DOK Leipzig

Francesca Scalisi’s VALENTINA E I MUOSTRI (DOK MOBILE, Mark Olexa) will celebrate its international premiere with a screening in the International Documentary Film Competition. The film portrays the Valentina’s emancipation from the Sicilian village of Niscemi as it battles drought fires and the MUOS – gigantic US military satellites that disfigure the landscape. The film celebrated its world premiere at the Visions du Réel in Nyon and received the Special Jury Prize in the National Competition.

Celebrating its world premiere in the Audience Competition will be Anna Thommen’s latest film NAIMA (Emilia Productions, Judith Lichtneckert). In her portrait, the film director accompanies a Venezuelan woman navigating the precarious circumstances in Switzerland and learning to stand up for herself. Anna Thommen received numerous awards for her debut film NEULAND (2013), which also deals with the situation of migrants in Switzerland.

Also screened in the Audience Competition will be Yvann Yagchi’s AVANT IL N'Y AVAIT RIEN (maximage, Brigitte Hofer, Cornelia Seitler). The Swiss filmmaker of Palestinian origin travels to the West Bank to better understand the separation from a childhood friend who has become a Jewish settler. The film celebrated its world premiere in Rotterdam and was subsequently screened at CPH:DOX and Visions du Réel.

Nicole Vögele’s THE LANDSCAPE AND THE FURY (Produktion Beauvoir Films, Aline Schmid, Adrian Blaser) will be screened in the Doc Alliance Award programme. Doc Alliance is a network comprised of seven European documentary film festivals dedicated to promoting emerging talents. THE LANDSCAPE AND THE FURY was honoured with this year’s award. In addition, the film has also been shortlisted for the Documentary Film Selection of the European Film Awards.

Animation and interaction

Jadwiga Kowalska’s self-produced short film THE CAR THAT CAME BACK FROM THE SEA will celebrate its German premiere in the International Animated Film Competition. The animated road movie has already garnered numerous awards, boasting an impressive festival career, including at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival.

Celebrating its world premiere in the Kids DOK programme for young audiences will be TOTI by Maëlle Chevallier. Two friendly cells can be observed under the microscope as they grow up together and encounter many different life forms during their escapades. The short film was produced by Geneva-based animation studio Nadasdy Film (Nicolas Burlet, Zoltán Horváth).

The interactive documentary film TRACES OF RESPONSIBILITY by Anja Ress and Jann Anderegg will be screened in the DOK Neuland - Interactive Cinema section (Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion, Karin Koch; Aaron Film, Joël Jent). The film deals with the complex origins and aftermath of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. The audience uses an app to journey through the country and decide which route to follow, depending on how deeply they want to immerse themselves in the story.

DOK Co-Pro Market

The DOK Co-Pro Market present 35 international documentary and animation film projects in development and brings together project owners with new partners for coproduction, financing and distribution. Two projects from Switzerland have been selected to participate in this year’s presentation: REBELLION OF MEMORY by Joël Jent, a Swiss coproduction between Aaron Film, France (Les Films d’Ici) and Peru (Amazona Producciones), as well as BLACKBELT by Kan Muftic, produced by Panimage.