Christophe Terhechte reflects on six years at DOK Leipzig and gives key advice to his successor

The 68th International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (DOK Leipzig) opens in Germany today (October 27) with the international premiere of Claire Simon’s latest film Writing Life: Annie Ernaux Through the Eyes of High School Students.

Over seven days, the festival will screen 252 films and XR works from 55 countries, with 78 feature-length and short documentaries and animated films in the running for the Golden and Silver Doves in the four competition sections.

DOK Leipzig 2025 also features homages to US essay filmmaker and artist Lee Anne Schmitt and the Punta y Raya festival and international platform. The latter is a showcase for abstract art across many disciplines. Additionally, the ‘Un-American Activities’ strand showcases critical US films screened at the festival between 1962 and 1989.

Artistic director Christoph Terhechte bows out this year after six years at the helm. He talks to Screen about the key elements of this year’s programme, addresses the challenges facing the festival, and points to what he believes is his greatest achievement as artistic director.

After six editions at DOK Leipzig, what are the changes you have seen in both the documentary and festival sectors?

Documentaries are playing a bigger role at some of the major international festivals. I was amazed at the number of fantastic documentaries premiering in Venice this year, and that’s something my successor should pay attention to rather than just going to the dedicated documentary festivals.

Running a festival evolves with the challenges, which were mainly the pandemic and the financial crisis in the cultural sector in the past six years.

Apart from that, a festival director’s job is clearly defined: strengthening the festival’s unique selling points, presenting as wide a range of films as possible, creating a clear structure to appeal to a broad audience, and offering a programme for the industry that corresponds with the festival’s areas of focus.

What is the budget for this year’s festival? Has that remained stable during the past six years?

The budget of € 2.5m has remained more or less stable – but due to inflation, we can afford less each year. While we received the same amount of institutional funding, we unfortunately lost funding for inclusion measures and for projects supported by Saxony’s Cultural Foundation. Losing the budget for inclusion was the biggest blow because Leipzig has always had lots of films that were accessible to blind and deaf people. This year, we have only been able to offer a limited programme through crowdfunding.

What would you see as the main challenges facing festivals like DOK Leipzig in the future?

Maintaining institutional funding, ensuring fair pay for employees, and securing third-party funding for interesting programming.

Beyond that, the biggest challenge for film festivals of all sizes will be the cinema infrastructure. Without cinemas, there won’t be any festivals. I believe the public sector has a duty to ensure a basic provision of screening venues, just like it does for theatres, concert halls and opera houses.

What is the role of DOK Leipzig for filmmakers and the industry at a busy time of year for documentary festivals, with Ji.hlava taking place at the same time and IDFA just two weeks later? 

DOK Leipzig and Ji.hlava have different focuses, even though their target audiences in the industry may overlap. What sets DOK Leipzig apart from the other documentary festivals is, above all, the fact] that we also have the field of animation and a platform for animated documentaries at the festival. 

Leipzig and Ji.hlava can be competitors and good colleagues at the same time. Admittedly, there could be a greater synergy because the two festivals are geographically close and both focus on Eastern Europe. And we should do more to fine-tune the dates.    

 Focusing on this year’s edition, What is thematically distinctive about the lineup?

After the pandemic, a lot of films were talking about family and what could be observed from within your own four walls. This has now shifted 180 degrees. People are looking outwards again, travelling to foreign parts, and addressing worrying developments in the world.

Why did you choose to focus this year’s retrospective, ‘Un-American Activities’ on critical US films that had been presented in Leipzig between 1962 and 1989? 

All our recent retrospectives have dealt with the festival’s past to see what it once was and how it has developed since then. We have always found something new, but in this year’s case, we’d never expected to find that so many US films were shown at a festival in a country [East Germany] that at the time saw the US as the enemy. Many of these films had a subtext that was probably not spotted by GDR officials but was certainly noticed by the audiences.

The retrospective’s films also show a parallel to what is now happening in the US.

What was the idea behind dedicating the animation film homage to the group of individuals behind the Punto y Raya festival and international platform?

That mirrors the last part of our retrospective, which looks at collective filmmaking and curating. It’s also an opportunity once again to give a platform to abstract animated cinema and show that Leipzig is interested in the whole spectrum of animation.

Why did you choose Lee Anne Schmitt as the subject for the documentary film homage?

I saw [Schmitt’s latest film] Evidence in Berlin earlier this yar and felt this is just the right film at the right time. It’s a film that explains, in a very calm and personal way, how we came to be in this situation where fascism is rising everywhere, and how critical thinking is being replaced by reactionary ideas. Her previous films allow us to see her development up to the present, and interestingly this builds a bridge from contemporary US cinema to this year’s retrospective.

What do you see as your main achievements at the festival? 

I am very proud of reviving the animation element of the festival with awards for short and feature-length films. The attention we give to animation in the festival programme and in DOK Industry events has definitely put Leipzig on the map for animation filmmakers.

What practical tips do you have for your successor, Aleksandra Staszel?

It’s very important DOK Leipzig caters to audiences who are not used to watching documentaries but are then tempted by the subject matter and the attractive way it is treated.

She should also convey a sense of calmness. Things are never as bad as they seem.

• Films from Chile, Canada and Uganda unveiled in diverse DOK Leipzig 2025 lineup