The International Documentary Film Festival Munich returns for its 23rd year and as always we present an extremely varied and informative ‘best of’ programme selected for you from more than 1,200 films.
Never before has the documentary film been as present in the cinemas, on TV, available on DVDs and in the internet. It is a most sought-after and celebrated film genre. We will be screening the highlights of the past year including many prize winners from other festivals, as well as premières, new discoveries, little treasures, rarities and future classics; films that make a difference and will remain in our memories.
Documentary films are political. They are revolutionary and engaged in the battle for human rights, for peace and freedom, against ignorance, hatred and prejudices. They report on the hot spots of world politics, and on the margins; they discuss poverty,
migration and remind us about wars and destruction, about victims
and perpetrators.
Documentary films entertain, surprise, and vehemently convince us; they experiment and are anarchistic, full of humour and irony; they delight with grand, silent images and leave space for our personal thoughts; they draw our attention to the smallest details;
they are at times distanced, analytical or empathically close. They tell sometimes wonderful, sometimes tragic family stories, draw portraits of politicians, artists and great role models – or they show, very unspectacularly but all the more intensively, life and daily routines elsewhere. They are in any case: composed reality. And they want to have an influence. Their place is in the cinema. Look forward with us to enthralling, often inspiring artistic documentaries, stimulating discussions and encounters with directors
from throughout the world. The International Competition gathers together films that have been particularly successful worldwide in last year’s international festivals along with works which are original in form and content, established directors’ often very personal films and new, until now undiscovered, works that DOK.FEST recommends to an international audience. 15 films will be eligible for the Documentary:Film Award 2008, sponsored by the Bavarian Broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk and Telepool worth 10,000 EUR, and the Special Documentary Award worth 2,500 EUR, sponsored by BLM (Bavarian Authority for Private Broadcasting).
The International Programme presents a current and exceptional range of documentary works, with films that we hope will reach as great an audience as possible here at DOK.FEST as well as beyond the festival.
The Horizons section offers this year unusual insights from countriesin Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. It is meant, in particular, to be a forum for directors whose films have been made under difficult conditions. We hope for them and their work to gain as much interest as possible and to have enduring international success – and are thus happy to invite them to Munich. DOK.FEST will award the Horizons Prize (3,000 EUR) for a particular achievement in this section. We would like to thank ARTE, the sponsor of HORIZONS 2008, whose help has enabled us to put on this programme.
All films in the International Programme whose directors live and work in Bavaria are nominated for the Documentary Talent Award, sponsored by the Bavarian film and television fund, FilmFernseh-Fonds Bayern and worth 5,000 EUR. Furthermore the company Untertitel-Werkstatt Münster GmbH sponsors the Original Version Talent Award: the award winner’s next film will be subtitled in order to support its participation in international festivals. We are pleased that the majority of the directors will come to
Munich to personally introduce their work.
HFF And More will be screening films by students of the Munich Academy for Television and Film, HFF, – presented for the first time by Bayern 2 Radio’s popular magazine Zündfunk. We are pleased that the Munich Academy for Television and Film, HFF, is organising in cooperation with DOK.FEST a masterclass with Yoav Shamir about the film Flipping Out (Flip).
We welcome many professional guests from all around the world to the Discovery Campus Special, a symposium on the theme of docutainment, organised by Discovery Campus in cooperation with the Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, DOK.FEST, MEDIA Antenne München and MedienCampus Bayern.
The company Ludwig Kameraverleih is offering a free workshop on the innovative camera system Red One that should become a convincing and affordable alternative to traditional techniques for documentary filmmakers. The Documentary Film Consortium AG DOK again this year invites all festival guests to its traditional Brunch and is also arranging, together with its partners, the fifth international May Dance. I wish you and all our guests a rewarding DOK.FEST week with touching films and inspiring discussions.

Hermann Barth