Festivals

DOK Leipzig Goes Post-Angst in Animation

DOK Leipzig Goes Post-Angst in Animation

Fear is everywhere. In people's heads, in their minds, in films, on TV, on the radio or in newspapers, as well as in the Animated Film Special Programme. But our question, faithful to the festival's theme, is - what happens after the angst? Is everything going to get much worse or can we perhaps laugh about our fears?

In its 60th anniversary edition, DOK Leipzig proposes the theme of Nach der Angst (Post-Angst), also running  through the Special Programmes.


At a time when many political foundations are on shaky ground, we want to know what could come after the angst? What visions for the future can be developed when fear is driving people towards authoritarian power structures? What can art and society do with regard to the erosion of democracy, the developments in the US and Europe's uncertain future? We want to learn from history, rub salt in the wounds but also dare to dream of utopia,  Leena Pasanen, festival director.

In animation, Franziska Bruckner (head of the Media Creation research group, St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences), has curated four programmes which explore both the positive and negative aspects of fear:

FEAR FOR FUN is about the humorous, easy dealing with the phenomenon, as well as about saying: I'm not afraid of fear! The filmmakers make use of the resources provided by animated film. Find among them Signe Baumane's Birth, the escalating comic madness of a a pregnant 17-year-ol and the Oscar-winning Logorama  (2009, David Alaux, Hervé de Crécy, Ludovic Houplain, François Alaux)

In the ADAPTING TO ANGST, RAW REVELATIONS  and EERIE REVOLUTIONS programmes, there is the awarded satire of OCD Ruben Leaves by Frederic Siegel. In Women’s Work (Chloé Kaufmann, Nolwenn Daste) a young French journalist tells of her experiences and fears during a stint in Syria in summer 2013 - before the country's civil war was all over the media.

Films by Ülo Pikkov (Βody Memory), Don Hertzfeldt (The World of Tomorrow), Joanna Priestley (Voices), Benjamin Cady (Anomalies), Andreas Hykade (Myself Shot) nicely complement a sense of both uncertainty and awe towards an unstable contemporary environment globally.

Check out the complete film line-up.

 

This year's DOK Leipzig will take place between 30th October and 5th November 2017. The Official Selection and the Special Programmes will comprise over 300 films from all over the world.

 

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