During this year's Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film (Dok), the past plays a special role. "My impression is that after a relatively large number of films were made during the pandemic that discovered social themes through private stories, we are now looking more at historical, socially overarching themes again," said Dok director Christoph Terhechte in an interview with Deutsche Presse-Agentur before the festival began. History in documentaries, he said, can serve to understand what is happening in the present or how the future can be shaped differently. The festival will take place this year between Oct. 8 and 15 in Leipzig.
The change in the film industry is also a result of a general uncertainty - "also in the reshaping of geopolitical power blocs and wars, economic crises, of global warming and many other things," Terhechte said. By dealing with those serious issues - including with the help of films - people can gain security, he said. "Insecurity usually comes from just picking up on something but not really processing it. To deal with it with other people, how, for example, filmmakers have approached the topics, can not only lead to becoming more optimistic, but also to dealing with the current situation in a strengthened way."
