Filled to the last seat, the world premiere of the feature documentary The Thing to Be Done from director, screenwriter and cinematographer Srđan Kovačević took place in Leipzig. Alongside the director, also attending the screening were producer Sabina Krešić, editor Klara Šovagović, co-producer Viva Videnović, as well as the film’s protagonists, Goran Lukić and Laura Orel.

The film follows a former electrician, a social worker, and a union activist as they form an alliance to tackle a seemingly impossible task. While today’s Europe rests on cheap labour of migrant workers, while the workers, in the hope of starting a new life, agree to poor working conditions, long hours, sleeping in containers, blackmail from employers and the loss of their own dignity. Laura Orel, Goran Lukić and Goran Zrnić and their Workers’ Advocacy Office – are their only redress, their only allies.

The film’s script editor is Olga Dimitrijević, while the editing was done by Klara Šovagović and Damir Čučić. The producer of the project is Sabina Krešić for Fade IN, with co-producers Viva Videnović, Marta Popivoda, Jelena Angelovski for URGH! (Slovenia) and Theory at Work (Serbia) respectively.

The world premiere took place as part of the International Competition Documentary Film, on 28 October, with additional screenings scheduled for 30 October and 1 November.

Screening in the same competition is another Croatian feature-length documentary, Peacemaker, directed by Ivan Ramljak, written by Drago Hedl, Hrvoje Zovko and Ivan Ramljak, with Srđan Kovačević as cinematographer and Nenad Puhovski (Factum) as producer. The premiere screening is scheduled for 30 October, with additional screenings on 31 October and 4 November. 

Meanwhile, the festival’s animated film section will screen two minority co-productions: Floating by Jelena Milunović (a minority co-production of Adriatic Animation, co-produced by Draško Ivezić) featured in the International Competition Animated Film, and Full Nest by Elena Walf (co-produced by Miljana Dragičević, Minya Film & Animation) appearing in the programme Kids DOC.

In the Industry section – the documentary feature project We Shall Live Together of director, screenwriter and producer Damir Markovina, produced by Tamara Babun Zovko (Wolfgang & Dolly) will be presented in the DOK Preview International. Its participation at the festival was made possible thanks to the DOK Leipzig Award, which the project received at the Sarajevo Film Festival. 

This year’s 68th edition of DOK Leipzig, which runs from 27 October to 2 November, will feature 252 films and XR projects from 55 countries. The winning titles in the feature documentary and animated film competition automatically qualify for Oscar nominations. Find out more about the festival at its official website.