Under the theme ZWEIMAL LEBEN / SECOND LIVES, the documenta cinema program comprised 12 cinematic works by a total of 94 directors: including feature films, avant-garde films, documentaries, artists' films and art films (in the sense of European auteur cinema). The Gloria Cinema, which opened in 1955, the year of the first documenta, was the first concrete venue. As Alexander Horwath, curator of the film program, puts it, this also defines the historical framework of the film selection: "the ‘second half of cinema’, the beginning of which roughly coincides with the beginning of the documenta as a medium of enlightenment and the mass medium of television. A moment in which film began to reflect on itself in a variety of ways."
The earliest works selected were from 1952-55, the most recent from 2007. 100 screenings took place over 100 exhibition days. Each of the 50 programs was shown twice.