Leipzig 2003

Abstract

The 46th Leipzig International Festival for Documentary and Animation Films (14-19 October 2003) - the tenth under retiring festival director Fred Gehler - went down in the books as one of the best so far as politically relevant programming was concerned. Rithy Panh's S21 - La machine de mort Khmère Rouge (S21 - The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine, France) was awarded both the Golden Dove for Best Long Doc­umentary by the International Jury and the FIPRESCI Prize by the Inter­national Critics. First seen at Cannes in the Official Program as a Special Screening, S21 is currently making the rounds of key international film festivals - after Leipzig it was booked for the Viennale and the London Film Festival. Running at 100 minutes, its plodding pace demands the complete attention of the viewer and makes for a quite horrifying experience as the story unfolds. S21 refers to the site of the.