope, made a strong impression on us with its closeness to the characters, its scenic narrative style, its precise sound design and its formal and visual elegance." say the members of the jury Jide Tom Akinleminu, Wolf-Maximilian Liebich, Andrina Mrancikar.


    • MAX OPHÜLS PRIZE: BEST FILM MUSIC, endowed with 5,000 Euros, offered by Saarland Medien GmbH and endowed by the Strecker Foundation goes to Johannes Blume & Markus Hossack for original score of BERLIN EVICTION | BERLIN UTOPIEKADAVER by Johannes Blume, 92min, P: Filmgalerie 451, [COMPETITION]
      "Quotation from the film: "We had our time and now it's over." Music plays a very important role in this film, it is an expression of protest, anger, sadness and transports the content of the film. With a convincing interweaving of original music and film score, the film tells of the almost lost struggle for freedom beyond conventions and beyond capitalist constraints." say the members of the jury Jide Tom Akinleminu, Wolf-Maximilian Liebich, Andrina Mrancikar


    • MAX OPHÜLS PRIZE: AUDIENCE AWARD DOCUMENTARY is endowed with 5,000 Euros by Dillinger and Saarstahl. The prize is awarded to an entry from the Documentary competition by a vote of the festival audience goes to LOVE ALONE CAN'T MAKE A CHILD | DER WUNSCH by Judith Beuth, 104min, WS: RISE AND SHINE, [COMPETITION].


    • The award of the non-endowed MAX OPHÜLS PRIZE: PRIZE OF FILM CRITICS is decided by a three-member jury composed of the film critics' associations from Germany (BVMJ and VdFk), Austria (Austrian Film Critics' Guild) and Switzerland (SVFJ) goes to EXILE NEVER ENDS by Bahar Bektas, 100min, P: Pink Shadow Films GmbH, [COMPETITION].
      "A family in a permanent state of emergency. We see them struggling to lead a normal life between the conflicting priorities of past and future, integration and the preservation of their own cultural identity. The family's cohesion is just as unstable as the concept of home. An initially fragmentary narrative of hints and omissions impressively coalesces into an intimate and powerful portrait. Director Bahar Bekta? makes us painfully aware: EXILE NEVER ENDS." say the jury members Ingrid Beerbaum, Till Brockmann, Roman Scheiber.



     


     


     


     



     

     


     


    The 45th edition of the Max Ophüls Preis Film Festival showcases a total number of 131 in 14 sections, 226 screenings in seven cinemas* in Saarbrücken and the Saarland. 42 of the 58 films from the four competition categories of feature film, documentary, medium-length film and short film will celebrate their world premiere. The filmmakers, mostly from German universities, but also from Austria and Switzerland, will be competing for prizes worth a total of 118,500 Euros.


    *The seven cinemas are: CineStar Saarbrücken, Filmhaus Saarbrücken, KINO 8 1/2, camera zwo, Thalia Lichtspiele Bous, Kinowerkstatt St. Ingbert, Capitol MovieWorld Saarlouis.


     


     


     


     LineUp German documentary productions and coproductions



     


     


     


     


     NUMBERS.


    as single page:


    45 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2024
    44 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2023
    43 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2022
    42 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2021
    41 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2020
    40 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2019 •


    46 FF Max Ophüls Preis 2025, January 20-26, 2025

  • FIPADOC January 19–27, 2024 at Biarritz

        FIPADOC January 19–27, 2024        Including a dozen German productions and co-productions, the 6th edition of the festival showcases ...

     


     



    FIPADOC January 19–27, 2024 

     

     


     


    Including a dozen German productions and co-productions, the 6th edition of the festival showcases more than 140 films, 5 documentary series, 25 short films and 19 digital experiences,


     


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     


     


    as single page:


    FIPADOC 2024


     


    The 7th edition of FIPADOC will be held in Biarritz January 24 – February 1, 2025.

  • Premiering at SUNDANCE FF 2024

              In the World Cinema Documentary Competition: ETERNAL YOU by Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck, produced by beetz brothers film production.World ...

     


     



     

       


    In the World Cinema Documentary Competition:
    ETERNAL YOU
    by Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck,
    produced by beetz brothers film production.
    World Sales DOGWOOF.



      Startups are using AI to create avatars that allow relatives to talk with their loved ones after they have died. An exploration of a profound human desire and the consequences of turning the dream of immortality into a product.
    "I wanted to see if he was okay," explains Christi, one of the users of Project December. With this innovative software, users can communicate with a virtual version of the deceased through a chatbot that simulates the dead person’s conversation patterns. Hers was an attempt to check on her first love. Others may simply miss someone, seek permission to move on, or want to rid themselves of guilt.
    Little is known about the effects that this kind of generative AI might have on our brains, hearts, and wallets. The filmmakers, Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck (THE CLEANERS, 2018 Sundance Film Festival), do not claim to have the answers, but instead bring up various emotional and moral complexities we should be aware of. Eternal You poses important questions about algorithmic immortality, and the need to take a closer look at our future 'digital remains.' —AT [source sundance catalogue 2024]


     



     

     


    2024 Sundance Film Festival announces 91 projects selected for the Feature Films, Episodic, and New Frontier Lineup for 40th edition, including Nora Fingscheidt's third feature fiction THE OUTRUN.
    After living life on the edge in London, Rona attempts to come to terms with her troubled past. She returns to the wild beauty of Scotland’s Orkney Islands — where she grew up — hoping to heal. Adapted from the bestselling memoir by Amy Liptrot.
    Nora Fingscheidt’s (GD2017 OHNE DIESE WELT | WITHOUT THIS WORLD) poignant adaptation of Amy Liptrot’s fearless memoir details the author’s liberation from drug and alcohol addiction, a triumph forged on the enchanted, wind-battered coasts of her childhood home. THE OUTRUN traces Rona’s false starts and setbacks on the road to recovery through harrowing flashbacks to her downward spiral in London and her reckoning with reality in a strict rehab program. But Fingscheidt is more concerned with Rona’s final destination — deliverance from personal demons through transcendent communion with nature. Grounded in local lore and rich with Liptrot’s journalistic digressions on the land and its life-forms, THE OUTRUN artfully ties Rona’s healing to her growing environmental stewardship. Four-time Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan gives a heartbreaking, humane performance that moves from woozy self-annihilation to serene calm.—MC [source sundance catalogue 2024]


     


     


    All Eyes on Independents.


     


    as single page
    40 SUNDANCE

  • 53 IFFR, Jan 25 – Feb 5, 2024 at Rotterdam

            The IFFR 2024 press conference, announcing the festival programme including Tiger, Big Screen and Tiger Short competition lineups ...

     


     



     

     


    The IFFR 2024 press conference, announcing the festival programme including Tiger, Big Screen and Tiger Short competition lineups, will take place on Monday 18 December 2023 at 11.00 CET.


