From now on, you can fill out the accreditation form online to get registered for the 53rd International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film. Accreditation deadline is 1 October 2010.

 

Accreditation entitles guests to attend all DOK Festival events and DOK Industry sessions (some specially designated events are not included) and comes with a festival catalogue. You are very welcome to enjoy an exciting programme all about documentary and animated movies from 18 until 24 October 2010.

 

+++ Highly Recommended: Documentary Campus' Final Pitching on 23 & 24 October 2010. More than 20 new and well-developed documentary projects will be presented to over 45 international commissioning editors. Meet the decision makers, discover the needs of the market and explore new trends. Take advantage of the new package deal of Documentary Campus and DOK Leipzig and save over 15 % of the accreditation fees.

“As a documentary filmmaker I go to a foreign land, and the people tell their stories and open their hearts. In return, I give them back a film, but I don’t believe that a film alone has the power to change their circumstances in the long run. Rebuilding Cinema Jenin gives each of those who participate the possibility to write the next chapter in their lives." (Marcus Vetter)

Amazement, laughter, lights and movie stars: On the 5th of August – after two years of intensive renovations – Cinema Jenin, located in the heart of the city, hosted hundreds of people for the first time. More than 300 people took their seats on the cinema chairs, originally produced in the 60ies, and many were crowding the corridors. Cinema Jenin celebrated its resurrection – after 23 long years.
For the people in Jenin this means regaining an important cultural asset of their city as well as the chance to gain new experience. Regardless if it is a demanding art-house or an action movie, a special kids or Ramadan program, Cinema Jenin has it all.
Cinema Jenin also has an attached film school with subtitling and dubbing studios which will be set up over the course of the year. Film and camera workshops for young Palestinians complete the service range offered here.

The project needs financial support for the renovation and material donation for equipment and purchasing, digitalizing and subtitling movies.

You are invited to submit your latest documentary or animated films for the 53rd edition of DOK Leipzig, the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, which is held from 18 to 24 October 2010.

+++ ENTRY DEADLINE 10 July 2010
+++ Please find the complete regulations, the entry form and further information on our site.
+++ Thanks to the supporters of DOK Leipzig, the overall amount of prize monies adds up to a total of 67 000 EUR.

We look forward to receiving your films!

Kiana Firouz, 27 years old, is an outspoken Iranian LGBT rights activist, filmmaker, and actress. When clips of her video documentary work featuring the struggle and persecution of gays and lesbians in her country were acquired by Iranian intelligence, agents began to follow Firouz around Tehran, harassing and intimidating her. She fled form England where she could safely continue her work and studies.

She plays a starring role in Cul de Sac, a documentary film produced in the UK about the condition of lesbians in Iran, and based heavily on Firouz’s own life story. Directed by Ramin Goudarzi-Nejad and Mahshad Torkan, the movie will premiere in London in a few days. Some members of Ahmadinejad’s puppet media in Iran viewed the first trailer o youtube. They want her to come back to the country she was born in to answer for it.

In Iran, the punishment for lesbianism involving mature consenting women consists of 100 lashes. This punishment can be applied up to three times. After a fourth violation of Iranian law, a woman convicted of “unrepentant homosexuality” is finally executed by hanging, often publicly, in front of a howling mob.

http://www.petitiononline.com/kianaf/petition.html

We cordially invite producers from the Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and/or Germany to apply to the 6th International DOK Leipzig Co-Production Meeting. In addition, we will again be welcoming colleagues from Middle and Eastern Europe, who will be coming to Leipzig from the Workshops Ex Oriente Film (Czech Republic) and Dragon Forum (Poland) with innovative film ideas. Also we will be welcoming six producers from Chile/Argentina. The main focus of the Co-Production Meeting is to encourage international co-productions and offer alternative financing apart from pure financing by television.

Jafar Panahi

Beginning of March, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi had been arrested by the police of his country. Over two months later, he's still in prison.

The International Federation of Film Critics FIPRESCI, a non-profit, apolitical organization consisting of members from 68 countries worldwide, strongly protests the arrest and unjust confinement of filmmaker Jafar Panahi. In the collective view of FIPRESCI, Panahi is not only an outstanding filmmaker – he has merited the FIPRESCI Award at the 2000 Venice Film Festival and also received our "Grand Prix – Best Film of the Year" for "The Circle / Dayereh" – he is also, in our opinion, an honorable person and has earned the warmest respect from cinephiles and humanists alike from all over the world. What he is not, in our view, is a criminal. He can and should not be denied of freedom for his political opinion. We regard his imprisonment as a crime against both democracy as well as the most basic of human rights.

Munich, May 9, 2010

FIPRESCI – The International Federation of Film Critics