The film programme of DOK.fest München. At the cinema. At home.

3 to 14 May 2023 at the Munich venues
8 to 21 May 2023 @home

As always, DOK.fest München opens the view out to the world: with 130 of the best and most current international documentaries from 55 countries. Our goal is the greatest possible participation in our films, which is why we bring them to the big screen in Munich cinemas as well as to home screens throughout Germany: DOK.fest stays dual.

DOK.guest Canada

Indigenous culture and megacities, monarchy and liberalism – seven documentaries from and about Canada. The series is part of Canada's cultural programme as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair 2020/21, supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, Telefilm Canada and the Government of Canada.

LITTLE PEOPLE BIG DREAMS (China, Singapore 2014, Chun Kit Mak). A theme park where people of short stature live in their own dwarf world – it sounds like something from the 19th Century. In the Chinese “Dwarves Empire,” a place that is simultaneously a ghetto, a spectacle and a sanctuary, it is a cynical reality.

#Human Rights/Migration, #Asia

MOTHERS (China 2013, Xu Huijing). Rong Rong, a prospective teacher who lives in the Chinese countryside refuses to be sterilised. She is pursued by a committee, 90% of which are men. The film is a captivating account of the cynical implementation of Chinese demographic policy in rural areas.

#Gender/Emancipation, #Asia

SUD EAU NORD DÉPLACER – SOUTH TO NORTH (France 2014, Antoine Boutet). A massive project is intended to supply the north of China with water from the south. Yet the bombastic enterprise stands in opposition to man and nature. People are displaced and the environment is destroyed. SUD EAU NORD DÉPLACER shows the absurdity of a project that epitomises an imbalanced society.

#Environment/Climate, #Politics/Social Conflicts, #Asia

THE IRON MINISTRY – 铁－道 (China, United States 2014, J.P. Sniadecki). Journeys, carriages and protagonists that come and go – the train is a microcosm and a location for trade, exchange and mobility. We witness everyday occurrences, listen to intimate exchanges, both loud and quiet and follow people’s discussions. In this way the film presents us with a potpourri of impressions of China.

#Asia

THE LAST MOOSE IN AOLUGUYA – HAN DA HAN (China 2014, Gu Tao). Weijia is one of the Reindeer Evenkis, a minority group in northeast China. Displaced by the government and deprived of the opportunity to hunt, all they have left is alcohol and stories of days gone by. A striking film about their loss of identity and lack of agency.

#Human Rights/Migration, #Asia

DOK.horizonte Competition – Cinema of Urgency

The films in this series tell stories from countries in transition. They are supported by ENGAGEMENT GLOBAL with funds from the BMZ and are nominated for the VIKTOR DOK.horizonte Competition, endowed with 5,000 euros. The award donor is the Petra-Kelly-Stiftung.

THE GROUND BENEATH THEIR FEET (United States 2014, Nausheen Dadabhoy). Ruqiya and Khalida were paralysed by the massive earthquake in North Pakistan in 2005. This touching long-term observation accompanies the two women over five years. Will they find their place in a society that in actual fact has not envisaged one for them?

#Gender/Emancipation, #Asia

THE STORM MAKERS (Cambodia, France 2014, Guillaume Suon). Sold as a servant and exploited as a prostitute. In Cambodia human trafficking is thriving. Alongside the fate of a young woman, who returns home traumatised, the film also sheds light on the perpetrators.

#Human Rights/Migration, #Asia

Student Award

The Student Award of DOK.fest München presents outstanding documentary films by students of German-speaking film schools. The films are nominated for the megaherz Student Award, worth 3,000 Euros.

BOSTERI UNTERM RAD – BOSTERI BENEATH THE WHEEL (Germany 2014, Levin Hübner). An old man and his horse stand in the middle of the Kazakh Steppe. Behind them looms a Ferris wheel that goes round for only two months a year. We see the locals who are left behind in this leisure park as it lays idle and they wait for the next tourists to arrive.

#Asia

DO YOU KNOW AKANE OKAI? (Switzerland 2014, Raphaël Harari). The filmmaker is travelling in a foreign land - to the Japanese village of Tawara to be precise - and is looking for someone he can film. He makes a valiant effort and talks to many locals, even though he hardly knows any Japanese and they can’t really speak English. Finally he meets a young woman who shares a part of her life with him.

#Asia

SUSHILA BY THE SEA (Germany 2014, Reinaldo Pinto Almeida). Sushila, an elderly woman, lives with her family in Mumbai by the sea and goes into the city day after day to work as a cook for a wealthy family. She travels between two very different worlds. Sushila has worked since she was 13 years old and her aim is to lead a happy life.

#Asia

DOK.panorama

DOK.panorama shows innovative documentary films from all over the world mapping the diversity and current trends of documentary storytelling – including many new discoveries and premieres.

THE LOOK OF SILENCE (Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Norway, United Kingdom 2014, Joshua Oppenheimer). Indonesia 1965/66: More than a million people were murdered after the military coup. There has been no coming to terms with this since the perpetrators are still in power. Adi (44), whose brother was murdered back then, wants to make changes and confronts the culprits with their crimes.

#Human Rights/Migration, #Asia