     


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions so far as confirmed:



     


     


    With an average of 275,000 visits and over 2,000 film professionals from over 100 countries, International Film Festival of Rotterdam (IFFR) is one of the largest audience and industry-driven film festivals in the world. Since its 50th edition in 2021, IFFR identifies itself as an organisation dedicated to bolstering the international film industry with activities both during the festival period as well as via year-round projects, by offering highly relevant masterclasses, talks, training labs, educational opportunities, project funding (through the Hubert Bals Fund) and an international market for industry professionals.  


     


     


     


     



     


     


     


    as single page
    53 IFFR 2024
    52 IFFR 2023


    PRESS .


    https://www.facebook.com/iffrotterdam


     

  • 14 DOC NYC, November 8–26, 2023

            The 2023 festival showcases more than 200 films and dozens of events, including 30 World Premieres, 26 US Premieres, more than 105 ...

     



     

     


     


    The 2023 festival showcases more than 200 films and dozens of events, including 30 World Premieres, 26 US Premieres, more than 105 feature-length documentaries, shorts programs and student film showcases. Plus in-person appearances by filmmakers at most screenings. 14 DOC NYC is running in-person from November 8 – 16 at West Village’s IFC Center, Chelsea’s SVA Theater, and Village East by Angelika, and with extended online screenings available across the US through November 26, 2023.


    This year's festival includes new work by veteran filmmakers Wim Wenders, Sam Pollard, Penny Lane, Dawn Porter, Karim Amer, Tamara Kotevska, Fernando Trueba, Ramin Bahrani, Chris Wilcha, D.W. Young, Kim Longinotto, Everado Gonzalez, Rebecca Cammisa, Geeta Gandbhir, Amy Nicholson, Jeff Zimbalist, and more.  


     



     

     


     


     LineUp German productions and co-productions



     


     


     


     


     




     


     


     


    DOC NYC PRO FALL 2023, November 9–16.



    • Live Pitch (Thu, November 9)
      Industry Roundtables Live Pitch presents an opportunity for 8 filmmaking teams with works-in-progress to present live pitches to industry figures from the fields of distribution, financing, publicity, marketing, social impact, and more. The program aims to curate the most promising documentaries of the future for industry feedback, and select projects from a competitive pool of online submissions. Watch live pitches and discover how to make your best case to funders and other gatekeepers.

    • Producing and Directing (Fri, November 10)
      Join us for an enlightening day of panels featuring renowned producers and directors as they share their experiences, insights, and best practices in crafting compelling documentary films including a panel about mental health in the documentary industry. Co-presented by Hulu

    • Cinematography (Sat, November 11)
      Accomplished cinematographers will illuminate their techniques for capturing breathtaking visuals, crafting scenes, enhancing storytelling through imagery, and navigating the unique challenges of filming real-life narratives. Co-presented by National Geographic

    • Editing (Sun, November 12)
      Case studies from prominent editors will elucidate the craft and help build your editor’s toolkit. Insider tips on how to craft scenes for maximum storytelling impact will also be highlighted. Co-presented by Participant

    • Journalism and Documentary (Mon, November 13)
      Hear from experts on two panels as we explore the intersection of journalism and documentary filmmaking. Then join us for a special NBC Original Voices live pitch event hosted by NBCU Academy, NBC News Studios and IF/Then Shorts as six teams pitch their archival and journalistically-driven short documentary works-in-progress. Co-presented by NBC News Studios

    • Music and Sound (Tue, November 14)
      Let’s go in depth into the world of music and sound for feature docs. Hear about collaboration and behind the scenes tips from music teams on some of this year’s leading documentaries.

    • The Business of Documentary (Wed, November 15)
      Explore how to navigate the intricate business landscape of documentary filmmaking including inspirational examples of creative funding sources.

    • Creative Distribution (Thu, Nov. 16)
      Gain valuable insights on educational distribution, retaining film rights, and exploring innovative distribution ideas to reach wider audiences and make a lasting impact with your storytelling

    • Additional details, including daily panel schedules and confirmed speakers, to be announced.


     


    as single page
    14 DOC NYC 2023


     


    DOC NYC 2024 will take place November 13 – December 1, 2024. The Festival will be a hybrid event, with in-person screenings and events scheduled in New York City from November 13 – 21, and online screenings continuing until December 1. Submission final deadline June 20, 2024. Notification date September 30, 2024.


     


    DOC NYC is America’s largest documentary film festival and voted by MovieMaker magazine as one of the 'top five coolest documentary film festivals in the world'. Based at the West Village’s IFC Center and Chelsea’s SVA Theater, the ten-day festival showcases new achievements in documentary film along with panels and conversations. The Festival will be a hybrid event, with in-person screenings and events scheduled in New York City from Nov 8 – 16, and online screenings continuing until Nov 26.
    Included are 30 World Premieres and 26 U.S. premieres, with 20 films in the U.S. Competition, for new American-produced nonfiction films, and the International Competition, for work from around the globe, making their U.S. (or greater) premieres. The Kaleidoscope Competition for new essayistic and formally adventurous documentaries continues into its third year, while the festival's long-standing Metropolis Competition, showcasing New York stories and personalities, also returns. In addition, the festival includes thematically organized sections that spotlight new films on music, sports, activism, and more. 


    ...and the winner of 14 DOC NYC's 2023 Audience Award is GARLAND JEFFREYS: THE KING OF IN BETWEEN, directed by Claire Jeffreys and produced by Blair Foster, Rémi Grellety, Sam Pollard, Evan Oppenheimer, Juliana Terian, Danny Zelisko, and Steven Van Zandt! Garland Jeffreys, the mixed-race Brooklyn native whose music defied industry norms, receives long-overdue recognition in this enlightening documentary. His unique fusion of folk, soul, and rock earned him accolades abroad, yet left him underrated at home. Jeffreys' story, narrated from his NYC home and featuring interviews with fans like Harvey Keitel, Laurie Anderson, and Vernon Reid sheds light on the life and artistry of an unclassifiable talent.

  • 26 RIDM November 15–26, 2023 at Montreal

      Germany in the spotlight! The Biergarten of L'inis For 15 years, L'inis – Institut national de l'image et du son – has maintained a friendship ...

     


    Germany in the spotlight! The Biergarten of L'inis
    For 15 years, L'inis – Institut national de l'image et du son – has maintained a friendship with the HFF Munich Film School. In a festive biergarten atmosphere, discover some powerful works that have been made here and there, in the presence of the crews. It’s an opportunity to discuss documentaries, meet inspired artisans, and party Bavarian-style! November, 24, 2023 5:00P.M. Cinémathèque québécoise – Salle Norman-McLaren. This activity is free.


     



    Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montreal


     


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions .



     


    Press releases click here.


     


     


     


    as single page:
    26 RIDM 2023
    25 RIDM 2022


     FB.


     

  • 40 Kassel Dokfest, November 14—19, 2023

      ...and GOLDENER SCHLÜSSEL KURZFILM (golden key short) goes to GETTY ABORTIONS by Franzis Kabisch, 22min SPECIAL MENTION GOLDENER SCHLÜSSEL ...

