The DOX BOX ASSOCIATION (DOX BOX e. V.) is a non-profit organization established in Berlin, Germany. The Association emerged out of the DOX BOX International Film Festival in Syria, established in 2008. The Association was created with the overriding mandate to support emerging and established documentary filmmakers in the Arab World while promoting the values and principles of justice, dignity, and human rights.
The DOX BOX Association is a transition from the DOX BOX International Documentary Film Festival, an annual event in Syria inaugurated in 2008 under the auspices of ProAction Film, a Syrian independent film production and distribution company. It fast became the largest and most important documentary film festival in the Arab World bringing the public back to the cinemas in record numbers.
The festival was renowned for the high quality of its film selection, free admission to all screenings, public debates and Q&A sessions with directors and producers. Screenings took place in various cities throughout Syria where audiences could directly participate by voting for their favorite films, making it a one-of-a-kind, all-inclusive, community cultural event.
For industry guests, the festival created a number of professional career-advancing and capacity-building activities. The Campus became a pitching forum for Arab World documentary films in development. Takween offered a chance for both emerging professional, as well as amateur, filmmakers to network. Tabadol was an event for further networking with organized, intimate exchanges between filmmakers and regional and international professionals. Each year, the festival hosted over 100 industry guests to participate in this vibrant and multifaceted program.
Because of the political and economic situation in Syria, the festival was not able to have an edition in 2012. Instead, the team created DOX BOX Global Day for Syria, a worldwide event that meant to speak in direct opposition to the violations of human rights and the unjustified and excessive use of power against Syrian civilians and activists by Syrian authorities. DOX BOX Global Day took place on the very same day of the anniversary of the final closing ceremony of the festival in 2011. Global Day was made possible with the collaboration and partnership of international documentary and human rights film festivals in 38 cities around the globe.
In 2013, the team produced a second Global Day for Syria, creating a documentary series of six videos in homage to the brave citizen journalists of the country. It was called Citizen With a Movie Camera, and was re-screened globally in cinemas, as well as on the Web.
They at DOX BOX believe documentary filmmakers possess the capability to be agents for change. Guided by this belief, the goal is to build and nurture the expanding community of Arab World filmmakers and to support this community in its common goal of making impactful films. Using the vast knowledge and connections in the international film marketplace, DOX BOX will offer indispensable support and services to both established and emerging filmmakers in all aspects of production.
DOX BOX’s overriding objectives:
