Press Release from DOK Leipzig
DOK Leipzig is one of four international film festivals offered the opportunity to present a “Best of” programme at the Shanghai EXPO.
As the only German festival present in Shanghai, Leipzig once more affirms its position as the biggest and most important documentary film event in Germany and one of the leading festivals in Europe. Apart from Leipzig, the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IFA) is the only festival representing the European industry in China. The other festivals to present programmes are the Japanese Yamagata International Documentary Festival and the Taiwan International Film Festival. With the European Asian American Forum, the organiser of the event, MIDA (Magnolia International Documentary Awards), is also offering one of the most important industry networking platforms for the three continents.
In Shanghai, DOK Leipzig will be represented by Dr. Grit Lemke, head of documentary film programming. She will present nine films from ten countries to the Chinese public in the biggest cinema of the 18 million metropolis. The Chinese premiere of “Shanghai Fiction”, Busso von Mueller’s and Julia Albrecht’s epic of a mind-boggling metropolis – a film that saw its world premiere in Leipzig – promises to be a highlight of the series. The organisers are expecting huge crowds, particularly among the Expo visitors from all parts of this huge country. A public screening of documentary films of this size is a spectacular event in a country where this kind of film is rarely seen in public.
Once more, DOK Leipzig is organising the programme in co-operation with the Goethe Institute, the Department of Culture and Education of the German Consulate General in Shanghai, which is planning another screening of the Leipzig programme with highlights from last year’s festival in Shanghai at a later date.