     



    • ...and GOLDENER SCHLÜSSEL KURZFILM (golden key short) goes to GETTY ABORTIONS by Franzis Kabisch, 22min

    • SPECIAL MENTION GOLDENER SCHLÜSSEL KURZFILM goes to BOND by Anna Witt, Jugendforum Gröpelingen, 29min

    • SPECIAL MENTION GOLDENER HERKULES goes to WHAT REMAINS | VON DEM, WAS BLEIBT by Johanna Groß, Daniel Hellwig, 86min


     



     


     


     



     

     


     



     

     


     


    The program overview with 56 feature films and 185 short films is available for download. The festival catalog will be available at the cinemas Filmladen, Gloria Kino and BALi Kinos as well as online.


    The film program, which includes 185 short and 56 feature lenght documentary films and artistic-experimental productions, is the main part of the festival. During the six festival days about 235 films are presented. The festival’s profile also includes the trans-media section Monitoring, an exhibition of current video and media installations, the workshop symposium interfiction, the DokfestConnection, the film educational side program junges dokfest, the DokfestGeneration, as well as the DokfestForum.


     


    LineUp of German productions and co-productions among others



     


    as single page:
    40 Kassel Dokfest 2023

  • 64 Festival dei Popoli, Nov 4–12, 2023 at Florence

            with a tribute to Tatiana Huezo and,  DANCING ON THE EDGE OF A VOLCANO by Cyril Aris, IN LIMBO by Gusztáv Hámos, Katja Pratschke ...

     


     



     

     


    with a tribute to Tatiana Huezo and,  DANCING ON THE EDGE OF A VOLCANO by Cyril Aris, IN LIMBO by Gusztáv Hámos, Katja Pratschke, CALLS FROM MOSCOW by Luis Alejandro Yero in the international competition among others.


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions



     


     


     



     


     


    Tribute to Tatiana Huezo:


    Director Tatiana Huezo, one of the most important emerging voices in international cinema of the last decade, with PRAYERS FOR THE STOLEN Mexicans submission for 94 Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film and, awarded with the Documentary Award & Best Directing Encounter for DAS ECHO | EL ECO | THE ECHO at 73 BERLINALE, will be one of the special guests at the 64th edition of the Festival dei Popoli, the international documentary film festival, scheduled in Florence from November 4 to 12, 2023.
    For 15 years, Tatiana Huezo has been passionately chronicling the deep soul of a beautiful and painful country, full of wounds and contradictions. The filmmaker-born in San Salvador and then moved to Mexico City-will be honoured with a retrospective of her work, the first in Italy, and will meet the public at a masterclass.


    Explained Festival dei Popoli artistic director Alessandro Stellino, "This is a director whom we have been following since her debut and who, with very few films to her credit, has already achieved a leading status at the international level, as demonstrated by the important recognition bestowed on her at the last Berlinale. Her cinema is unique, politically conscious and with a strong cinematic, narrative and lyrical structure, she addresses some of the most dramatic issues of contemporary Mexican society by translating them into a vision that never leaves one indifferent. Through the gaze of women, sometimes little girls, she recounts with deep sensitivity a mythical and ancestral world and the most dangerous ridges beyond which we sometimes lean and lose our innocence. All her films are forms of resistance and struggle, stances in favour of the freedom of individuals and communities, and at the same time poetic prayers for all that has been taken from them and denied them."


     


     


     



     

     

     


    The rebellious and political body of an indocile and disobedient woman is the protagonist of the poster for the 64th Festival dei Popoli, the international documentary film festival, in Florence from 4 to 12 November. The image on the poster is taken from WR - I misteri dell'organismo, Dusan Makavejev's 1971 film that will be screened on 4 November at La Compagnia cinema and will open the Diamonds are Forever section, a selection of documentaries from the festival's historical archive.


      


     


     


     64 FDP Festival dei Popoli, Florence


     Places of the Festival.


    FDP64 2023FB

  • 21 doclisboa, October 19–29, 2023

               was taking place in Lisbon, in its usual venues: Culturgest, Cinema São Jorge, Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema and Cinema ...

     


     



      


     


     


    was taking place in Lisbon, in its usual venues: Culturgest, Cinema São Jorge, Cinemateca Portuguesa – Museu do Cinema and Cinema Ideal. Browse the complete winners of 21 doclisboa 2023 here.


     


    LineUp German productions and co-productions:



     


     


     


    SECTIONS


     


    INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION


    New films from all over the world, with diverse poetics, forms and lengths, drawing a map of contemporary cinema through singular works that question both themselves and what they portray. Films produced after September 2022, largely screening as international or world premieres.


     


    PORTUGUESE COMPETITION


    Portuguese produced and/or directed films, with no limitations in terms of format or length. This section presents an overview of the diversity of visions, practices and languages within contemporary Portuguese cinema, through a rigorous, open and attentive selection of films. Films produced after September 2022, largely screening as world premieres.


     


    NEW VISIONS


    New Visions explores the possibilities of cinema as a site for experimentation in both film practice and film programming. It places bold and innovative new propositions and tendencies in filmmaking into dialogue with radical moments from cinema’s past. Here categories, formats, and durations are challenged, through a cinema that believes reality is less captured by the camera than constructed anew.


     


    FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON


    Premieres of the latest films by key directors from the documentary scene, out of competition. A selection of works that allow us to see the worlds of yesterday, today and tomorrow, through powerful visions and stories.


     


    HEARTBEAT


    Films exploring all forms of art and expression are represented in this section, in a celebration of creation. Music, sport, literature, the performing and visual arts… The arts beat in doclisboa, not only on the screen.


       


    GREEN YEARS


    World and international premieres of European films of any length, from students and new directors taking their first steps in film. The section creates a platform for dialogue and reflection, seeking to contribute to the development of new filmmakers. Green Years has its own competition and jury, and features an annual programme from an invited school.


     


    DOC ALLIANCE


    This section is present at all festivals that are members of the Doc Alliance project. It presents a programme of films nominated for selection by Doc Alliance, including the winner of the Doc Alliance Award, given by a jury of international critics.


     


     


    AWARDS


     


    INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION



    • City of Lisbon Award for Best International Competition Film – 10.000€

    • YouTube International Competition Jury Award – 3.500€


     


    PORTUGUESE COMPETITION



    • HBO Max Award for Best Portuguese Competition Film – 6.000€

    • Portuguese Authors Society Portuguese Competition Jury Award – 2.000€

    • School Award – ETIC Award for Best Portuguese Competition Film – 1.500€


     


    CROSS-SECTIONAL COMPETITION



    • New Talent Award – TVCine Channels Award for Best First Feature-Length Film (over 60’) from a selection comprising all sections with the exception of the retrospectives and Cinema of Urgency – 3.500€

    • Award for Best Short Film(up to 40’) from a selection comprising all sections with the exception of the retrospectives and Cinema of Urgency

    • Healthy Workplaces Film Award – European Agency for Safety and Health at Work Award for Best Feature-Length Film Dealing with Work from a selection comprising all sections with the exception of the retrospectives and Cinema of Urgency – 5.000€

    • Practice, Tradition and Heritage Award – INATEL Foundation Award for Best Film Dealing with Cultural and Traditional Practices as well as Intangible Cultural Heritage from a selection comprising all sections with the exception of the retrospectives and Cinema of Urgency – 1.500€

    • Fernando Lopes Award – Midas Filmes and Doclisboa Award for Best Portuguese First Film – 2.000€

    • Audience Award – Público Newspaper Award for Best Portuguese Film comprising all sections with the exception of Green Years -1.000€


     


    GREEN YEARS COMPETITION



    • Award for Best Green Years Film

    • Pedro Fortes Award for Best Green Years Portuguese Film


     


     


     


     


    as singel page:
    21 doclisboa 2023
    20 doclisboa 2022


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  • 27 Ji.hlava IDFF, October 24–29, 2023

             offers 357 films in both competitive and non-competitive sections, of which 115 will be in world premiere, 22 in international premiere ...

