Festival was founded under the name "1st All-German Leipzig Festival of Cultural and Documentary Films" and was the first independent film festival in East Germany. In 1995 a separate competition for animated films was added and in 2004 a film industry program, DOK Industry, was initiated to allow a networking and contact platform for industry professionals. Now the festival has more than 27,000 attendees.

Official Selection:

International Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film
International Competition Short Documentary and Animated Film
German Competition Long Documentary and Animated Film
German Competition Short Documentary and Animated Film
Next Masters Competition
International Competition Animated Documentary
International Programme Documentary and Animated Film, Kids DOK and Youth Programme included (Documentary and Animated Films for children)
DOK local
DOK Interactive
ACADEMY AWARDS. All winners of our International Competition for Short Documentary and Animation Films will qualify for consideration for the annual ACADEMY AWARDS® provided that the film otherwise complies with the Academy rules.

European Film Award. All documentaries by European filmmakers that are shown in our Official Selection are eligible for the European Film Award in the category of “European Documentary”. DOK Leipzig recommends three documentary films which have premiered with us to the Academy. The films in the selection must have a length of 70 minutes or more.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR LONG DOCUMENTARY AND ANIMATION FILM:

GOLDEN DOVE (Long Metrage, longer than 45 min) along with 10.000 EUR granted by TELEPOOL GmbH;
PRIZE OF THE TRADE UNION VER.DI – DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND ARTS along with 2.500 EUR;
PRIZE OF THE ECUMENICAL JURY comprising 2.000 EUR by the VCH-Hotels Germany GmbH — in the "Verband Christlicher Hoteliers e.V." including the Hotels MICHAELIS in Leipzig;
PRIZE OF FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE LA PRESSE CINÉMATOGRAPHIQUE.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR SHORT DOCUMENTARY AND ANIMATION FILM:

GOLDEN DOVE SHORT DOCUMENTARY FILM along with 5.000 EUR
GOLDEN DOVE SHORT ANIMATION FILM along with 5.000 EUR
SILVER DOVE FOR AN OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT along with 2.000 EUR
MEPHISTO 97.6 - AUDIENCE AWARD for the best Animation Film out of the International Competition for short Documentary and Animation Films
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION FOR ANIMATED DOCUMENTARY:

GOLDEN DOVE connected with 3.000 EUR.
GERMAN COMPETITION DOCUMENTARY AND ANIMATION FILM:

GOLDEN DOVE FOR LONG FILMS along with 10.000 EUR;
GOLDEN DOVE FOR SHORT FILMS along with 5.000 EUR.
DEFA SPONSORING PRIZE as a grant in the amount of 4.000 EUR granted by DEFA Foundation for an outstanding German film.
NEXT MASTERS COMPETITION:

GOLDEN DOVE of the Media Foundation of the Sparkasse Leipzig along with 10.000 EUR as start-up funding for the next documentary film project.
AWARDS FOR DOCUMENTARY FILMS OUT OF THE OFFICIAL PROGRAMME:

HEALTHY WORKPLACES FILM AWARD along with 8.000 EUR granted by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA) for the best documentary film about the subject of work;
FILM PRIZE "LEIPZIG RING" of the Stiftung Friedliche Revolution along with 5.000 EUR for the best documentary about the subject of democracy;
MDR FILM PRIZE along with 3.000 EUR for an excellent Eastern European film.
DOCUMENTARY FILM PRIZE OF THE GOEHTE-INSTITUE along with 2.000 EUR for the best German documentary film out of the Official Programme.
YOUNG EYES FILM AWARD along with 2.000 EUR awarded by a youth jury.
INTERACTIVE WORK AUDIENCE AWARD along with 3.000 EUR.

Only films from 2022 and 2023 (year of production) are eligible for submission that must not have been publicly screened prior to 1 October 2022.
For all six competitions a German premiere of the film at DOK Leipzig is required. World and International premieres will be favoured.
For the International Programme, films that already had their German festival premiere before DOK Leipzig can be selected. World, International and German premieres will be favoured.
Films of directors who have not completed more than three documentary films (40 min and longer) so far will be eligible for New Masters Competition (excluding their works during education and/or the professional training).
When making a submission, the following documents and materials will be required:

an English synopsis (max. 200 words)
a curriculum vitae as well as a filmography of the director
a portrait photograph of the director (300 DPI, JPG)
still photographs of the film (300 DPI, JPG).
Selection Media Type: mp4 film files that have been uploaded to our FTP server are accepted

Screening Media Type: DCP (for Documentary Films), DCP and HD (for Animated Films). All other formats can only be accepted in special cases and after consulting the programme department.

Audio language: original

Subtitles language: English