CPH:DOX

CPH:DOX, also known as Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, is a Danish film festival focused on documentary films, held annually in Copenhagen, Denmark. Since 2008 it has been run by Copenhagen Film Festivals, which also organizes the children's film festival BUSTER.

History

CPH:DOX - Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival was founded in 2002 by Kim Foss and Andreas Steinmann on behalf of Natsværmerfonden, which also founded the now defunct NatFilm Festival (1990 – 2008). Under the artistic direction of the festival’s first head of programme (and later festival director) Tine Fischer, the festival grew to become one of the leading documentary film festivals in Europe. Today, the festival ranks among the largest and most important documentary film festivals globally, with more than 150,000 admissions and more than 2,000 international industry guests in 2025.

Following the 2015 edition of CPH:DOX, the festival announced that it would change its dates from November to March, and the first of the new spring editions of the festival was held from 16 to 26 March 2017, with the centrally located Kunsthal Charlottenborg as the new festival centre.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 CPH:DOX held their festival virtually, using a Shift72 video-on-demand platform that was built and launched in just 24 hours.^[1]

In February 2021 it was announced that the first festival director of CPH:DOX, Tine Fischer, would be stepping down from the CEO role after the 18th edition (21 April to 2 May 2021) to take up a position as director of the National Film School of Denmark.^[2][3] Instead, the festival's Head of Programme, Niklas Engstrøm (who had been part of the festival team since the beginning in 2003) was appointed new Artistic Director in May 2021, and soon thereafter, Katrine Kiilgaard was appointed Managing Director.

The 2025 event took place between 19 and 30 March, 2025. The 2026 edition will take place between 11 and 22 March, 2026.^[4]

Past guest curators of film programmes have included artists and filmmakers such as The xx; Anohni; Harmony Korine; Animal Collective; Nan Goldin; Douglas Gordon; Ben Rivers with Ben Russell; Ai Weiwei; The Yes Men; Olafur Eliasson; and Naomi Klein with Avi Lewis.^{[citation needed]}

Description and governance

CPH:DOX is the official name of the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.^[5] Copenhagen Film Festivals has managed CPH:DOX as well as the children's film festival BUSTER and CPH PIX since the latter was created in 2008.^[6][7] It is held in cinemas all over Copenhagen and with Kunsthal Charlottenborg as its festival centre. Since 2021, the festival has also been held in an increasing number of other Danish cities as part of its nation-wide festival concept DOX:DANMARK. In 2024, CPH:DOX was held in more than 40 cities all over Denmark.

CPH:DOX is devoted to supporting independent and innovative film and to present contemporary non-fiction, art cinema, and experimental film.^[8]

In 2009, the festival launched the international talent development and film production workshop CPH:LAB (formerly known as DOX:LAB) where around 20 filmmakers are invited each year to develop and direct a film in teams of two.^{[citation needed]}

Besides its seven international competitions, the festival presents parallel curated and guest-curated sections.^{[citation needed]} The festival hosts seminars, debates and events as well as the curated concert series "Audio:Visuals", where bands and artists perform to original work created for the occasion by visual artists. CPH:DOX also presents a number of other initiatives parallel to the festival itself: the industry platform CPH:Forum, with the attached CPH:Market for buyers and programmers, is a financing and co-production forum as well as a networking facility which takes place for three days during the festival. In 2011, the related ART:FILM branch was launched with the aim to facilitate the development and actual production of artists' films in the feature length format. CPH:DOX runs the five-day CPH:Conference as well as the experimental educational course DOX:Academy for students, both of which take place during the festival.^{[citation needed]}

At the industry segment CPH:WIP, Nordic works-in-progress are presented to the potential sponsors and distributors.^[9]

CPH: DOX is part of the Doc Alliance, a creative partnership among seven key European documentary film festivals.^{[citation needed]}

Awards

Juries hand out prizes in seven international competition programmes:

• CPH:DOX Award, for international documentary features (€10,000)^[10]
• NEW:VISION Award, for experimental and artists' film (€5,000 prize)^[10]
• F:ACT Award, for films in the field between investigative journalism and documentary (€5,000 prize)^[10]
• NORDIC:DOX Award, for Nordic documentaries and artists' films (€5,000 prize)^[10]
• NEXT:WAVE Award, for emerging filmmakers and artists (€5,000 prize)^[10]
• Politiken:Danish:Dox Award, awarded by a jury of film critics from the Danish newspaper Politiken
• Doc Alliance Award, given in collaboration with six other European documentary film festivals, to one of the seven films nominated by the participating festivals^[10]
• Audience Award, chosen by the festival-goers (€5,000)^[10]
• Human:Rights Award, introduced in 2024 in collaboration with the Danish Institute for Human Rights^[10][11]

Award winners

CPH:DOX Award

2003 CPH:DOX

2004 CPH:DOX

2005 CPH:DOX

2006 CPH:DOX

2007 CPH:DOX

2008 CPH:DOX

2009 CPH:DOX

2010 CPH:DOX

2011 CPH:DOX

2012 CPH:DOX

2013 CPH:DOX

2014 CPH:DOX

2015 CPH:DOX

2017 CPH:DOX

2018 CPH:DOX

2019 CPH:DOX

2020 CPH:DOX

2021 CPH:DOX

2022 CPH:DOX

2023 CPH:DOX

2024 CPH:DOX

2025 CPH:DOX

The 22nd Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, also known as CPH:DOX 2025 took place from 19 to 30 March 2025.

References

1. ^ White, David (June 20, 2020). "Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival Case Study". www.shift72.com. Retrieved 2023-08-02.
2. ^ Alcinii, Daniele (8 February 2021). "CPH:DOX festival director Tine Fischer to step down". Realscreen. Archived 13 December 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
3. ^ Mitchell, Wendy (13 May 2024). "Tine Fischer to depart CPH:DOX to run Danish film school". Screen. Archived 29 January 2023 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
4. ^ Economou, Vassilis (13 February 2025). "CPH:DOX reveals the line-up for its competitions". Cineuropa. Retrieved 17 February 2025.
5. ^ "About us"
6. ^ Mitchell, Wendy (6 September 2018). "Jacob Neiindam stepping down from CPH PIX after 10th edition (exclusive)". Screen. Archived 13 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 13 May 2024.
7. ^ Dams, Tim (15 May 2024). "Danish film festival CPH PIX closes down permanently". Screen. Archived 15 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
8. ^ Kudláč, Martin (2023-03-15). "Niklas Engstrøm • Artistic director, CPH:DOX". Cineuropa. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
9. ^ Bałaga, Marta (2019-03-27). "Nordic talents are celebrated once again at CPH:WIP". Cineuropa. Archived 26 January 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-01-26.
10. ^ Barraclough, Leo (2024-02-15). "Documentary Film Festival CPH:DOX Unveils Competition Lineup". Variety. Archived 12 April 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
11. ^ Dalton, Ben (14 May 2024). "CPH:DOX unveils competitions, adds human rights award". Screen Daily. Archived 14 May 2024 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
12. ^ "'Songs Of Repression': CPH:DOX Review". Screen. Archived 28 March 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 June 2020.
13. ^ "Review: Songs of Repression". Cineuropa – the best of european cinema. Archived 11 April 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 9 June 2020.

External links

• Official website