     



     

     


      


    offers 357 films in both competitive and non-competitive sections, of which 115 will be in world premiere, 22 in international premiere, and 17 in European premiere.


     "Ji.hlava is a place that brings forth striking images from around the world, connecting the community of filmmakers and viewers. Intense discussions follow the films, much like during the festival's discussion platform, Inspiration Forum", says Marek Hovorka, the festival director. "The festival is accessible and open to all viewers, an opportunity to meet interesting personalities both on screen and in the audience," he adds.


    Browse awarded films of 27 Ji.hlava IDFF here.


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions:



     


     


    Ji.hlava New Visions Forum: Europe 2023


    The event is dedicated to the new generation of European producers, new formats, innovative trends, and visions for the future. The programme is open to diverse audiovisual formats, including the German production



    • MINDSCAPES by Lina Zacher, 30min, P: Delphine Bishop, Pylon Studio UG,
      What does a feeling look like, what does it sound like? Mindscapes is about the multifaceted emotional worlds of people with mental illness. Feelings such as panic, emptiness, despair, mania, euphoria, tension, and sorrow are explored, as four protagonists with diverse diagnoses share their experiences. On the basis of the images and sounds associated with the feelings of those affected, a sound designer and a motion designer create a sonic and visual level immersing the viewer deeply in the inner worlds of the protagonists and bringing them vividly closer to what is difficult to explain.


     


     


    as single page:


     • 27 Ji.hlava 2023
     • 26 Ji.hlava 2022


    October 30, 2023 PRESS RELEASE:


    The Awards of the 27th Ji.hlava IDFF were presented at Jihlava's DKO on Saturday night! The Contribution to World Cinema award was presented to legendary Hungarian filmmaker Béla Tarr. The Opus Bonum Award for the most notable international documentary film was granted to Ship by Croatian director Elvis Leni?, while Photophobia by Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekar?ík took home the Best Czech Documentary award. The award for the Best Central and East European documentary went to to Polish film Distances by Matej Bobrik, the Best film from the Visegrad region is The Third End of the Stick by Slovak director Jaro Vojtek. The award for the Best Debut went to You Will Never See It All by Czech director Št?pán Pech and Maia Gattás Vargas from Argentina received the Award for original approach for her East Wind. The Czech director Nikola Klinger received the students' prize for La Reine. The jury of the Testimonies section appreciated Mighty Afrin: In The Time Of Floods by Greek director Angelos Rallis. The Best Experimental Documentary film is Silhouette by Japanese director Yoshiki Nishimura and The Commodity Catalogue by Zbyn?k Baladrán was named the Best Czech Experiment. The Short Joy Award went to Kata's Motherhood by Santwana Bayaskar from India, and Is There Any Place For Me, Please? by Jarmila Štuková was voted the audiences' favourite. See all awards and jury statements here.


     


     


    Film submissions to the 28th Ji.hlava IDFF 2024 using the film submission form. June 30, 2024 | deadline for rough cuts and films that have not yet had a festival world premiere

  • 47 Duisburger Filmwoche, November 6—12, 2023

        The awarded German documentaries at the 47 Duisburger Filmwoche are: 3sat Documentary Award goes to longterm trilogy EINZELTÄTER by Julian ...

     



     


    The awarded German documentaries at the 47 Duisburger Filmwoche are:



    • 3sat Documentary Award goes to longterm trilogy EINZELTÄTER by Julian Vogel produced by CORSO Film. "...In this trilogy, director Julian Vogel gives space to the victims and their relatives, accompanying the latter in their lives that have fallen apart at the seams, but above all in the struggle to come to terms with what should actually be done by others. Panning shots of everyday life in Germany confront their experiences of violence and injustice with a normality that must be preserved at all costs.
      Vogel seeks a form that resists conventional television - including cinema formats - to a certain extent and must therefore also be read as a plea for a different, politically conscious documentary work. He works in an open-ended way, taking his time. He alternates documentary and essayistic scenes, and thus emotionality and objectivity. The montage allows closeness and at the same time analytical distance.
      Despite the ambivalence that accompanies any cinematic representation of mourning, Vogel continuously broadens the perspectives. All three parts - in terms of focus, methodology and dramaturgy - stand on their own, but in their 239-minute synopsis, connections, painful gaps and striking, systemic failures are revealed. A struggle for attitude, reappraisal and visibility, which should now also be translated into prime time television programs..." [quote from the jury statement and the members are Britt Beyer, Laura Coppens, Sebastian Höglinger]

    • Newcomer Award Carte Blanche – goes to OPERATION NAMIBIA by Martin Paret
      "...Operation Namibia, which aims to ship 6,000 banned books to the South African-occupied country, fails because it has to fail. Martin Paret conceals nothing and spares no one. With minimal means, he creates a relentlessly powerful undertow without ever sacrificing the humanity of his characters. In correspondence across continents and oceans, a circle of young people opens up to us, smiling at us in photographs. Huddled together in the forced intimacy of the sailing boat, they turn us into insiders. The narration, imagery and soundscape intertwine just as carefully, bringing the photographs to life. The obstacles that push the mission's goal further and further away are sometimes technical and sometimes interpersonal, sometimes health-related and sometimes financial. The multi-perspectivity of the epistolary narrative leaves no room for singular causes. Everyone and no one is to blame at the same time. The straight line that the group envisioned for their journey at the beginning never existed..." [quote from the jury statement and the members are Özge Inan, Lukas Marxt, Dominic Schmid]

    • Special Mention of City of Diusburg goes to KHABUR | XABÛR by by Nafis Fathollahzadeh "...gives back not only a region, but also its past and its nature, its gods and its displaced people the language that was stolen from them. A formally challenging monument to resistance against colonial continuities in occupied Kurdistan that are too rarely questioned..." [quote from the jury statement and the members are Özge Inan, Lukas Marxt, Dominic Schmid]

    • Special Mention ARTE Documentary Award goes to LA EMPRESA by André Siegers. "... The Mexican village of El Alberto, located on the border with the USA, has developed another product for the world market in addition to the production of hand-crocheted exfoliating gloves - the Caminata Nocturna. Every week – and several times before Easter – the village community performs the gruesome stages of border crossings as an amateur drama – and has become famous for it. When a German film crew buys exclusive access to this attraction, the stories begin to overlap. With laconic humility and competence in terms of content, both contractual partners take care of their respective products. A finely constructed confusion..." [quote from the jury statement and the members of the jury are Enoka Ayemba, Christiane Büchner, Stefanie Gaus]



    Browse all winners and Jury statements – in German only – here.


