DOK Leipzig – the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film – invites filmmakers, producers and distributors from all over the world to submit their latest productions by 10 July 2010. DOK Leipzig is the largest and most traditional German festival as well as one of the leading international events for artistic documentary and animated films.

From being a unique meeting place of filmmakers from East and West during the times of the Cold War, DOK Leipzig has developed with its high quality programme into one of the most vibrant festivals for filmmakers of documentary and animated films. It is an attractive festival for the public in one of the most exciting cities in Germany as well as the new annual meeting point of the German documentary film industry of international radiance.

In keeping with its traditions, DOK Leipzig stands for films dedicated to peace and dignity of mankind. In the face of its varied history, the festival is a place, where the spirit of freedom, the freedom of expression and visual art are celebrated. A high level of artistic quality, narrative expertise, critical views, a careful observation, the search for the traces of history and the exploration of the “memory of images” are features that determine the diversity and character of the Leipzig Festival.

DOK Leipzig is looking for films which surprise, which question antiquated conventions and become unforgettable; films which challenge and fascinate their audience; films which open up our perception of the world and which strike new paths in aesthetics and are persevering in their narration; films which are furious and political, which take risks and take a stand; films which are delicate, poetic, gentle, which take time, observe patiently and are held by the love and respect for their protagonists; films which are made with awareness, where direction, camera work, editing and sound design are elaborated and animated by the author’s vision; films which cross borders between genres and virtuosity, which are beyond mediocrity and can sustain on the big screen.

A wide spectrum of outstanding new productions from all over the world will be presented as part of the international competitions, in which the prestigious Golden and Silver Doves will be awarded. Among them will be the Golden Dove for the best feature-length documentary film, which has been donated by Telepool GmbH and is endowed with a prize money of € 10 000.

Generation DOK, the International Young Documentary Talent Competition, is focussing on film talents from all over the world who have found new ways of looking at narrative and stylistic forms of expression thus giving a fresh impetus to the entire genre. The reward for their efforts could be the „Talent Dove“ that comes with € 10 000 as start-up funding for their next film project. The prize money has been donated by the Media Foundation of Sparkasse Leipzig.

In the German Competition, DOK Leipzig offers its large audience and the numerous professional visitors from abroad a cross-section of the most important documentary film productions from Germany in an English version. The best German film will be awarded the Golden Dove that is endowed with € 10 000 donated by Kinowelt GmbH. In addition to that, the DEFA-Foundation will present its Funding Award for an exceptional German documentary together with a prize money of € 4 000.

Documentary films can only be selected for one of the three documentary film competitions if they will not have been screened publicly in Germany prior to the end of DOK Leipzig 2010. Any documentary shown publicly in Germany at any festival, forum, conference (including Prix Europa), in a cinema or on German TV prior to the end of DOK Leipzig 2010 will be excluded from competition but can be selected for the non-competitive International Programme. DOK Leipzig insists on national premieres for documentary films in competition and clearly favours world, international or European premieres.

The main prizes in the International Competition for Animated Films will be the Golden Dove (€ 5 000) and the Silver Dove (€ 2 000). Apart from that, the International Jury for Animated Films will award the prize for the best German animated film (€ 3 000) donated by Saturn Leipzig

The European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) is supporting, for the second time, the Healthy Workplaces Film Award at DOK Leipzig, which is endowed with € 8 000. The Award goes to an outstanding artistic documentary dealing with the subject of work. Thanks to the supporters of DOK Leipzig, the overall amount of prize monies adds up to a total of 67 000 EUR.

Those documentaries and animated films that cannot be included into any of the competitions, or that have already been screened publicly in Germany, will be presented in our information programmes (International Programme Documentary Film, International Panorama Animated Film, Animadoc, Anima for Kids etc.). Many excellent new films from all over the world can be discovered there.

In 2010, the Federal Film Archive and DOK Leipzig will dedicate the renowned annual retrospective to the subject “Military in German Societies” – or in a more polemic way: to Germany at war. Combining early archive footage, military training films, newsreels and advertising and propaganda films from Eastern and Western Germany we will explore how military can permeate a society, how military traditions continue despite of deep historic rifts, how images can be exploited and abused ideologically and how thin the line is between documentary and propaganda.

The International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film – for decades – has dedicated special programmes and retrospectives to countries or geographical regions which film culture was largely unknown to viewers in Germany and abroad. This festival tradition has recently been maintained with special programmes featuring on documentary and animated films from China, the Arab region, Afghanistan or sub-Saharan Africa. In 2010 DOK Leipzig will shed light on the Caucasus – a region of legendary beauty with a long history of wars and conflicts. We will look behind the headlines and give filmmakers from the Caucasus the chance to present their view on life, societies and history of this conflict region.

Every year DOK Leipzig also focuses on subjects that touch the heart of the human nature: After “Heart Flickering – Tales of Love”, “Lost Paradise Found” or “Smoking(no)Smoking” and one year after the crash of the financial markets we simply have to deal with money. The special programme will highlight many facets of this subject which is charged with emotions in a serious, but often also very entertaining way.

DOK Leipzig is not only a Mecca for documentary lovers but also for aficionados of animated film. The festival is the ideal place to discover the best in German and international artistic short animation. In 2010 we pay tribute to the Latvian-American filmmaker Signe Baumane who is rooted in the New York independent scene with her radically female, intelligent and tremendously funny films. And when the busy festival days come to an end we will offer our visitors a very special treat: DOK Leipzig will present the best animated music clips on the big screen – in Dolby Surround.

In few years only, DOK Leipzig has developed into the central German meeting place for the documentary film industry and has gained strong international recognition. Thanks to the comprehensive range of films on offer, the number of international experts visiting the festival has doubled to more than 1,400 since 2004.

The digital DOK Market enables international commissioning editors, distributors, TV buyers and festival representatives to view all official films of the festival programme, as well as 150 additionally selected, new documentary productions from all over the world. The DOK Market is fully digitized, with all films being accessible merely by a mouse click. The focus of the DOK Market is directed at productions from the German speaking countries as well as Central and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, all producers, distributors and commissioning editors have the option to book special screenings at the DOK Market cinema.

Within the context of the 5th Leipzig Screening, international buyers and distributors can discover new and outstanding German documentary films for an international audience. The Leipzig Screening is organised in collaboration with German Films and the German documentary filmmakers association AG DOK.

Producers will gather for the sixth time now at the International DOK Leipzig Co-Production Meeting to discuss new projects and to form alliances. This year we expect producers from the Benelux countries, Central and Eastern Europe as well as from Germany.

The Leipzig Forum on Innovative Non-Fiction TV promises a unique insight into the labs of international heads of programming: Which new documentary slots are coming up and what kind of programme initiatives are planned? DOK Leipzig and Documentary Campus will bring international commissioning editors and representatives of film funds to Leipzig, together with their innovative ideas for reshaping the genre.

If the German TV landscape seems like a maze to you, our German Day will help you to navigate the biggest European media market. Key German commissioning editors present their documentary slots and give insight into their future programming needs.

The DOK Summit panel discussions will offer food for thought, when international experts are debating about aesthetics, morale, technology, distribution and trends in the international documentary scene.

Last but not least, the renowned Pitching Session of the Documentary Campus Masterschool (formerly the Discovery Campus Masterschool) will again take place parallel to DOK Leipzig. Under the critical eyes of 150 professional visitors, 20 European filmmakers and producers will present their latest documentary film projects to 50 television decision makers (www.documentary-campus.de)

We invite you to enter your latest works and celebrate with us the highest quality in film at DOK Leipzig – where the heArt of documentary and animated films beats!

Claas Danielsen

Festival Director