Dok Leipzig, International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (October 28 – November 3, 2024), has long been an important event for the cinema of Central and Eastern Europe. This year, too, it will present several Slovak films in its program, two of which are competing for the Golden and Silver Doves.
The short film Hurikan by Jan Saska was selected for the International Competition Animated Films. The beer odyssey in nighttime Prague full of specific humor, had its premiere in June at the Annecy festival. The latest film by Peter Kerekes, Wishing on a Star, about the search for happiness with the help of the stars, which was already presented at festivals in Venice and Toronto, is included in the Audience Competition.
The Camera Lucida section is designed for unconventional documentary films such as Lapilli. The author Paula Ďurinová interweaves remembering her deceased grandparents with the study of minerals. Marie-Magdalena Kochová will present her film The Other One in the section Panorama: Central and Eastern Europe. The story about a teenager whose sibling has special needs and therefore she always remains “the other one”, had its premiere, alongside Lapilli, in Karlovy Vary. The young audience will have a chance to see a feature-length animated film nominated for the European Film Awards, Living Large, directed by Kristina Dufková, about a 12-year-old boy who copes with his weight.
For the third time, there will be a special screening of 25 short films from Central and Eastern Europe, organized by the festival in cooperation with film institutes from the Czech Republic, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia (represented by the Slovak Film Institute), and Serbia. Seven Slovak films were selected for the 5×5 Shorts from the East: Even Stone Flows (dir. Michaela Čopíková, Veronika Obertová), Project Motherhood (dir. Michal Babinec, Lea Hanzelová), Strigov (dir. Barbora Berezňáková), The Kite (dir. Martin Smatana), Tomato Hairytage (dir. Laura Kočanová), Untravel (dir. Nikola Majdak Jr., Ana Nedeljković), We Have to Survive: Fukushima! (dir. Tomáš Krupa).
You can find more information on the website of the Dok Leipzig festival.