     


     



     


     



    The 47th edition of the DUISBURGER FILMWOCHE will take place November 6–12, programming 23 documentaries from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Browse the proramme —German only— here.


     


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions:



     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


     


    stay tuned by following the festival on FB #df47 or website of the festival.

  • 65 Nordic Film Days Lübeck, Nov 1–5, 2023

          More than 180 films will be shown in almost 250 public screenings at Lübeck venues during the 65 Nordic Film Days. And more than 50 ...

     



     

     


    More than 180 films will be shown in almost 250 public screenings at Lübeck venues during the 65 Nordic Film Days. And more than 50 percent of that line-up will be available from 7 pm on November 1 through the end of the festival for streaming by audiences all over Germany.


    A total of twelve jury prizes, with a total endowment of 65,000 Euros will be awarded, including the audience prize, and the Honorary Award, which this year goes to Swedish director and screenwriter Roy Andersson. The Honorary Award will be presented at the opening night ceremony on November 1, while the rest of the awards will be presented on November 5 during the gala Prize Night at Theater Lübeck.


    "Our anniversary year gathers together all the forms and genres of Nordic filmmaking", says Thomas Hailer, artistic director, "an impressive year filled with work that will resonate and occupy our thoughts long after the final credits have rolled".


     


    LineUp (Northern) German productions and co-productions documentary form a.o.:



     


     


    as single page
    65 Nordic Film Days Lübeck 2023


     


    Film submissions for the up-coming 66th Nordic Film Days Lübeck (6.-10.11.2024) are possible until August 1st, 2024. CALL FOR ENTRIES.

  • 66 DOK Leipzig, October 8–15, 2023

          …and the four time winner is Jonathan Schörnig with EINHUNDERTVIER! Altogether, 24 awards were presented at DOK Leipzig. At the 66th ...

     



     


     


    …and the four time winner is Jonathan Schörnig with EINHUNDERTVIER!


    Altogether, 24 awards were presented at DOK Leipzig. At the 66th edition of the festival, 225 films and extended reality works from some 60 countries were screened at the venues around Leipzig. The festival's opening film, WHITE ANGEL – THE END OF MARINKA by Leipzig journalist Arndt Ginzel, can be seen in cinemas across Germany from October 19, 2023.


     



    …and the four time winner is Jonathan Schörnig with EINHUNDERTVIER

    here with protagosnist Clara Richter

     


     


    In the German Competition Documentary Film, the Golden Dove Feature-Length Film went to EINHUNDERTVIER by Jonathan Schörnig, a real-time documentation of a rescue at sea on the Mediterranean. "The film team and the crew of the rescue ship show us clearly what it means when we look the other way every day. But they also show that help is possible and needed," the jury emphasised. This 10,000-Euro award is sponsored by Doris Apell-Kölmel and Michael Kölmel. AND the Goethe-Institut Documentary Film Prize, which includes 2,000.– Euros, licensing and subtitling in eight languages, was also awarded to EINHUNDERTVIER by Jonathan Schörnig. EINHUNDERTVIER further received the 1,500.– Euro  ver.di Prize for Solidarity, Humanity and Fairness, bringing the total to four awards, making this the film earning the most honours at DOK Leipzig 2023, because the Film Prize Leipziger Ring, which honours a documentary film about human rights, democracy or civic engagement, sponsored by the Stiftung Friedliche Revolution and includes 2,500.– Euros in prize money goes ex aequo to Jonathan Schörnig for EINHUNDERTVIER and Nantenaina Lova for WHERE ZEBUS SPEAK FRENCH as well. Nantenaina Lova observes in the village SITABAOMBA not far from the capital Antananarivo at Madagascar, how foreign interests find their way into the country through corrupt politics and how the people deal with the foreign interests: Laughing in the face of injustice is the motto. With Tema Ndrota, Gégé Rasamoely, Company Miangaly and Claudia Tagbo as narrator.


    The Golden Dove Short Film, in conjunction with 1,500.– Euros, was awarded to Franzis Kabisch for getty abortions, a desktop video essay that explores how media illustrate the topic of abortion. "Our award-winning film finds a convincing contemporary form to address an ancient and at the same time highly topical issue," said the jury comprised of Birgit Kohler, Claus Löser and Serpil Turhan.


    The DEFA Sponsoring Prize, which includes 4,000.– Euros and is granted by the DEFA Foundation, went to Julia Charakter for THE CHILDREN OF KORNTAL


    The Gedanken-Aufschluss Award went to Nele Dehnenkamp for her first feature-length documentary film, FOR THE TIME BEING. This award was voted on by a jury comprised of prisoners at the Juvenile Detention Centre Regis-Breitingen.


    All awards and jury members at 66 DOK Leipzig browse here.


     


     


     



    Belarusian director Daria Yurkevich and her project GENESIS (Belarus, Germany) receiving the Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director. 

     


    DOK Industry Awards Winners 2023 announced, including German productions and co-productions, such as:



    • At DOK Preview Germany, JOHATSU – INTO THIN AIR (WT) by Andreas Hartmann, Arata Mori, P: Ossa Film, Germany, Japan has been awarded with the D-Facto Motion Works-in-Progress Prize, which comes with the post-production grant of 10,000 euros, sponsored by D-Facto Motion GmbH.

    • At the DOK Co-Pro Market, a total of three awards have been presented. Belarusian director Daria Yurkevich and her project GENESIS (Belarus, Germany) has received the Saxon Award for the Best Documentary Project by a Female Director. The prize is endowed with 5,000 euros, sponsored by the Saxon State Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism. Production company is Jyoti Film GmbH.

    • Winner of the ARD TopDocs__Competition is DER AUTOKRATEN CODE produced by Bremedia Produktion.


     


    The 66th edition of DOK Leipzig came to a close on Sunday, 15 October. The Golden and Silver Doves as well as the partnership awards were presented in two award ceremonies on Saturday. In total, the festival counted 45,500 attendees at its cinema screenings, panel discussions, industry events and the DOK Neuland XR exhibition. From 8 to 15 October, audiences had the opportunity to see 225 films and XR works from around 60 countries in venues around Leipzig. In addition, one film a day was available online for 24 hours throughout Germany in the DOK Stream.


    Festival director Christoph Terhechte looked back upon an eventful and intense festival week: "The cinemas were packed, and there were many excellent discussions about film in which the audience was very involved. Although the week was overshadowed by the recent massacres, expulsions and bombings in Israel and Palestine, Nagorno-Karabakh and Ukraine, many of our attendees used the festival as an opportunity to exchange views on those issues and current events."


