DOK-WERK is a Berlin-based film cooperative, founded in 2004 by Daniela Michel and Alexander Kleider. We produce documentaries that look closely: at people, at social structures and at the forces that shape our lives.
Our films follow people at the margins of society, inside systems that aren’t working, and in moments where something becomes visible that usually stays hidden. For a long time, we focused on fractures – poverty, inequality and political failure.
Over time, our perspective has widened. Today we’re equally drawn to utopias: people and ideas that don’t just imagine a different world, but begin to live it.
Films about people who fight, dream and try to change the world.
Daniela Michel
Writer · Director · Producer · Editor
Daniela Michel originally wanted to become everything at once — artist, journalist and world traveller. So she studied Art, Communications and International Relations in London. Since 2004, she has been making documentary films for cinema and television with DOK-WERK. Her films are less interested in clear answers than in what lies in between: encounters, friction and moments when something begins to shift. Her work has been shown internationally, received several awards and was nominated for the German Film Award. Daniela lives in Berlin, her heart is in Barcelona, and her family roots are in Budapest. When she is not filming, she teaches documentary filmmaking and reminds students that documentary begins with the second look.
Alexander Kleider
Writer · Director · Cinematographer · Producer
Alexander Kleider is an award-winning documentary filmmaker from Berlin. Since 2004, he has been developing and directing cinema and television films with DOK-WERK filmkooperative — films that have been shown internationally and received several awards, including nominations for the German Film Award and the Max Ophüls Prize. His work moves between personal stories and broader social questions. At the centre is always a search for connection: between people, perspectives and lived realities. For him, filmmaking means heart and empathy first: telling stories in a compelling form and translating them into powerful images is his greatest motivation. Alongside his own film work, he teaches documentary filmmaking and supports young filmmakers in their first projects.