DOK Leipzig unveils 55th edition

Familiarly known as DOK Leipzig, this year’s edition boasts 27 world premieres and 14 international premieres. Including the animated fare, a total of 360 non-fiction films from 62 countries will be shown.

“This year’s films paint a very exciting and varied picture of a world in transition,” says festival director Claas Danielsen, who has run the event since 2004. “In that way, the festival serves as a barometer of fundamental political, social and cultural change.”

Amongst the festival strands are: an international competition (13 films), a German competition (12 films), young cinema for new filmmakers (11 films), a dozen short films and 36 feature-length documentaries curated from around the world.

In addition to these competitive sections, special programming includes a Latin American section called The Spirit of Freedom, the self-explanatory Utopias and Realities: The Red Dream Factory (primarily silent films with live musical accompaniment) and filmmaker retrospectives showcasing the work of Barbara Hammer, Peter Nestler, Mariola Brillowska and Boris von Borresholm.

In a festival first, the opening night film, Are You Listening! comes from Bangladesh. In this world premiere screening, director Kamar Ahmad Simon examines the plight of 100 or so families from a flood-ravaged village who have lived on an old dyke for the past two years.