A documentary film can capture the world in its most compelling form – without a script, without certainty as to where the story will lead, and often without the ability to intervene in its course. It is precisely in this unpredictability that films are created which transcend the boundaries between documentary, personal statement and cinematic art. The DOKMA section brings a selection of exceptional documentary works that prove reality can be just as dramatic, captivating or formally daring as fiction.
DOKMA is not just a showcase of current documentary filmmaking. It is an invitation to look more closely. At people, places, events and at the film image itself. Because sometimes it is the documentary that can not only record reality, but also reveal its unexpected, unsettling or beautiful form.
A Fire in the Distance
In southern Georgia, the picturesque village of Gandzani is a living memory of the Armenian community, where echoes of exile and nostalgia for the Soviet era still linger. A distant fire explores the fears and uncertainties of three friends on the threshold of adulthood, facing both individual and shared futures. The film presents an intimate portrait of a generation of young men eager to transcend the boundaries set by geography, history and society.
Do you love me?
Do You Love Me? is a playful and personal journey through Lebanon's audiovisual memory, created entirely from archival footage. It is a love letter to Beirut, capturing 70 years of film, television, home videos and photographs, and exploring Lebanon’s collective psyche – marked by joy and intimacy, destruction and loss. Through the eyes of citizens, filmmakers and artists, the film reconstructs the fragmentary history of a country without a national archive and celebrates creative expression as a form of resistance, renewal and a way of preserving memory.
A Little Gray Wolf Will Come
Alice dismisses her mother's work as propaganda, whereas Zhanna believes she is working for the good of her homeland. As a foreign correspondent for Russian television, she reports on major events in Western countries from the Kremlin's perspective and wants Alice to be more Russian. Zhanna therefore decides to show her daughter the largest country in the world. Over the course of four summers and one winter, mother and daughter travel criss-cross through Putin's Russia. During their journey, however, Zhanna comes to terms with her past, secrets and identity as both a journalist and a mother – while the country edges ever closer to war. Here Comes the Little Grey Wolf is a powerful story about love, lies and the loss of one's homeland.
Match of the Century
22 June 1986. Estadio Azteca, Mexico City. Kick-off of the World Cup quarter-final between England and Argentina. Although almost the whole world knows the „Goal of the Century“ and Maradona's infamous „Hand of God“, the real story behind the „Match of the Century“ is even more dramatic. The Falklands War, national pride, political tension and the life stories of the players formed the backdrop to a match that is still passionately debated today. A fascinating tale of rivalry, memory and reconciliation reminds us why football can captivate the whole world for ninety minutes.
London
Bobby is constantly in his car, driving back and forth along the motorway connecting Vienna and Salzburg. Other people travel the same route. Bobby takes them along to save on petrol, and talks to them along the way: a soldier pondering what it means to fight, a supermarket intern travelling to see his family, an academic researching the history of the motorway, and a queer woman about to get married. Different journeys, different accents, different stories – most of them true. Bobby listens, but also talks about himself. Even in these strange times, anonymity and kindness can still go hand in hand.