Archive notice: This article was originally published on April 18, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
“Doc Alliance” brings together five major European festivals in a new collaboration to support innovative feature-length documentary films. DOK Leipzig, Visions du Réel (Nyon), Planete Doc Review (Warsaw), the International Documentary Film Festival Jihlava (Czech Republic) and CPH: DOX (Copenhagen) each select one outstanding film annually, distinguished by a unique signature and a fresh perspective on reality. The five productions will be presented at all participating festivals, gaining exceptional visibility and support for distribution on the international market. “Doc Alliance” offers each selected film five opportunities to impress not only a broad audience but also potential distribution partners and industry representatives.
At the end of the festival cycle, an international jury decides the winner of the “Doc Alliance Award”, which is then presented to one of the five films at one of the participating festivals. “We urgently need new initiatives and collaborations to give exceptional, artistically outstanding documentary productions greater public exposure and to encourage filmmakers to take risks and follow their vision. The documentary with a distinctive authorial signature has become an endangered species in times of commercialisation and format standardisation in public-service television. Taking a stand here, surprising people with bold and demanding films and stimulating discussion have become central tasks for us as festival makers,” says DOK Leipzig Festival Director Claas Danielsen, explaining the motivation for founding “Doc Alliance”.
“Doc Alliance” will be launched during the “Visions du Réel”“ festival in Nyon, Switzerland (April 17–23, 2008). DOK Leipzig is contributing the Russian-Swiss coproduction “The Mother” by Pavel Kostomarov and Antoine Cattin. The film screened in the International Competition at DOK Leipzig 2007 and won the MDR Award, worth 3,000 euros, for an outstanding Eastern European documentary.
Claas Danielsen will present the “Doc Alliance” initiative together with the directors of the other festivals during Visions du Réel on April 20 in Nyon. DOK Leipzig is also represented at “Visions du Réel” by documentaries previously shown in Leipzig, appearing in competition and other festival programme sections, as well as in the “Doc Outlook” film market, to which DOK Leipzig has contributed 18 current German productions.
“Doc Alliance” Presentation, April 20, 2008, 18:30, Usine à Gaz, Nyon Doc Outlook-International Market, Rue Juste-Olivier 18, Nyon
Further Links:
- Dok Leipzig
