The 69th edition of DOK Leipzig, which runs in Germany (October 26-November 1), will include 30 world premieres and 29 debut features across its four competition sections, with a focus on films from Central and Eastern Europe.
“Giving more space to films and filmmakers in these countries is not only a key concern of DOK Leipzig, but also something I care deeply about personally,” said Ola Staszel, who has taken over from Christophe Terhechte as festival director for the 2026 edition.
Three world premieres and two international premieres are among the nine diverse features in the international competition documentary film section. They include Lukas Marxt’s >1,5°C Pyropolitics And The New World, which documents the devastating Los Angeles wildfires of 2025, Asmahan Bkerat’s Concrete Land about the daily life of a Palestinian Bedouin family in Jordan, and Argentinian filmmaker Ana Bovino’s The Nights.
Also in competition are Helena Třeštíková’s Bára – Diary Of A Rockstar, Andrei Kutsila’s Venice prize-winning Letters From The Silenced Country, Hu Sanshou’s Xiangzidian Village: The Stage, Giuseppe Schillaci’s Auber 89, Alain Kassanda’s The Maternity Ward chronicling the final years of the Les Lilas maternity ward before it shuts its doors after 60 years, and Polish filmmaker Kamila Serwicka’s highly personal family portrait Blossoming.
The five features selected for the animated competition section are Chris Sullivan’s The Orbit Of Minor Satellites, which transports to an abandoned hallucinatory Cold War space station, Xun Sun’s Magic Atlas, collaborative directorial effort Son of a Bitch by Erica Maradona, Tania Anaya, Otto Guerra, and Sávio Leite, Kohei Kadowaki’s We Are Aliens and Pierre Hébert’s Prelude and Fugues – The Wood Thrush.
Seven of the eight features in the German documentary film competition are world premieres. They are: Haiguang Li’s Cold River: I Am In Leipzig, Janis Westphal’s Haus Der Trinker, Julia Groteclaes’ Hotel Utopia, Jasmine Alakari’s Free Zone, Konrad Schlaich’s Kindesmutter, Tete Hoffmann’s Mein Genialer Vater, Peter Badel and Chris Wright’s Übergang and Jonathan Omer Mizrahi’s The Snake Charmer.
The fourth competition section, the audience competition, will showcase 10 features including Victor Kossakovsky’s Venice title Holy Wood Dust, Erik Shirai’s Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing, Emil Langballe’s Petrolheads, and Kurtág Fragments by Dénes Nagy.
The winner of the Golden Dove for best feature documentary in the audience competition will be decided in an online vote.
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