    The DOK Industry events also met with great interest. At the second edition of the DOK Archive Market, more international archives and footage libraries introduced their collections than in the previous year. All in all, DOK Industry welcomed more than 1,700 accredited professionals.


     The 67th edition of DOK Leipzig will take place from 28 October to 3 November 2024.


     


     



     

     


     


    The 66th edition of the DOK Leipzig film festival is presenting some 225 films and extended reality works from around 60 countries. WHITE ANGEL – THE END OF MARINKA | WHITE ANGEL – DAS ENDE VON MARINKA by Leipzig journalist Arndt Ginzel is premiering as opening film. As every year, the festival centre is located in the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig.


     



    © 2023 Journalistenbüro Ginzel Kraushaar Datt GbR


    The impressive close-up footage of the operations is from a GoPro camera worn by police officers who repeatedly drive around the town in a white van which the civilians call the White Angel, documenting the evacuation and rescue operations in the small town of Marinka in the Donetsk region from the spring to the autumn of 2022. Spring 2023, Arndt Ginzel and his team returned to Ukraine and spoke with the rescuers and survivors about their traumatic experiences – and about the demise of their home town, which no longer exists.


     


     


     LineUp German productions and co-productions [work in progress]



     


    During the festival week, DOK Leipzig is showing one festival film fresh out of the cinema online as VoD in the DOK Stream. Each film is available for 24 hours throughout Germany. Only available at dok-leipzig.de, from 9 to 15 October.  


     


     


    DOK Leipzig Retrospective focuses on resistance to communist regimes in the Eastern Bloc including German productions such as:



    • [Kurt Biedenkopf besucht ein sowjetisches Panzerregiment] by Klaus Wilhelm, 8min, ©1991, Germany [Matinee Saxon State Archive]

    • BEGEGNUNGEN by Alfred Dorn, 15min, ©1970 [Matinee Saxon State Archive]

    • DREI JAHRZEHNTE SPÄTER by Volker Kastius, 15min, @1977, GDR [Matinee Saxon State Archive]

    • HUNGARY IN FLAMES | UNGARN IN FLAMMEN by Ferdinand Khittl, Stefan Erdélyi, 83min, © 1957, C: Bundesarchiv [Film and Protest]

    • One Wednesday in June – 20 Years Ago: People’s Uprising, Workers’ Revolt or Secret Services Putsch? | Ein Mittwoch im Juni – Vor 20 Jahren: Volksaufstand, Arbeiterrevolte oder Agentenputsch? by Lutz Lehmann, 60min ©1970, C: OneGate Media GmbH,[Retrospective]

    • RÜCKGABE DER KUNSTSCHÄTZE AN DAS GRÜNE GEWÖLBE by anonym, ©1958, 5min [Matinee Saxon State Archive]

    • SOVIET TROOPS IN PRAGUE AND BUDAPEST | SOWJETISCHE TRUPPEN IN PRAG UND BUDAPEST (Panorama, 29.7.1968), 18min © 1968, C: OneGate Media GmbH [Retrospective]

    • UPRISINGS IN THE SOVIET SPHERE OF INFLUENCE by Ralph Giordano, Hans-Ulrich Barth, 24min, ©1961, [Retrospektive]

    • WEHE DEN BESIEGTEN by Andrea Ritterbusch, 87min, ©1990, GDR [DEFA Matinee|


     


     


     


    19 DOK Co-Pro Market


    Individual meetings between producers and the selected projects take place on 9–10 October 20223 in Leipzig with complementary online meetings on 16 October. Join as a producer without project - submission possible until September 7.
    The 19th edition of the DOK Co-Pro Market welcomes 35 documentary projects from 30 countries that will have the opportunity to find international financing and co-production partners. This year has seen an increase in the number of submissions, totalling 316 projects, including two ukrainian productions as well as seven German co-productions, such as:


     



    • BE MY GUEST WORKER by Sanhah Lee | South Korea, Germany | autumn song production

    • GENESIS by Daria Yurkevich | Belarus, Germany | JYOTI Film

    • GHOST BOAT by Tanim Yousuf | Bangladesh, Germany | Bulldog Agenda GmbH, Mastul Productions         

    • HOW MANY NIGHTS HOW MANY DAYS by Alaa Dajani | Egypt, Germany | Seera films   

    • OVERTONES (WT) by Aygul Bakanova | Kyrgyzstan, Germany | Choku Film, if... Productions GmbH

    • PRISON HONEY by Jonas Eisenschmidt, Constanze Wolpers  | Germany | radpaar films             

    • ZOOTOPIA by Tristan Ferland Milewski | Germany | CORSO Film  


     Find all 35 selected documentary projects listed here.



     


    A major focus of the DOK Co-Pro Market is to help create a network of unique professionals dedicated to the co-production of creative documentary works. We invite producers who are actively looking for new audio-visual works to co-produce and to expand their networks internationally to apply as a Producer without a Project for participation in the Co-Pro Market. [DOK Leipzig PR August 31, 2023]


    This year’s Industry Programme opens on October 9, 2023 with a panel on the current state of independent Belarusian documentary cinema and the challenges filmmakers face, with the participation of the recently launched Belarusian Independent Film Academy (BIFA).


    Among other highlights of the Industry Programme is Short n’ Sweet Oktober 11,2023, the 7th edition of the short film pitching event. DOK Archive Market will take place on 12 October, featuring an exciting programme on archival research and production, including one-on-one consultations with archival researchers and producers.


     


    DOK Archive Market October 12, 2023, Festival Centre (MdbK) Basement
    DOK Industry continues to focus on archives and archive research presenting the second edition of DOK Archive Market. Accredited festival visitors are invited to meet with international archives at the DOK Archive Market, find out about their footage and stills collections and forge connections with the archive representatives. The accompanying panel programme presents exciting discussions offering insights into the nuts and bolts of archival research, production and rights clearances. In one-on-one speed consultations archive researchers and archive producers give concrete advice on researching and licensing footage for documentary projects.


     


    DOK Preview Germany is an exclusive showcase featuring up to 8 German feature-length documentaries in the final stages of production. The teams present their projects to international buyers, editors, world sales, festival curators and distributors.
    Meet inspiring creatives and dive into diverse topics and unique filmmaking styles presented by experienced moderators Julia Teichmann and Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer. The film teams will give you a sneak peek into their new works to enrich your slates, slots and festivals.
    With the project presentation and subsequent opportunity for networking and exchange, we want to support the selected projects on their journey to international distribution and create new working ties.
    2023 project selection for DOK Preview Germany wil be announced on September 27,2023. The event wil be moderated by Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer and Julia Teichmann.



    • Tanja Georgieva-Waldhauer is an EAVE producers workshop-alumna, has represented Germany as a European Producer on the Move in 2020 and is a member of EWA, DAE, Produzentenverband, AG DOK, the German and European Film Academy.

    • Julia Teichmann is Head of Documentary at German Films and supervises the Marketing & Subtitling Support. She has worked as a curator and is still working as a moderator. She was also a film critic and regularly served on juries at national and international film festivals.


