Documentary festival CPH:DOX has unveiled the titles in its competition sections, which include 71 films. There are 56 world premieres, 12 international premieres, and three European premieres. The festival runs March 19-30.
Niklas Engstrøm, artistic director of CPH:DOX, said: “The times we live in are increasingly marked by conflict, chaos, and cynicism, leaving little room for the visionary or the poetic. Against that backdrop, we are proud to present a competition program that not only reflects the world but also refracts its light like a prism. Whether set in Ukraine, Mozambique, America, or China, the nominated films in this year’s program stand as a defense of the role of poetry and art in the world.”
Mads K. Mikkelsen, head of program of CPH:DOX, said the competition lineup “truly represents documentary as an art form made for the cinema.” He added: “CPH:DOX is about celebrating documentaries and the people who make them, and programming this year’s festival has been a journey rich with discoveries.”
The six competitions judged by international juries are:
DOX:AWARD (€10,000) is the festival’s main competition, honoring films with artistic quality, cultural relevance, and strong personal expression. All 12 nominated films are world premieres.
NEW:VISION Award (€5,000) celebrates art films and boundary-pushing experiments.
NEXT:WAVE Award (€5,000) highlights new and emerging filmmakers.
NORDIC:DOX Award (€5,000) honors standout documentaries from the Nordic region.
F:ACT Award (€5,000) recognizes films blending documentary and investigative journalism.
HUMAN:RIGHTS Award (€5,000) focuses on films dealing with human rights issues.
Audience Award (€10,000) allows festival-goers to vote for their favorite film.
The juries are here.
The full festival program will be released on Feb. 26.
DOX:AWARD:
À demain sur la lune
(Director: Thomas Balmès, Producer: Thomas Balmès / France, USA / World Premiere)
Agatha’s Almanac
(Director: Amalie Atkins, Producer: Amalie Atkins / Canada / World Premiere)
Always
(Director: Deming Chen, Producer: Hansen Lin / USA, France, China / World Premiere)
Balane 3
(Director: Ico Costa, Producer: Terratreme Filmes / Portugal, France / World Premiere)
Facing War
(Director: Tommy Gulliksen, Producers: Anne Marte Blindheim, Danielle Turkov Wilson / Norway, Belgium / World Premiere)
Flophouse America
(Director: Monica Strømdahl, Producer: Breathe Hofseth, Siri Natvik / Norway, The Netherlands, USA / World Premiere)
My Dear Theo
(Director: Alisa Kovalenko, Producer: Kasia Kuczynska / Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine / World Premiere)
Sanatorium
(Director, Gar O’Rourke, Producer: Andrew Freedman, Samantha Corr, Ken Wardop / Ireland, Ukraine, France / World Premiere)
The Castle
(Directors: Danny Biancardi, Virginia Nardelli, Stefano Giuseppe La Rosa, Producers: Nadège Labé, Giulia Campagna, Stefano Collizzolli / France, Italy / World Premiere)
The Father, The Sons and The Holy Spirit
(Director: Christian Sønderby Jepsen, Producer: Mira Jargil / Denmark / World Premiere)
The Helsinki Effect
(Director: Arthur Franck, Producer: Sandra Enkvist / Finland / World Premiere)
We Live Here
(Director: Zhanana Kurmasheva, Producer: Banu Ramazanova / Kazakhstan / World Premiere)
NEW:VISION Award:
All These Summers
(Director: Therese Henningsen, Producer: Therese Henningsen / UK, Denmark / World Premiere)
Available Light
(Director: Morgan Quaintance, Producer: Morgan Quaintance / UK / World Premiere)
City Child
(Director: Austin Lynch, Producer: Austin Lynch, Andro Steinbron / USA, Germany / World Premiere)
