DOK LEIPZIG LAKE FESTIVAL, Naukuchiatal, Uttarakhan

[Team]

FORMEDIA

presents

DOK LEIPZIG LAKE FESTIVAL

between

March 7 – 11, 2013

at

Naukuchiatal, Nainital, Uttarakhand, India.


Why This Festival


There are so many film festivals in India. Why would anyone want to start yet another one? Good question! Read on.

So, what is – or are! – the USP of the DOK Leipzig Lake Festival. Here goes:


It is a purely documentary film festival

It is truly international and brings an exclusive collection of documentaries

The collection comes from the oldest international documentary film festival in the world, the DOK Leipzig Film Festival – so there is really no risk about quality films

It is wide-ranging because it covers different genres / strands. Something no documentary event offers in India – at least as yet

It is not cluttered with demanding parallel events and offers uninterrupted intensive viewing of 15 films over five days


Wonderful. So, what's the Catch 22?

The usual way of running an event like this is to run around and hunt for support. It's a complicated way of trying to do something worthwhile and often imbued with strange corporate / institutional politics. We chose otherwise. We decided to place this unique documentary event in India within the marketplace. If it doesn't work there, it means it's not needed, people don't want it.

So, we only approached various governments for support through their embassies in India based on the argument of cross-cultural understanding and exchange. We are still to hear from them. Apart from that, this unique documentary event has to basically run and survive on accreditations.

The accreditation fee may sound high for some. The online survey we conducted before finally deciding on this event had some very strong responses about this aspect. Many feel that there should be no fee or that it should be greatly subsidised / reduced. The argument is that documentary film- makers make films on less than shoe-string budgets, do it for passion, for a cause. These are not people who should be charged a fee.


Fair enough. Do heed our view on this. It has been a major step to initiate this festival without any financial support in position. To make this first edition happen, we needed some income to cover expenses. Based on the feedback from the online survey we conducted, we have tried to keep the fees as modest as possible - with special concessions for film students, groups and residents of Uttarakhand. We hope you will appreciate this initiative that brings the world of international documentaries so close. Do spread the word for the future, so we can raise funds for it.

Our endeavour is to build a platform where conversations grow around the international forms of genres and storytelling techniques – and 'falling in line' is not viewed as a compromise. Rather, we envision these conversations will lead to some churning and create an Indian narrative style that, in the future, is something people will really talk about globally.

We hope you understand, appreciate and empathise with our view. Your support will go a long way in truly internationalising the Indian documentary.

To those whom it matters, this will also enable putting the marginalised Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, in northern India, on the global cultural map. Offering opportunities for peripheral employment and income generation to the local population, in the lake district of Nainital.

So sign up!

Thank you for going along with us and helping FORMEDIA make the DOK Leipzig Lake Festival a success. Join us at The Lake Resort, Naukuchiatal, from March 7 to 11, 2013


DOK Leipzig – The HeArt of Documentary


DOK Leipzig, the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film, was founded in 1955 and is one of the leading international documentary film festivals and the oldest in the world.

Unrivalled as a place of encounters between filmmakers from East and West during the Cold War, DOK Leipzig developed into one of the most dynamic festivals for documentary and animation filmmakers since the fall of the Berlin wall, due to the quality of its programming. Today it is both, a highly popular festival for the general audience and the annual meeting place for the German and international documentary film industry.

The Leipzig festival has a tradition of presenting films that take a stand for peace and human dignity. On the backdrop of its eventful history, the festival celebrates the freedom of the mind, freedom of expression and the carefully chosen image. High artistic quality, outstanding narrative skills, a critical eye, precise observation, an awareness of history and the exploration of the "memory of images" are the elements that make up its diversity and character.

The official festival programme comprises of five competitive sections (with awards amounting to 79,000 €) and a rich international programme. In addition, DOK Leipzig offers an annual retrospective, attractive special programmes, homages, workshops and master classes with famous film-makers.

Thanks to its excellent DOK Industry offers, Leipzig has become a leading meeting place for the non-fiction industry. Every year the digital DOK Market with 300 pre-selected new international documentaries, the International DOK Leipzig Co-Production Meeting, the Leipzig Screenings of new German documentaries for international buyers, the 'Wild at Heart' think tank as well as DOK Summitpanel discussions and DOK Podiums draw 1,500 professionals from all over the world to DOK Leipzig. Since 2010, DOK Leipzig has also been active in vocational training by offering workshops and networking events in the field of cross media, by co-launching the highly successful DOK.Incubator rough-cut workshop and by connecting documentary and animation filmmakers.

The 56th edition of DOK Leipzig will take place from 28th October till 3rd November 2013.


List of Films : Overview - Synopses : http://www.formedia .org.in/lake- festival/ list-of-films. html#synopses