The ELBE DOCK International Film Festival is a competitive showcase of the best short films (fiction, animation, documentary and experimental) from Central Europe and since 2024 also from Scandinavia. The Pavel Koutecký Award is closely linked to the festival and will be awarded, as before, to the best Czech documentary first or second film by a filmmaker in both the feature and short film sections. The competition programme is complemented by a selection of the best European feature debuts and other strange and less strange accompanying programmes. For students, the festival offers special educational workshops and discussions with professionals.
Connecting Czech and German culture and promoting Central European dialogue in the field of audiovisual production is one of the main goals of the festival. Setting ELBE DOCK in the German Saxony, the Czech Ústí nad Labem region and Prague is intended to stimulate the development of cultural infrastructure and film audiences in a border industrial area that has long been neglected in this respect. The partnership with Germany brings another dimension of international cooperation to the festival, which has the potential to mutually inspire cultural events in both regions in the long term.
As a part of its programme in Dresden ELBE DOCK draws attention to the Czech film scene while at the same time showcasing the contemporary German films. In its rich accompanying program ELBE DOCK seeks to involve residents and local artists, open up forgotten or unconventional spaces and share the film scene with the wide public.