Fear Fokol
(Director: Tuva Björk, Producer: Dennis Harvey, Melissa Lindgren, Tobias Janson / Sweden, International Premiere)
Green Grey Black Brown
(Director: Yuyan Wang, Producers: Yuyan Wang / South Korea / World Premiere)
Illiyeen
(Director: Eliyah Mesayer, Nanna Rebekka, Producer: Rebekka Laugesen / Denmark / World Premiere)
Images de Tunisie
(Director: Younes Ben Slimane, Producer: Jane Pavitt, Younes Ben Slimane / UK, Tunisia / World Premiere)
International Satan’s Day
(Director: Raed Yassin, Producer: Raed Yassin / Lebanon / World Premiere)
Melted into the Sun
(Director: Saodat Ismailova, Producer: Leonardo Bigazzi / Italy, Uzbekistan / World Premiere)
Perishable Idol
(Director: Majid Al-Remaihi, Producer: Luc-Jérôme Bailleul, Elodie Wattiaux / France, Kuwait, Qatar / World Premiere)
Ramallah, Palestine, December 2018
(Director: Juliette Le Monnyer, Producer: Juliette Le Monnyer, Ellen Meiresonne / Belgium / World Premiere)
Scrap
(Director: Noémie Lobry, Producer: Marion Darrieux / France / European Premiere)
Sinking Latitude
(Director: Jiawei Zheng, Producer: Jiawei Zheng /Denmark, China / World Premiere)
Songbook
(Director: Mariah Garnett, Producers: Mariah Garnett, Jibz Cameron / USA / World Premiere)
Siticulosa
(Director: Mariah Garnett, Producers: Mariah Garnett, Jibz Cameron / UK, Denmark / World Premiere)
Time Paradox
(Director: Minha Park, Producer: Minha Park / South Korea / World Premiere)
Unstable Rocks
(Director: Ewelina Rosinska, Producers: Ewelina Rosinska, Nuno Barroso / Germany, Portugal / International Premiere)
NEXT:WAVE Award:
50 Meters
(Director: Yomna Khattab, Producers: Ahmed Amer, Patricia Drati / Egypt, Denmark / World Premiere)
Abode of Dawn
(Director: Kristina Shtubert, Producer: Kristina Shtubert / Germany / International Premiere)
Copan
(Director: Carine Wallauer, Producers: Viviane Mendonça, Camilo Cavalcanti, Nabil Bellahsene,
Justin Pechberty / Brazil, France / World Premiere)
Fantastic Family
(Director: Nicoline Skotte, Producer: Vibeke Vogel / Denmark / World Premiere)
I am Night at Noonday
(Director: Gaspard Hirschi, Producer: Quentin Laurent / France / International Premiere)
ILOVERUSS
(Director: Tova Mozard, Producers: Daniel Pynnönen, Alice Sunnelius Aldén / Sweden / World Premiere)
Latina, Latina
(Director: Adrian Duncan, Producer: Adrian Duncan / Ireland / International Premiere)
Open Call
(Director: Sille Storihle, Producer: Sille Storihle / Norway / World Premiere)
The Golden Spurtle
(Director: Constantine Costi, Producers: Rebecca Lamond, John Archer / UK, Australia / World Premiere)
Red Forest
(Director: Laurie Lassalle, Producer: Frédéric Féraud / France / World Premiere)
Unanimal
(Directors: Sally Jacobson, Tuva Bjork, Producers: Victor Ede, Melissa Lindgren / Sweden, France / World Premiere)
Who Witnessed the Temples Fall
(Director: Lucía Alonso Santos, Producers: Guillem Mula Blanch, Alejandro González Clemente, Daniel Peña, Irene M. Borrego / Spain / World Premiere)
NORDIC:DOX Award:
Fighter
(Directors: Sunniva Sundby, Mari Bakke Riise, Producer: Mari Bakke Riise / Norway / International Premiere)
If I Die Today
(Director: Camilla Arlien, Producer: Marie Schmidt Olesen / Denmark / World Premiere)
Lost in the Land of Women
(Directors: Josefine Exner, Sebastian Gerdes, Producer: Mathilde Hvid Lippmann / Denmark / World Premiere)
Portrait of a Confused Father
(Director: Gunnar Hall Jensen, Producers: Christian Aune Falch, Torstein Parelius / Norway / World Premiere)
Lowland Kids
(Director: Sandra Winther, Producers: Sigrid Dyekjær, Darren Aronofsky / Denmark, USA / World Premiere)
