CPHDOX2023_The Mountains

Source: CPH:DOX

‘The Mountains’

The 20th anniversary edition of Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX) includes more than 200 films, of which over 100 are world premieres – the most ever at a single edition of the festival.

The festival will screen 61 titles across five international competition sections: New:Vision, F:Act, Nordic:Dox, Next:Wave and the previously announced Dox:Award titles. 

Scroll down for the full list of competition titles

46 of the 61 competition titles are world premieres, with 10 international premieres and five European debuts.

Films directed by women make up 47% of the lineup, with men represented on 38%. Ten percent are directed by mixed-gender directing teams; with five percent by non-binary filmmakers.

Guest stars

The festival has also booked an eclectic range of guest speakers for the anniversary edition. Filmmakers addressing the Copenhagen audience will include Wim Wenders, Asif Kapadia and Free Solo director Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi; while personalities from outside of the film world will include folk music legend Joan Baez; Utopia For Realists author Rutger Bregman; Swedish musician Jose Gonzalez; and US comedian Nathan Fielder, creator of documentary series The Rehearsal.

The theme of this year’s edition is ‘Predicting the Past, Rewriting the Future’. It aims to ‘explore how both the past and the future play a crucial role in our present’, according to CPH:DOX.

“At this year’s festival, we examine how history has become a weapon used in the great contemporary social debates about post-colonialism, identity politics and other important agendas,” said Niklas Engstrom, CPH:DOX artistic director. “On the other hand, we look at scenarios - utopian as well as dystopian - and explore how our ideas about the future are shaping the way we organize society right now.”

The 20th anniversary edition will be “a blast”, Engstrom added. “When we founded CPH:DOX twenty years ago, we never imagined that two decades later we would be celebrating our birthday as one of the world’s leading documentary festivals. It calls for celebration, and we’re doing so with a firework of a programme with more filmmakers, more world premieres, more events and, not least, more parties than ever before.”

CPH:DOX 2023 runs from March 15-26, with screenings in cinemas across Copenhagen, plus in 28 municipalities across Denmark.

CPH:DOX 2023 competition sections

See the DOX:Award titles here.

New:Vision award

Bruises (Ger-Mex) dirs. Ginan Seidl, Daniel Ulacia

Drifting Woods (Den) dir. Pia Ronicke

The Society Of The Spectacle (Swe) dirs. Rory Farhat, Goran Hugo Olsson

Burial Of This Order (Den-Ger) dir. Jane Jin Kaisen

Into The Violet Belly (Viet-Ger) dir. Thuy-han Nguyen

The Secret Garden (Leb) dir. Nour Ouayda

Fat To Ashes (Fr) dir. Pauline Curnier Jardin

Insert Song (Den) dir. Kamil Dossar

Pacific Club (Fr) dir. Valentin Noujaim

Nothing Runs Like A Deere (Swe) dir. Max Goran

New Centuries Are Rare (Swe-Den) dir. Coyote

An Excavation (UK) dir. Maeve Brennan

An Asian Ghost Story (HK-Neth) dir. Bo Wang

The Departing Images (Chile-Fr) dir. Ana Edwards

Levitate (It-Sp-Fr) dir. Ivan Argote

A Piece Of Work (Den-Tur) dir. Deniz Eroglu

F:Act award

20 Days In Mariupol (Ukr) dir. Mstyslav Chernov

Baghdad On Fire (Iraq-Nor) dir. Karrar Al-Azzawi

Beyond Utopia (US) dir. Madeleine Gavin

Blix, Birds & Bombs (Swe-Cze-Ger) dir. Greta Stocklassa

Breaking Social (Swe) dir. Fredrik Gertten

Deep Rising (US) dir. Matthieu Rytz

Phantom Parrot (UK) dir. Kate Stonehill

Praying For Armageddon (Nor) dir. Tonje Hessen Schei

Seven Winters In Tehran (Ger-Fr) dir. Steffi Nierderzoll

The Hostage Takers (Den) dirs. Puk Damsgaard, Soren Klovborg

Victim/Suspect (US) dir. Nancy Schwartzman

Nordic:Dox award

Fighters (Nor) dir. Jon Haukeland

Heartist (Faroe) dirs. Marianna Morkore, Beinta a Torkilsheyggi

Hypermoon (Swe) dir. Mia Engberg

Just Before Death (Den) dir. Anne Regitze Wivel

Labor (Swe) dir. Tove Pils

Lynx Man (Fin) dir. Juha Suonpaa

Mrs Hansen & The Bad Companions (Den) dir. Jeila Bethmann

A Silent Story (Den-Swe) dir. Anders Skovbjerg Jepsen

Soviet Bus Stops (Can-Den) dir. Kristoffer Hegnsvad

The Gamer (Fin) dirs. Petri Luukkainen, Jesse Jokinen

Voice (Nor) dir. Ane Hjort Guttu

Next:Wave award

Megaheartz (Swe-Nor) dir. Emily Norling

Queendom (US) dir. Agniia Galdanova

Silent Sun Of Russia (Den) dir. Sybilla Tuxen

Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (Est) dir. Anna Hints

The Flag (Fr) dir. Joseph Paris

The Group Crit (Nor) dir. Sille Storihle

The Last Year Of Darkness (China-US) dir. Benjamin Mullinkosson

The Mountains (Den-Nor) dir. Christian Einshoj

The Tuba Thieves (US) dir. Alison O’Daniel

Twice Colonized (Den-Green-Can) dir. Lin Alluna