UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES: DOK Leipzig Retro im LURU

In the organizer's words:

DOK Leipzig + LURU Cinema:
The retrospective UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES

This year, DOK Leipzig's major retrospective, comprising no less than 27 films, is taking place in cooperation with our cinema in the Baumwollspinnerei! From October 24 to 26 and November 7 to 8, LURU invites you to carefully curated focus weekends that flank the retrospective programs of the DOK core week.

"UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES - Films of the 'other America' at the Leipzig Documentary Film Week 1962-1989" is dedicated to short, medium-length and feature-length US documentaries that were screened, discussed and awarded at the festival during the GDR era.

LURU is presenting 9 of the 15 programs, and we have spared no effort in procuring various historical 16 and 35mm prints for you. In addition to the German journalist Arno Luik, we will also be welcoming several guests from the United States, some of whom will be making the long journey across the Atlantic for us: Barbara Kopple, Allan Siegel, Deborah Shaffer, Christine Choy and Gordon Quinn.
If that weren't enough, we're offering a free film screening followed by a two-hour panel discussion at the Luru Cinema on the morning of October 31st - the perfect opportunity to get into conversation with our great guests.

PRE-FESTIVAL PERIOD: October 24 to 26:
Emile de Antonio, On a Permanent Mission

We kick off with our retrospective on an auteur of political documentary film and one of the key figures in the exchange between DOK and left-wing and oppositional US filmmakers: Emile de Antonio (1919-1989). The 5-film show is a reminder of a rarely shown rebel of Cold War America.

24.10.25 - 7 pm: Emile de Antonio I*
IN THE YEAR OF THE PIG (102', Emile de Antonio, US 1968, 16mm, English OV)

25.10.25 - 6 p.m.: Emile de Antonio II*
POINT OF ORDER (97', Emile de Antonio, US 1964, 16mm, English OV)

25.10.25 - 8 p.m.: Emile de Antonio III*
IN THE KING OF PRUSSIA (90', Emile de Antonio, US 1982, 35mm, OV)

26.10.25 - 6 p.m.: Emile de Antonio IV*
MILLHOUSE - A WHITE COMEDY (91', Emile de Antonio, US 1971, 16mm, English OV)

26.10.25 - 8 p.m.: Emile de Antonio V*
RUSH TO JUDGMENT (126', Emile de Antonio, US 1967, DCP, English OV)

* with guests

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POST-FESTIVAL TIMING: November 7 - 8:
Collective Action

As a complementary program to the auteur Emile De Antonio, our second focus weekend in four programs will focus on US film collectives whose activist-militant films have been increasingly represented at the Leipzig Dokwoche since the late 1960s. We present two in more detail: Newsreel & Kartemquin Films.

07.11.25 - 7 pm: Newsreel I*
ARMY - NEWSREEL #36 (19', Newsreel, US 1969, DCP, English OV)
MY COUNTRY OCCUPIED (28', T. Gold/H. Archibald, US 1971, DCP, English OV)
TEACH OUR CHILDREN (35', C. Choy/S. Robeson, US 1972, DCP, English OV)

07.11.25 - 9 p.m.: Newsreel II
BREAK & ENTER A.K.A. SQUATTERS (40', Newsreel, US 1971, DCP, English OV)
PEOPLE'S FIREHOUSE NO. 1 (26', Paul Schneider et al., US 1979, DCP, English OV)

08.11.25 - 6 pm: Kartemquin Films I*
TRICK BAG (21', Jerry Blumenthal et. al., US 1975, 16mm, OV)
THE CHICAGO MATERNITY CENTER STORY (60', G. Quinn et. al., US 1977, 16mm, original sound)

08.11.25 - 8 p.m.: Kartemquin Films II*
GOLUB (55', Gordon Quinn/Jerry Blumenthal, US 1989, DCP, English OV)

* with guests

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SPECIAL PROGRAM - PANEL: 31.10.25
Generation Vietnam - The Significance of the Vietnam War for political Documentaries from the USA*
10 am:
SONS AND DAUGHTERS (107', Jerry Stoll, US 1967, DCP, English OV)
Excerpts from / Excerpts from:
AMERICA A.K.A. AMERIKA (30', Newsreel, US 1969, DCP, Omengl.U.)

* with guests

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About the curators: The retrospective was put together by Tobias Hering and Tilman Schumacher. Hering is a freelance film curator and publicist with a focus on thematic retrospectives and archive projects. He has already put together several programs on film relations between the GDR and the USA. Schumacher is a film historian, curator and critic and has long curated film history series at LURU. He currently works at the Zeughauskino in Berlin and is co-curator of the Leipzig GEGENkino Festival. His focus is on German and US-American film and cinema history.

For further information on the individual films in the retrospective:

https://www.dok-leipzig.de/sites/default/files/2025-09/Retrospektive.pdf
https://letterboxd.com/tisc/list/un-american-activities-dok-leipzig-retro/

A longer intro text to the retrospective can be found here:

https://www.dok-leipzig.de/presse/1756814400-112025