DOK Leipzig Co-Pro Market

Source: Sophie Mahler

DOK Leipzig Co-Pro Market

Documentaries by Ukraine’s Roman Bondarchuk, Israel’s Gal Rosenbluth and Germany’s Julia Fuhr Mann are among 35 projects to be pitched to potential financiers and co-production partners at the 21st edition of the DOK Co-Pro Market in Leipzig between 27-28 October.

Bondarchuk’s Recovery, which will be co-directed by Vadym Ilkov (the DoP on Bondarchuk’s feature films The Editorial Office and Volcano) and was presented for the first time at Prague’s East Doc Forum in March, examines rebuilding efforts by the Ukrainians amidst ongoing Russian attacks.

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In her first feature-length documentary, It Is What It Is, Rosenbluth uncovers her late grandmother’s hidden past as one of the 3,000 “mixed” Israeli-Palestinian couples in Israel’s early years, exploring the profound costs of such unions.

Mann, who came to international prominence with her debut hybrid documentary Life Is Not A Competition, But I’m Winning continues to push gender boundaries in Cheers To Our Lovely Life, using fictional elements and professional actors alongside real people to trace the journey of four queer women on a road trip as they cast off their familial baggage and normative roles.

Women (co-)directors make up 60% of this year’s selection, with new projects being pitched by filmmakers such as: Romanian-born Ana Vijdea (Nava Mamă); Berlin-based, Palestinian writer-director Pary El-Qalqil (Speak, Image Speak); Kazakhstan’s Zhanana Kurmasheva (The Story of My Shirt); Morocco’s Basma Rkioui (Akal); and co-directors Martyna Wróbel and Anna Biernacik (Her Name Is Fields).

Social and political issues feature in a number of titles, including US-based Georgian filmmaker Nino Benashvili charting cycles of resistance in her homeland in Of the Trees Unmoved and Jeanne Nouchi’s Anatolia following a Turkish farmer’s quest for hidden Armenian treasure.

This year’s line-up also features a number of animated documentary projects such as Buenos Aires-based Patricio Plaza’s Black Diaries, unearthing the life of the Irish-born diplomat Roger Casement and his forgotten struggles in Latin America, and Elsa Perry’s family-centred investigation Summer of ‘46 about her two great-great aunts who were liberated from the Ravensbrück concentration camp.

Nadja Tennstedt, director of DOK Industry, said this year’s record number of 391 entries “demonstrates the drive and need to tell urgent stories but also the difficulties to finance documentaries today.”

“We went for bold and uncompromising choices that have great potential for successful international co-productions, projects that touched us with their artistic vision and their timely and important topics,” she said, pointing out that, “with the selection, we sought to highlight deeply personal stories that resonate with larger themes and histories, alongside works addressing urgent geopolitical issues that challenge and provoke.”

“Courage and creativity are at the core of this year’s line-up that we trust will resonate strongly with potential partners,” Tennstedt concluded.

Projects pitched at recent editions of Leipzig’s Co-Pro Market have included Jasmila Zbanić’s Blum, Karima Saidi’s Those Who Watch Over, Godisamang Khunou’s The Sharp End of a Knife, Corine Shawi’s Just Like a Dream, and Alison Millar and Alexander Jay’s co-directed When The Rapping Stops.

DOK Co-Pro Market 2025 selection:

The 13th Fish, dir. Sara Stijovic, prod cos. Tiny Sofa, Kot Production (Mont-Kos)

Akal, dir. Basma Rkioui, Kasbah Films, prod cos. Massala Production (Mor-Fr)

Anatolia, dir. Jeanne Nouchi, prod co: MB17 Films (Fr)

Anything but Love, dir. Zijian Zeng, prod co: Shanghai Old Tid Culture Communication (China)

Between Three Waters, dir. Olivia Yao, prod cos. FMedia, Steps (Benin-S.Afr)

The Birth of Derna, dir. Hussein Eddeb, prod cos. Integral Film, Aramit Company, Al Jazeera Documentary (Nor-Libya-Qatar)

Black Diaries, dir. Patricio Plaza , prod cos. Ojo Raro, Osa Estudio, Bridgelight Pictures (Arg-Ger)

Brigitte, for Instance, dir. Jan Eilhardt, prod cos. Eilhardt Productions, Freischwimmer Film (Ger)

Cheers to Our Lovely Life, dir. Julia Fuhr Mann ,prod co: PINKY SWEAR FILM (Ger)

The Chef Suffragette, dir. Magdalena Szymków, prod cos. Raban, Kerekes Film ( Pol-Slovakia)

Dylan McKay, dir. Ana Lungu, prod cos. 4 Proof Film, Microscop Film (Rom)

Edition 96, dir. Ahmad Naboulsi , prod co: OOBconcept (Leb)

Fossil Matter, dir. Tiziana Panizza, prod cos. Solita Producciones, Panal Producciones, Errante Producciones (Chile)

Gongon, dir. Carlos Yuri Ceuninck, prod co: Korikaxoru Films (Cape Verde)

Her Name Is Fields, dirs: Anna Biernacik, Martyna Wróbel, prod cos. Mozaika Films, Tondowski Films (Pol-Ger)

In Transition (WT), dir. Ole Jacobs, prod co: Film Five (Ger)

It Is What It Is, dir. Gal Rosenbluth, prod cos. uvs films, beetz brothers film production (Israel-Ger)

The Measure of Love, dir. Mauricio Cuffaro, prod cos. Apnea Films, Aquí y Allí Films, Avanpost (Sp-Rom)

My Aunties, dir. Hazal Hanquet, prod cos. istos film, Little Big Story (Turkey-Fr)

Nava Mamă, dir. Ana Vijdea, prod cos. Remora Films, Saga Film, Les Steppes Productions (Rom-Fr)

No Road to Panjal, dir. Syed Jazib Ali, prod co: Mudland Studio (Neth)

Of the Trees Unmoved, dir. Nino Benashvili, prod co: Independent (Georgia-US)

Old Rocks, dir. Nicola Pietromarchi, prod co: Studio x01 (It)

Recovery, dir. Roman Bondarchuk, Vadym Ilkov, prod cos. Moon Man, Hutong Productions (Ukraine-Fr)

See You Soon (WT), dir. Martina Mahlknecht, Martin Prinoth, prod co: Jyoti Film (Ger)

Sense and Sensibility, dir. Hanna Nordenswan, prod co: Zone2 Pictures (Fin)

Sisters, dir. Tereza Bernátková, prod cos. MasterFilm, Bachibouzouk & Les Poissons Volants, Kerekes Film (Czech-Fr- Slovakia)

Speak Image, Speak, dir. Pary El-Qalqili, prod co: SEERA Films (Ger)

The Story of My Shirt, dir. Zhanana Kurmasheva, prod cos. Plan B, Cinerama Entertainment (Kazakh-Uzbek)

Succession (WT), dir. Yi Chen, prod cos. C35 Films, Repartee Films, Drung Films (US-India)

Summer of ‘46, dir. Elsa Perry, prod co: Wendigo Films (Fr)

That Soul Stealing Device, dir. Giuliano Franco Ochipinti, prod co: Juanjo Pereira (Para)

To Cross a River, dir. Jin Jiang, prod co: Hutong Productions (Fr)

Welcome to Our Bathhouse, dirs: Tommaso Barbetta, Setsuya Kakinuma, prod cos. double tommy, Intuitive Pictures (Japan- Can 

Youth, dir. Daria Zhuravel, prod cos. Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema, Les 48° Rugissants (Ukraine-Fr)

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