The Ground Beneath Our Feet
(Director: Yrsa Roca Fannberg, Producer: Hanna Björk Valsdóttir / Iceland / World Premiere)
The Last Misfits by The Golden River
(Director: Juho-Pekka Tanskanen, Producer: Isabella Karhu / Finland / World Premiere)
The Sequel to Summer Rain
(Director: Viktor Johansson, Producer: Linus Andersson / Sweden / International Premiere)
Walls – Akinni Inuk
(Directors: Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg, Sofie Rørdam, Producer: Emile Hertling Péronard / Greenland / World Premiere)
Witch
(Director: Emil Nørgaard Munk, Producers: Thor Hampus Bank, Emil Lynge Johnsen / Denmark / World Premiere)
Zlatan’s Nose
(Directors: Nils Toftenow, Mathias Rosberg, Olle Toftenow, Producer: Olle Toftenow / Sweden / World Premiere)
F:ACT Award:
2000 Meters to Andriivka
(Director: Mstyslav Chernov, Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath / Ukraine / European Premiere)
Antidote
(Director: James Jones, Producer: James Jones / UK / World Premiere of new and updated version)
K-Number
(Director: Seyoung Jo, Producer: Dukjoong Kim / South Korea / International Premiere)
Men of War
(Directors: Jen Gatien, Billy Corben, Producers: Alfred Spellman, Jen Gatien, Billy Corben / USA, Canada / European Premiere)
Predators
(Director: David Osit, Producers: Kellen Quinn, Jamie Gonçalves / USA / International Premiere)
The End of the Internet
(Director: Dylan Reibling, Producer: Dylan Reibling / Canada / World Premiere)
The Eukrainian
(Director: Viktor Nordenskiöld, Producers: Christian Popp, Malcolm Dixelius, Olha Beskhmelnytsina, Sergio Ghizzardi / Sweden, France, Ukraine, Belgium / World Premiere)
The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy
(Director: Håvard Bustnes, Producers: Carsten Aanonsen, Håvard Bustnes / Norway, Germany, UK / World Premiere)
The Last Ambassador
(Director: Natalie Halla, Producers: Peter Drössler, Arash T. Riahi, Sabine Gruber / Austria / World Premiere)
The Perfect Neighbor
(Director: Geeta Gandbhir, Producers: Geeta Gandbhir, Nikon Kwantu, Alisa Payne, Sam Bisbee / USA / International Premiere)
HUMAN:RIGHTS Award:
9-Month Contract
(Director: Ketevan Vashagashvili, Producers: Anna Khazaradze, Nino Chichua, Martichka Bozhilova, Sylvia Nagel / Georgia, Bulgaria, Germany / World Premiere)
2000 Meters to Andriivka
(Director: Mstyslav Chernov, Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath / Ukraine / European Premiere)
Black Water
(Director: Natxo Leuza, Producer: Lucía Benito / Spain / World Premiere)
Girls & Gods
(Directors: Verena Soltiz, Arash T. Riahi, Producers: Arash T. Riahi, Peter Drössler, Sabine Gruber, Sarah Schiesser, Rhea Plangg, Amel Soudani / Austria / World Premiere)
Little Syria
(Directors: Madalina Rosca, Reem Karssli, Producers: Paul Arne Wagner, Madalina Rosca / Portugal, Romania, Germany / World Premiere)
Matabeleland
(Director: Nyasha Kadandara, Producer: Sam Soko / Zimbabwe, Kenya, Botswana / World Premiere)
Moria Six
(Director: Jennifer Mallmann, Producer: Matthias Drescher / Germany / International Premiere)
The Dialogue Police
(Director: Susanna Edwards, Producer: Susanna Edwards / Sweden / International Premiere)
The Encampments
(Directors: Michael T. Workman, Kei Pritsker, Producers: Matthew Belen, Munir Atalla, Kei Pritsker, Michael T. Workman / USA / World Premiere)
The Lions By The River Tigris
(Director: Zaradasht Ahmed, Producers: Thorvald Nilsen, Harmen Jalvingh, Hester Breunissen / Norway, Netherlands / World Premiere)
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