The Documentary in Bad Times

May 5, 2021 is the open­ing day of the 36^th edi­tion of the doc­u­men­tary film fes­ti­val in Munich. And as is so often the case in our pan­dem­ic times, there are win­ners in the excep­tion­al sit­u­a­tion: We can take part in the fes­ti­val with­out being in Munich. Like many oth­er fes­ti­vals, DOK.fest has moved to the Inter­net with its 131 films – and can be enjoyed all over Ger­many. The films can be seen from May 6^th to May 23^rd at www.dokfestmuenchen.de, indi­vid­ual films cost 6 € – or vol­un­tar­i­ly 7 € with a € 1 dona­tion to part­ner cin­e­mas. The fes­ti­val pass costs € 70.

Fes­ti­val direc­tor Daniel Spon­sel says about the pan­dem­ic fes­ti­val sit­u­a­tion: “I was recent­ly asked in an inter­view whether bad times are par­tic­u­lar­ly good times for doc­u­men­taries. But the requiere­ments and the need to show rel­e­vant doc­u­men­taries are always there. ”

The fes­ti­val opens with Daniel Sagers “Behind the Head­lines” about two inves­tiga­tive jour­nal­ists from the Süd­deutsche Zeitung. The festival’s guest coun­try is Cana­da, rep­re­sent­ed by Lulu Wei’s film „There’s no place like this place, any­place”. The inter­na­tion­al fes­ti­val con­tri­bu­tions include Hele­na Třeštíkovás “Anny” and Eva Küpper’s “Dark Rid­er”. Erec Brehmers and Angeli­na Zeidler’s “Who We Will Have Been” rep­re­sents Ger­man-speak­ing coun­tries, as will Chris­t­ian Bäucker’s “Heimatkunde”. The ret­ro­spec­tive is ded­i­cat­ed to doc­u­men­tary film pro­duc­tion by DEFA, which will be 75 years old in 2021.

Fur­ther films from the pro­gram:

SCHOOL OF HOPE

(Direc­tor: Mohamed El Abou­di / Fin­land, France, Moroc­co ²⁰²⁰⁄₇₂ min­utes)

The School of Hope stands in the mid­dle of the Moroc­can steppe: an adobe build­ing with­out heat­ing, but with a com­mit­ted teacher who shows nomad chil­dren the way into the future. Their lives are char­ac­ter­ized by increas­ing drought, the herd has to be looked after and the way to school is up to twelve kilo­me­ters long. Final­ly arrived, the chil­dren enjoy the hours in which they can be care­free. They learn and play togeth­er. But not all chil­dren are allowed to par­tic­i­pate.

ZUHUR’S DAUGHTERS

(Direc­tor: Lau­ren­tia Genske, Robin Hum­boldt / Ger­many ²⁰²¹⁄₈₉ min­utes)

Hav­ing fled the civ­il war in Syr­ia, teenagers Lohan and Samar and their fam­i­lies are giv­en asy­lum in Ger­many. Both feel born in the wrong body. Lit­tle by lit­tle they dare to live out their fem­i­nine iden­ti­ty, while the believ­ing par­ents con­sid­er it a sin to be trans. Lohan and Samar are torn between their Mus­lim com­mu­ni­ty and sec­u­lar val­ues ​​in Ger­many that enable them to express their true selves. For three years the film accom­pa­nies the two on their for­ays and their search for their own iden­ti­ty.

THE CASE YOU

(Direc­tor: Ali­son Kuhn / Ger­many ²⁰²⁰⁄₈₀ min­utes)

Five young actress­es spend a few days in a the­ater. You all went to a cast­ing a few years ago that result­ed in sex­u­al and vio­lent assault. The direc­tor was also one of the appli­cants at the time. Togeth­er the women break their silence, and lit­tle by lit­tle it becomes clear what hap­pened back then.

MONOBLOC

(Direc­tor: Hauke ​​Wendler / Ger­many ²⁰²¹⁄₉₀ min­utes)

The Monobloc plas­tic chair: It stands in every gar­den, every beach bar, in front of every chip shop. Who invent­ed it? Who mass-pro­duced it? Why is it even in the muse­um? Direc­tor Hauke ​​Wendler went on a curi­ous jour­ney to Africa, India, the USA, France and Brazil – in search of a chair that is always there before you even arrive. And it tells a sto­ry about eco­nom­ics, jus­tice, equal oppor­tu­ni­ties, dig­ni­ty and the strange rela­tion­ship between peo­ple and things.

(Direc­tor: Hele­na Třeštíková, Jakub Hej­na / Czech Repub­lic ²⁰¹⁹⁄₇₈ min.)

His par­ents died in the con­cen­tra­tion camp; rel­a­tives hid him dur­ing the war; at the orphan­age he made friends with Václav Hav­el and dis­cov­ered his love for the cin­e­ma. Direc­tor Milos For­man became world famous with „One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and „Amadeus”. His col­league and girl­friend Hele­na Třeštíková and Jakub Hej­na por­tray him in FORMAN VS. FORMAN.