DOK.fest München turns 40: The anniversary edition starting 7 May 2025
Last year's opening ceremony (c) DOK.fest München
40 years of DOK.fest München: That amounts to around 3,000 socially relevant and artistically valuable documentaries and a total of 750,000 visitors. The anniversary edition will be officially opened on 7 May at Deutsches Theater. Until 18 May 105 films will be shown in cinemas and at special venues in Munich. Almost all DOK.fest München films can also be seen @home on the digital screen from 12 to 25 May.
Daniel Sponsel and Adele Kohout (Festival Directors):“40 years of DOK.fest München – is there anything worth celebrating? Since the beginning, our programme has been dedicated to all relevant topics and stories, including the less beautiful sides of our world. And considering current political and social developments, it is more important than ever to take in unexpected and new perspectives on the world. Documentary film can do just that: observe and create empathy. Over the years, our festival has been able to attract an increasingly large audience and - thanks to the great commitment of many dedicated people - has developed into an internationally important festival. And that is in fact worth celebrating.”
To mark the anniversary, a retrospective will be held with four DOK.fest München film highlights from four decades: In memoriam of Werner Penzel STEP ACROSS THE BORDER (CH, DE 1990) by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel will be shown. The film brings together artists such as Fred Frith, John Zorn, Arto Lindsay, Jonas Mekas and Robert Frank in a celluloid improvisation about rhythm, aesthetic enjoyment and joie de vivre. Agnès Varda's LES GLANEURS ET LA GLANEUSE (FR 2000) is a poetic reflection on freegans and a precious reality beyond consumption. In her Oscar-winning film CITIZENFOUR (DE, US 2014), Laura Poitras accompanies whistleblower Edward Snowden during the scandal surrounding the wiretapping affair - and portrays a young man with uncompromising civil courage. Réka Szabó's THE EUPHORIA OF BEING (HU 2019) is about Éva Fahidi, who was deported to Auschwitz with her family at the age of 18 and was the only one to survive. Moved by this biography, choreographer Réka Szabó rehearses a performance with Éva Fahidi and a dancer.
An exhibition at Gasteig HP8 looks back on the history of DOK.fest München. The festival has helped shape the cityscape for 40 years and vice versa: venues, infrastructure, people and fashions are reflected in the images of festival photographers and in the design of the festival posters by renowned graphic designer Prof. Gerwin Schmidt. The exhibition “40 Jahre DOK.fest München: Eyes Wide Open” begins one week prior to the festival on 29 April, lasts until 25 May and takes place in cooperation with the Münchner Stadbibliothek and the Münchner Volkshochschule.
An anniversary celebration on 10 May at Ampere will present musicians who have shaped the sound of DOK.fest München in recent years: ANGELA AUX, JOASIHNO and VAN DAMME 38 will perform at a concert. This will be followed by a party to the music of a DJ from BR Zündfunk, a cooperation partner of the event.
For the first time at this festival edition, filmmakers with productions from Germany whose works are nominated in the DOK.international Main Competition will receive reference funding from the German Federal Film Board (FFA) in the amount of 50,000 reference points. “We are very pleased that the FFA has included DOK.fest München in the series of festivals that reward the selection of films for the competition in this way. This is a significant step and a reflection of the importance of our festival,” says Daniel Sponsel.
In October, Daniel Sponsel will become president of the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF). The upcoming edition of DOK.fest München will be the 16th and final under his direction. There will be some new developments in the festival concept for this edition, which we will inform you about in the coming weeks.