     The selected projects in the final stages of production are:



    • ANGRY SPIRITS by Iris Pakulla P: beetz brothers filmproduction, WS: filmdeleights, Germany, Mongolia

    • THE END OF THE ROAD by Marc Eyrich, P: Licht & Stories, Germany, Morocco, Qatar

    • GET PHYSIKAL by Ilker Abay, Miro Wallner, Germany

    • JOHATSU – INTO THIN AIR by Andreas Hartmann, Arata Mori, P: Ossa Film, Germany, Japan

    • OF COYOTES AND THOSE WHO STAYED (WT) by Clara Trischler, P: HORSE & FRUITS Filmproduktion, Germany, Austria

    • PING PONG by Jonas Egert, P: madfilms Cruiziat & Egert, Germany

    • REPRODUCTION by Katharina Pethke, P: fünferfilm, Germany

    • WOMEN SPEAKING (WT) became HOUSE WITH A VOICE by Kristine Nrecaj, Birthe Templin, P: Filmkantine, Germany


     


     


     


     


    DOK Industry Talk presents ARTE initiative Generation Ukraine:


    In this year's edition, DOK Leipzig is presenting a DOK Industry Talk on Generation Ukraine, a new initiative by the ARTE Group aimed at supporting the Ukrainian filmmaking industry by co-producing 12 documentaries that explore Ukrainian reality in the throes of the ongoing war. The Talk, held on 10 October at 16:30 – 18:00 CEST, will present the ARTE initiative and showcase six of the projects with the participation of the film teams. The Talk will be moderated by documentary film producer and consultant Heidi Fleisher.
    Find out more in our NEWS #StandWithUkraine.


     


    Discover the international delegations that are ready to meet and mingle at DOK Leipzig 2023! 


    Explore all events of the complete Industry Programme in our Industry Timetable or see the A-Z overview here. Get accreditations at the regular rate until September 30, 2023. Last-minute accreditation requests are possible until the end of the festival with an extra fee. 


     


     


     


     


     



    Thomas Beyer, Susanne Binninger, Samir, Prof. Dr. Sylvia Rothe, and David Bernet

     


    KI zwischen Fakt & Fiktion


    Join the panel on possible benefits and threats of AI in documentary filmmaking brought to you by AG DOK – German Documentary Association Tuesday, October 10, 10 a.m. at PROPSTEI ST. TRINITATIS Nonnenmühlgasse 2, 04107 Leipzig. Stream the event –German only– here.


    On the one hand, AI tools now offer great relief possibilities for creatives in manually redundant work steps such as transcription, data and material management, through to editing preparation and research - even in the course of documentary productions. And by making drudgery easier, AI applications ideally expand the space for creative work.
    But where is the promise of authenticity in documentaries in the face of deceptively real-looking animations and deep fakes that can no longer be distinguished from real footage by the human eye? Does the expected flood of AI products strengthen the position of documentary filmmakers because they offer originality and authenticity, or is the dissolution of the boundaries between fact and fiction unstoppable?
    These questions will be addressed by a panel of filmmakers and experts, introduced by a case study of Swiss filmmaker Samir, who will present footage from his latest documentary created with AI.


    Panel moderated by Susanne Binninger and David Bernet, CEOs of AG DOK with
    Prof. Dr. Sylvia Rothe, AI professor at the HFF Munich, mathematician, software developer, filmmaker.
    Thomas Beyer, Editor History and Documentaries with MDR.
    • Samir, Swiss based Iraqi director and filmproducer, well known for IRAQI ODYSSEY – A GLOBAL FAMILY SAGA. Find out more about his work in progress 'The Miraculous Transformation of the Working Class into Foreigners', about the making of the film and how they produced the digital animation scenes through motion capture technology and gaming technology. Listen to the podcast by FILMEXPLORER.CH here __German only___ and Samir on new technologies in film.


     



     SAMIR

     Die wundersame Verwandlung der Arbeiterklasse in Ausländer


     


     


     


    as single page:
    •  66 DOK Leipzig 2023
    •  65 DOK Leipzig 2022
    •  64 DOK Leipzig 2021
    •  63 DOK Leipzig 2020
    •  62 DOK Leipzig 2019
    •  61 DOK Leipzig 2018 • 


     


    DOK Leipzig @ VIMEO
    DOK Leipzig @ FB
    DOK Leipzig @ INSTA


    Meet the team:  https://www.instagram.com/p/CxSZpmWM7SC/


    •  66 DOK Leipzig –German only– Deutschlandfunk Kultur

  • YIDFF Yamagata, October 5–12, 2023

            with three German Documentaries, such as ANHELL69 by Theo Montoya, CROSSING VOICES by Raphaël Grisey, Bouba Touré, and THREE WOMEN ...

     



     

     

     


    with three German Documentaries, such as ANHELL69 by Theo Montoya, CROSSING VOICES by Raphaël Grisey, Bouba Touré, and THREE WOMEN by Maksym Melnyk in the programm.


     



     


     


     


    Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival:


    Browse German documentary productions and co-productions participating former YIDFFs here.


    Located in a verdant, rolling valley far north of Tokyo, Yamagata City is the site for Asia’s first international documentary film festival. The first Film Festival (in 1989) was an event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Yamagata City, the sponsor of the festival at the time, and has been held biennially ever since in Yamagata’s best season, October.


    The atmosphere of the festival is intimate, and affords Asian filmmakers a prime opportunity to meet with their Western counterparts. The reasons for it being a magnet for independent filmmakers are simple.


    Until recently, the week-long YIDFF was one of the few film festivals in Asia devoted exclusively to the documentary form. Its scope, however, reaches beyond simply screening recent, ground-breaking work in the International Competition. New Asian Currents, the competition program introducing emerging filmmakers from across Asia, has over the years become one of the Festival’s vibrant centers of attention as a meeting place of raw youthful energy. By featuring special events and programs shedding light on the history and diversity of filmmaking, the YIDFF is working hard to create a new forum for the production of alternative, independent, non-fiction film and the discussion of documentary as a form of expression.


    It was in this spirit that the documentarist Ogawa Shinsuke, who passed away in 1992, spearheaded the organization of the first Festival. From the time of his earliest films about the Narita Airport protests in the 1960s to 70s, to his last works produced in Yamagata, Ogawa encouraged filmmakers around Asia to devote their energy to making meaningful documentaries. In honor of this dedicated filmmaker, the Ogawa Shinsuke Prize was established in 1993 to provide encouragement to young Asian documentarists.


     YIDFF 2023 Award Recipients .


    as single page
    YIDFF 2023

  • 57 Hof IFF, October 24–29, 2023

        The GRANIT – Hof Documentary Award 2023 goes to FRANK MEYER by Leonhard Hofmann and Riccardo Dejan Jurkovic. Special mentions go to RESTORATION ...

     

     


    The GRANIT – Hof Documentary Award 2023 goes to FRANK MEYER by Leonhard Hofmann and Riccardo Dejan Jurkovic. Special mentions go to RESTORATION by Gudrun Gruber as well as SLEEPING GIANT by Markus Schröder.


