Festival Programme
The program of the 1st DokMa festival should first and foremost demonstrate our mission: to act on our belief that documentary films and their authors have the power to be the catalysts for positive change and that it is important to value talent, artistic outcome and honest endeavours more than financial gains. We will show documentary films and present the authors who test the limits of the (documentary) filmmaking both in content and form, and take place in the cinematic universe in order to make it better, more beautiful, more honest, more ambitious and/or more democratic and free.
The program of the DokMa festival consists of the Main Programme, InterRegional Retrospective, Great Documentaries, Parrallel Programme and a film theory workshop. All are equally important but each has a different purpose.
The Main Program is comprised of five screenings and films we have chosen because they have not only achieved greatness in terms of (artistic) quality, but have also been able to reach a wide audience and international recognition. As such these films continue to instigate a dialogue with the viewers which oftentimes reaches far beyond their cinematic context. This section is not open to entries because the films will be the subject of the film theory workshop lectures.
InterRegional Retrospective is devoted to films and filmmakers from European countries who consider themselves European but do not have the opportunity or do not feel the desire to be a part of the European Union the way it is today. Namely, we think it is extremely sad that a lot of remarkable documentary films and talented filmmakers do not get the chance to be presented to audiences who would love to see their work and don’t even get the chance to be aware of what is out there. In the present climate such films and their authors stay imprisoned by the political, social, economical and even cultural circumstances where prejudice and profit triumph over talent, democracy and freedom. So we are devoting this section to all who feel they belong in it.
Great Documentaries is a section which will show works that gained wider recognition as being significant accomplishments and a must-see for anyone involved in the world of documentary film(making). We will mostly consider somewhat older films (but not necessarily) which have or are bound to achieve the status of a classic.
Parallels Program is the section where we will show everything else we could not fit into the rest of the program. As belittling as it might sound, we are convinced that you will appreciate the fact that this section is the most democratic of all and open to anyone who would like their film to be shown at our festival.
DokMa’s 3-day film theory workshop is intended for all those who want to get to know, understand and appreciate more the (documentary) cinema as viewers, (future) critics, film students or honorary film lovers. The lectures will focus on the five films from the Main Program in order to elaborate on some of the best of what is happening in the world of the documentary filmmaking today.