International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film DOK Leipzig this year turned 55 years of age, which makes it one of the oldest festivals in Europe and the word. From 29 Oct to 4 Nov 2012 this important film festival attracted more than 30 thousand visitors who could preview almost 200 new titles in the competition programs, and altogether 360 films in various programs - among them four from Croatia. And one of the Croatian films returns from Leipzig with a prestigious award!

Bulgarian-Croatian-German animated documentary Father – produced from Croatia by Bonobostudio, and animated by a Croatian animator Veljko Popović – won a Golden Dove for Animated Film, the main award for Animated Film at DOK Leipzig 2012.

Here is the official statement from the Animation Competition Jury - Mariola Brillowska (Germany), Sylvie Bringas (Great Britain) and Zbigniew Żmudzki (Poland): "We are delighted to award the Golden Dove of the International Competition Animated Film to not one director but a group of filmmakers. FATHER, by Ivan Bogdanov, Moritz Mayerhofer, Veljko Popović, Asparuh Petrov, Rositsa Raleva, and Dimitry Yagodin, makes sensitive use of documentary material, and very effectively weaves different styles of animation together to represent different experiences of fatherly abandonment and betrayal. This collaboration has produced a fresh approach to making documentary animation, and has broadened the potential for this developing form."