Border Conversations #DOKLeipzig: 30-min doc about activists helping refugees near „exclusion zone” created by xenophobic Polish government along Belarus border. Timely film on an important subject, but mostly shows frustration at police state measures blocking humanitarian aid.
— Andrew Tompkins (@a_s_tompkins) October 17, 2022
She Chef, dir. M. Liebheit/G. Wetzel #DOKLeipzig: Excellent choice of protagonist makes this film about a young woman working in haute cuisine a real treat. Includes mouthwatering images of food from Michelin-star restaurants in 3 countries and stunning views of the Faroe islands
— Andrew Tompkins (@a_s_tompkins) October 21, 2022
Homes We Carry: Dir. Brenda Akele Jorde lets her protagonists tell a nuanced family story embedded in the difficult history of how united Germany tossed out GDR foreign workers, how Mozambique failed to welcome them back, and what Black Germans experience in Germany and abroad.
— Andrew Tompkins (@a_s_tompkins) October 22, 2022
A Life Like Any Other #DOKLeipzig: Interviews and family archive show mother of dir. Faustine Cros struggling with family life, interrupted career & lasting depression/mental illness after having children. Film pointedly asks „Is it really a sickness to care about one’s freedom?“
— Andrew Tompkins (@a_s_tompkins) October 24, 2022
Anhell69 #DOKLeipzig: Queer people in Medellín, Colombia are dying—killed by drugs, HIV, rightwingers, narcos or police. Dir. Theo Montoya began making fiction film with friends and wound up documenting their real deaths. An hommage to unapologetic queers facing intense violence.
— Andrew Tompkins (@a_s_tompkins) October 24, 2022
Dead Birds Flying High #DokLeipzig: Farmer-turned-photographer Jürgen Mahrt (1882-1940) documented nature & everyday life in his N. German town. His great-granddaughter, dir. Sönje Storm, tries to understand him and uses his collection to consider loss of biodiversity over 20th C
— Andrew Tompkins (@a_s_tompkins) October 25, 2022
Silent Love #DokLeipzig: When Agnieskza‘s mother dies, she tries to obtain custody of her younger brother, Miłosz—and thus hides her same-sex relationship with Majka. Great but often painful documentary showing a queer family in small-town Poland navigating omnipresent homophobia
— Andrew Tompkins (@a_s_tompkins) October 29, 2022
One Mother #DokLeipzig: Mickaël Bandela grew up a “social services kid” in a foster home. Personal documentary reflecting (with biological & foster mothers) on “making“ of family, his childhood, migration & being Black in a society “organized to ignore” the challenges he faces.
— Andrew Tompkins (@a_s_tompkins) October 30, 2022
König hört auf #DokLeipzig: Lothar König is a specifically East German combination of Christian, punk and antifascist. This documentary by his son shows the final months of his career as Jena‘s punk pastor & his transition from nonstop activism to something resembling retirement.
— Andrew Tompkins (@a_s_tompkins) October 30, 2022
Drei Frauen #DokLeipzig: Humor-filled portrait of a “dying village” in Ukraine whose men & children mostly live in EU while wives stay home. Maksym Melnyk follows 3 women: sad farmer with happy cow, biologist chasing bear excrement, & postwoman waiting for her office to shut down
— Andrew Tompkins (@a_s_tompkins) October 30, 2022