Swiss documentary filmmaking strongly represented at Leipzig Festival
24.10.2007
The Swiss documentary films ”Lucie & Maintenant” by Simone Fürbringer, Nicolas Humbert, and Werner Penzel, as well as “La mère” by Antoine Cattin and Pavel Kostomarov are participating in the international competition at this year’s 50th International Leipzig Festival “DOK Leipzig” (October 29 – November 4, 2007). The films are in the running for the Golden Dove along with 22 additional documentaries. “Staub” by Hartmut Bitomsky, a co-production with Zurich company Dschoint Ventschr, will take part in the German competition. “DOK Leipzig” bestows numerous awards to documentary and animated films, with a total prize sum of 58,500 Euro.
As one of the international guest of honor, Erich Langjahr will present his film “Ex Voto” as part of the anniversary retrospective “Spurensuche – Filmpositionen aus fünf Jahrzehnten” (trans. Search for traces – film positions from five decades). He will also be a member of the Ecumenical jury. The retrospective will document the festival’s history in films and present “Behinderte Liebe” by Marlies Dätwyler Graf (1979) as part of the event. “Gambling, Gods, and LSD” by Peter Mettler will be screened in the “Lost Paradise Found” series and rounds out the Swiss documentary film presence in the festival program.
With its film market, the Leipzig festival promotes growth of documentary films in general and also builds bridges between Western and Eastern Europe. The Swiss festival “Visions du Réel” and SWISS FILMS will present documentary films at the Leipzig film market.
Zurich, October 24, 2007