Stella Nyanzi’s Film to Premiere at DOK Leipzig Film Festival

A TV documentary about German-based Ugandan political activist Stella Nyanzi will premiere at the DOK Leipzig film festival in Germany on 27th October 2025.

The documentary will also be screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, Netherlands On 12th November 2025

The film showcases Stella’s activism Journey from Kampala, Uganda, and the challenges she faced including her imprisonment in Luzira Prison, before seeking asylum in Germany.

Patience Nitumwesiga, the director of the film said she made the film because the current world needs to hear voices like Stella’s without an adulterated white or male gaze.

“As an African woman who faces the kind of oppression that she faces every day, I understand her rage and I want to document it because I have the same rage inside me. As a mother, I believe that Stella is who she is because she has the kind of love only a mother knows,” she said.

She further said that she made a big investment in the project because she finds Stella Nyanzi as a bold and big hearted woman who sacrificed everything including her career and citizenship in the process of fighting for her rights.

“It is rare to find a person so bold, so selfless and so loving. Part of the reason for making this film is to live vicariously through her courage, but also to document her for our children, for our country and for the world,” she added.

This year’s edition of DOK International Film Festival in Leipzig will run from27 October-2 November, 2025.

A total of 78 films, 30 of which are world premieres, will be competing for the Golden and Silver Doves across four competitions.

Festival director Christoph Terhechte said that most of the movies sent in to them in the post-pandemic period have dealt with family situations and innermost thoughts.

“This year, however, numerous documentaries and animated flicks have returned to looking outward. They address the threat of environmental destruction, resistance against political violence, the fight against exploitation, and strategies for human resilience under extreme circumstances.”She said in a statement.