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.

THIS IS EXILE: DIARIES OF CHILD REFUGEES (Lebanon, Switzerland, United Kingdom 2015, Mani Yassir Benchelah). Over half of Syrian refugees are children. Mani Y. Benchelah spent a year in camps in Lebanon making this portrait of five girls and boys aged between 7 and 16. A raw, sensitive and sometimes horrifying look at war and exile from the point of view of children.

#Middle East, #Migration

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.

KOUDELKA SHOOTING HOLY LAND – KOUDELKA SHOOTING HOLY LAND (Czech Republic, Germany 2015, Gilad Baram). Gilad Baram offers us backstage access to a world-famous photo journalist and, at the same time, subtly and through the formal sobriety of Josef Koudelka’s images, shows us the absurdity of drawing a boundary between Israel and Palestine.

#Politics and Society, #Eastern Europe/Russia, #Middle East, #Art and Photography

DOK.international Main Competition

Slices of life, insights and perspectives: The films of the International Competition open doors to new worlds for us. They compete for the VIKTOR DOK.international Main Competition, which is endowed with 10,000 euros. The prize sponsor is Bayerischer Rundfunk.

KANDAHAR JOURNALS (Afghanistan, Canada, United States 2015, Louie Palu, Devin Gallagher). Photojournalist, Louie Palu, witnessed a suicide attack in Afghanistan. From 2006 to 2010 he continued to work in the Kandahar region, filming and photographing on the front line and experiencing the horrors of war up close. A psychological self portrait – brutal and disturbing.

#USA/Canada, #Middle East, #BEST DOKS, #Art and Photography

SONITA – SONITA (Germany, Iran, Switzerland 2015, Rokhsareh Ghaemmaghami). 18-year-old Afghan, Sonita, is a rapper. She lives “sans papiers” in Teheran and dreams of a future as a hip hop star. Yet her mother wants her to be married in Afghanistan and her bride price is supposed to pay for the wedding of her older brother.

#Middle East, #Music, #Women's rights, #BEST DOKS, #14jugendfrei

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.

A MAID FOR EACH – MAKHDOUMIN (France, Lebanon, Norway, United Arab Emirates 2016, Maher Abi Samra). For middle-class families in Lebanon, employing a domestic worker is the norm. Agencies arrange the fresh supply of young women from Africa and Asia. Absorbing and agonizing insights into the agencies’ everyday affairs, which lie somewhere between global commerce and slavery.

#BEST DOKS, #Politics and Society, #Middle East, #Women's rights

ROUNDABOUT IN MY HEAD – DANS MA TETE UN ROND-POINT (Algeria, France, Lebanon, Netherlands, Qatar 2015, Hassen Ferhani). Probably the most beautiful film that has ever been filmed in an abbatoir. Francis Bacon meets Caravaggio. Algiers: the world of young and old butchers in their place of work during the football World Cup. A film about love, women and the question of a simple life.

#Middle East, #Cineastes

STARLESS DREAMS – ROYAHAYE DAME SOBH (Iran 2016, Mehrdad Oskouei). A group of girls in a young offenders institution: prostitutes, drug addicts, thieves and murderers. Raped by their uncles and tormented by their mothers - behind bars, they can be young and feel safe. Sophisticated, delicate images of an insular world.

#Law and Crime, #Middle East, #Women's rights, #BEST DOKS

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.