     


     


     


     



    57 Hof IFF, October 24-30, 2023

     

     


    With a total number of 44 – including 26 German productions and co-productions – documentaries are well-represented at the 57 Hof IFF. Among them is Austrian filmmaker Günter Schwaiger, who has already screened his films in Hof several times, and this time will present the German premiere of WHO IS AFRAID OF HITLER'S TOWN?A HOUSE AND THE PAST WITHIN US, [57 Hof IFF] a very personal film that attracted international attention, as well as PROJECT BALLHAUSPLATZ – RISE AND FALL OF SEBASTIAN KURZ [57 Hof IFF] by Kurt Langbein, an other Austrian production in the programm.


     


    LineUp German documentary productions and co-productions among others:




    Accompanying the screenings in the cinema, festival films will be available online at HoF On-Demand in the plus7streamdays until Sunday, November 05, 2023. Download the schedule as PDF here. Find the direct links to the film description and possibility to stream the films all across Germany by clicking [57 Hof IFF] in the list above.


     


    ...as single page:
    57 Hof IFF 2023
    56 Hof IFF 2022
    55 Hof IFF 2021
    54 Hof IFF 2020

  • German Focus at the Venice Production Bridge 2023

      The WONDERFULL Grand Prize of the 38 VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS' WEEK as well as the Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Award for Best ...

     


    The WONDERFULL Grand Prize of the 38 VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS' WEEK as well as the Mario Serandrei – Hotel Saturnia Award for Best Technical Contribution goes to MALQUERIDAS by Tana Gilbert, a Chilean/German coproduction.



     IWONDERFULL Grand Prize Settimana Internazionale della Critica conferred by an international jury to the best film in competition and consisting of 5,000 Euro.


     


     


     


    German Focus at the Venice Production Bridge 2023 with German VR Booth on the Immersive Island at the



      80th Venice International Film Festival, August 30—September 9, 2023


     


     


    FOCUS ON GERMANY, supported by German Films:



    • VR | Meet the German Creators + Cocktail on Sep 1, 5.00 pm, Meet the Creators Area, Immersive Island. Hosted by German Films with Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MOIN!, Hessen Film & Medien, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Nordmedia, FFF Bayern, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.

    • VR | Panel | German XR Gaming: Exploring the Potential and the Market of Narrative Games in XR on Sep 4, 9.30 am, Spazio Incontri Immersivo, Immersive Island. Hosted by German Films with Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MOIN!, Hessen Film & Medien, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Nordmedia, FFF Bayern, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.

    • Edward Berger (ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT) and Philippe Falardeau in Conversation on Sep 3, 3.30 pm, Press Conference Room, Palazzo del Casino. Hosted by German Films, SODEC, Variety and La Biennale di Venezia.


     


     


     


    Documentaries with German participation in the 80 Venice IFFSettimana Internazionale della Critica programme, or Venice Production Bridge are:



     


    Find more information and the whole LineUp of films with German participation at the website of German Films and visit the website of 38. Settimana Internazionale della Critica, la selezine 2023 for the whole LineUp of the 38 VENICE INTERNATIONAL FILM CRITICS' WEEK.


     


     


     


      as single page:
    80 Venice IFF


     Download programme.

  • International Film Festivals in Germany

    The festivals with markets are: BERLINALE | efmDOK.fest Munich | DOK.forumDOK Leipzig | DOK INDUSTRY      Schedule of the international documentary ...

    The festivals with markets are:


    BERLINALE | efm
    DOK.fest Munich | DOK.forum
    DOK Leipzig | DOK INDUSTRY   


     


    Schedule of the international documentary festivals as well as festivals with sections of documentaries chronologic throughout the year.


     



    46 Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis January 20–26, 2025 [FB] ___Submission___ starts September 1 until End of October


     


     



    75 BERLINALE February 13–23, 2025
    International Filmfestspiele Berlin
    Submission starts September __gerneral guidelines__
    efm - European Film Market further information  [FB]


      


     


     



    21. dokumentarfilmwoche hamburg, April 23–28, 2024


     


      



    42 INTERNATIONALES FRAUEN FILM FEST Dortmund+Köln, April 01–06, 2025 in Dortmund. lFFF Dortmund+Köln takes place annually, alternating between Dortmund and Cologne [FB


     


     


     39 DOK.fest Munich, May 1—12, 2024
                              and  May 6—20 @HOME
     


     


     



    IKFF - 40 Hamburg International Short Film Festival, June 28– July 7, 2024
    [FB]


     


     



    #FFMUC | 42 FILMFEST MÜNCHEN in Munich  June 27 – July 06, 2025.
    Films are selected by the festival programmers.


     



    NaturVision Filmfestival, Ludwigsburg, July 18—21, 2024 [FB]


     


     



    33 FILMFEST HAMBURG, September 25 – October 4, 2025
    #FFHH25 _ Submission _ opens in March [FB]


     


     


      


     



    58 Internatonale Hofer Filmtage | Hof International Film Festival, October 22–27, 2024
    [FB] For futher Information please visit the website of the festival.


     


     


      



     68 DOK Leipzig, Oct 27–Nov 2, 2025
    International Leipzig Film Festival for Documentary and Animated Film.  [FB


     


      



    66 Nordic Filmdays Lübeck, November 6–10, 2024 .
    __ online submission April 2024 — August 1, 2024__
    __FB__


     


     


     



    48 DUISBURGER FILMWOCHE, df#48 the festival of documentaries produced in Germany, Austria and Switzerland  in Duisburg, November 4–11, 2024. For further information concerning please visit the website of the festival. [FB]



     doxs! festival - creative European documentaries for children and adolescents, Duisburg, November. For further information concerning next dox! please visit the website of the festival. [https://www.do-xs.defilmwoche@stadt-duisburg.de]


     


     

    41 KASSELER DOK-FEST, Kasseler Dokumentarfilm und Video Fest, November 2024. Submission will be possible from mid-April until July 1, it is always free of charge and a premiere is not a requirement.
    [FB]


     


    among others...

  • German Films

      is the national information and advisory center for the promotion of German films worldwide. German Films’ range of activities includes: ...

     



    is the national information and advisory center for the promotion of German films worldwide.


    German Films’ range of activities includes: Close cooperation with and presence at all major international film festivals and selected TV markets; hosting selection delegations from international festivals; PR and press work for all major national and international media representatives; information and advice for international buyers, German producers and exporters; publication of informational literature on current German films and the film industry; organization of the annual “Next Generation” short film program; administration of the selection procedure for the German entry for the OSCAR for Best Foreign Language Film; staging of “Festivals of German Films” worldwide and “German Premieres” in selected cities; collaboration with Deutsche Welle’s DW-TV KINO program; organization of the “German Films Previews”; selective financial support for the foreign releases of German films; organization with Unifrance of the annual German-French film meeting.


    For additional information and a complete list of the current shareholders, board members and staff, please visit the German Films Website.