Dear docfilm42 community,
it’s time to celebrate: this September, the nationwide documentary film festival LETsDOK has its 5th anniversary edition!
As a genuine grassroots initiative, LETsDOK once again presents unique film events.
More than 300 documentaries will be shown, from Flensburg to Freiburg, captivating audiences with real-life stories and topics.
Under the auspices of the Verein für Dokumentarfilmkultur (Association for Documentary Film Culture), a month of diverse regional and national collaborations with numerous film associations, foundations, political institutions and regional funding bodies will take place.
docfilm42 is the organizer of the program in Berlin and Brandenburg for the third time and, in 2024, for the first time in Baden-Württemberg.
Our thanks go to the many people who make this documentary film month possible, especially to coordinator Petra Hoffmann for her tireless efforts.
Information on all screenings nationwide program can be found at letsdok.de.
More information about the program organized by docfilm42, including an online event, can be found below.
If you want to become part of our growing network, you can become a member for 42€ per year. Students pay only 24€ in the first year.
You can find the membership form here.
If you have any questions about membership, write to us at vorstand@docfilm42.de.
Have fun!
The docfilm42 team
LETsDOK in Berlin
In Berlin, the topics include the history of cinema culture, war and flight, and the struggle for workers’ rights.
With a special event in the Neukölln cinema bar IL KINO, Dennis Albrecht’s film KINOKINOKINO examines a wave of cinema closures in Hamburg from the 1990s to the mid-2010s. Afterwards, the director will discuss with Katja Bienert (actress, author) and Benny Kohzer from the online cinema database “Kinokompendium”.
Focus topic war and flight. In AMBULANCE (17.09.), Mohamed Jabaly experiences the Gaza war of 2014 in a hail of bombs and life-threatening maneuvers of the emergency rescue vehicles. We are showing this film in cooperation with ALFILM – Arab Film Festival Berlin, followed by an online discussion with the director.
NOT JUST YOUR PICTURE (18.09.) tells the story of siblings Layla and Ramsis, who embark on a journey of political awakening after the death of their father in Gaza. In the presence of protagonist Ramsis Kilani.
The award-winning film EINHUNDERTVIER (22.09.) accompanies a rescue operation in real time on the most dangerous refugee route in the Mediterranean and shows the long process to rescue of 104 people from a sinking rubber dinghy.
As a highlight at Klick Kino, the Berlin premiere of UNION shows the historic campaign of the Amazon Labour Union (ALU) to unionize its employees. The founding of the ALU is considered the biggest victory for workers since the 1930s. Event in cooperation with ver.di and film discussion with Amazon employees from Berlin.
Program curated by Natalie Gravenor, Ole Elfenkaemper and Susanne Dzeik.
LETsDOK in Brandenburg
LETs DOK creates space for documentary films and encounters between filmmakers and their audiences. In Brandenburg, which has a low density of cinemas, these encounters are once again taking place in unusual (cultural) venues.
One of these venues is the Neue Kammerspiele Kleinmachnow, where concerts, theater, dance performances and cabaret are presented alongside film screenings.
LETsDOK opens there on 14.09, 19 h with Sebastian Winkel’s epochal film 7 BRÜDER. With captivating storytelling akin to narrative cinema, the film introduces us to a fascinating family universe of seven brothers born between 1929 and 1945. A real-life fairy tale and a piece of contemporary German history.
The parish church of St. Marien Müncheberg is participating for the first time this year by commemorating the recently deceased Thomas Heise with VATERLAND from 2002. In his documentary films, Heise told about East German experiences of reunification from a different angle. This will be followed by a discussion with the former district administrator of the Oder-Spree district, Rolf Lindemann.
A GOLDEN WEDDING WITH WITTSTOCK FILMS will be presented at the Astoria in Wittstock to mark the 80th birthday of director Volker Koepp, who will be present at the screening. The cycle BERLIN-STETTIN (15.09.), LANDSTÜCK (19.09.) and SEESTÜCK (17.09.) began in 2010 and presents different regions of eastern Germany.
In the Kulturkirche Bölzke and the Ökospeicher Wulkow, everything revolves around one of the most important issues of our time – labor. The screenings are supported by Stiftung Menschenrechte und Arbeitswelt (Foundation for Human Dignity and the World of Work). HAUPTSACHE ARBEIT (screening in Bölzke) documents Uwe and René, who have opted for more money and less family time, and in PARCHIM INTERNATIONAL (screening in Wulkow), Chinese investors decide to buy a provincial airport, raising hopes of big profits and permanent jobs.
Program curated by Ira Kormannshaus
LETsDOK in Baden-Württemberg
In its 5th year, Marbach am Neckar, the birthplace of the poet of freedom Friedrich Schiller, will be a particularly intense place for the exploration of democracy and human rights and will offer a number of highlights, including a free (youth) media workshop at Treff Q Marbach and a short film evening with a panel discussion in the town hall “Media Creates Echo Chambers – Shaping Democracy”.
The program also features strong women, both in front of and behind the camera, and addresses internal and external war, retaliation and peace work. All films are shown with subsequent film discussions and many events combine a short and a feature-length film.
The Südwest program starts on 17.09 at the Delphi Arthaus cinema in Stuttgart with PETRA KELLY – ACT NOW! Petra Kelly was an icon of the peace movement and a driving force behind the founding of the Green Party. At the age of 44, she was murdered by her partner and political companion, former NATO general Gert Bastian. This film retraces the biography of the Green politician, anti-nuclear and peace campaigner.
Another highlight will follow on 23.09 in Eliszi’s historic fairground tent with the award-winning film DANCING PINA. The film reveals the universal power of dance, where bodies, identities and biographies intersect.
VIVAS – we want to live! will be shown on 28.09, in the Alexanderkirche in Marbach. Director Angélica Cruz Aguilar accompanies two mothers who fight for access to truth and justice after the murder of their daughters Fátima and Renata.
On 29.09, we will end at the Luna Lichtspieltheater in Ludwigsburg with the film WAR AND JUSTICE by Marcus Vetter. The film tells the 25-year history of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in its mission to end the most serious crimes against humanity.
Program curated by Sabine Willmann
LETsDOK online and film of the month
The September doc&talk docfilm42 presents GOLDRAUSCH – The History of the Treuhand on 20.09.
Even 35 years after reunification, the consequences of the liquidation of East German companies can still be felt and the process of coming to terms with the sell-out has not yet been completed.
In the early summer of 1990, the Treuhandanstalt was founded to privatize the state-owned enterprises of the GDR. In the following four years, around 4,000 of these companies were closed and around two and a half million jobs were lost. The Treuhand incurred debts of 256 billion marks and was defrauded of billions of marks. This scandal remained largely unresolved.
Talk with economics experte Ulrike Herrmann (tbc), moderator Eberhard Spreng
Register here.