Back to the cinema was the motto of the 37th Kassel Documentary Festival, the partial lockdown turned it into an "into the virtual world" in all sections. As an initial review, we can say that we are happy we were able to bring the films and the steadily growing additional program – the DokfestChannels – to screens. In the festival office, we heard the cheerful voices of a lot of people happy that the festival was able to take place at all. For us, a lot was new, and we tried to deal as best we could with emerging hurdles.
A total of 493 accredited professional visitors had access to the program, 199 season tickets for streaming were sold. With the DokfestStreams, the Kassel Dokfest was able to expand its reach. One indicator of this is the fact that almost half of the buyers of the more than 1,800 single tickets sold did not come from the region. In total, there were about 10,000 virtual visits for the 202 films.
We are also positively surprised by the total of almost 10,000 accesses to the DokfestChannels. In addition to the statements of the filmmakers, the contributions to Profis Plaudern Praxis, the DokfestSalon and the Festival in profile: OK.Video Festival, the virtual edition of the exhibition Monitoring was shown. The opening, the award ceremony, the homage to Frank Thöner and the DokfestConnection with various DJ sets will remain available.
The 38th Kassel Dokfest will take place from 16.11.-21.11.2021 (hopefully on the big screen). Submission will be possible from mid-April 2021.