Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and former NATO Secretary General (and current Norwegian Finance Minister) Jens Stoltenberg will attend the opening of CPH:DOX March 19 to watch and discuss the festival opener Facing War, directed by Tommy Gulliksen, as well as the future of the NATO alliance.
The conversation will take place at CPH:DOX’s opening gala in the Conservatory Concert Hall in Copenhagen. Both the film and the conversation will be accessible simultaneously via a live stream in a large number of cinemas and cultural centres across Denmark.
CPH:DOX’s opening film Facing War provides unique access to Jens Stoltenberg’s final year as NATO Secretary General. Originally scheduled to step down in 2023 after nine years in the role, the Norwegian diplomat was persuaded by then-US President Joe Biden to stay on for another year in the face of growing divisions between the alliance’s member states following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“For Stoltenberg, responsibility was not merely an obligation but a defining aspect of his tenure – one he fulfilled with the skill of a seasoned diplomat,” read the film’s notes. “Diplomacy, now only a few months after Stoltenberg’s departure as Secretary General of NATO, seems weakened in today’s highly tense security situation, where brute force – and not alliances – seems to be dictating the game.”
Comments Niklas Engstrøm, Artistic Director at CPH:DOX: “Europe is facing a security crisis that grows more severe by the day, as European leaders rush from one summit to the next in search of common ground and effective measures. I am therefore grateful that Mette Frederiksen and Jens Stoltenberg have taken the time to visit CPH:DOX to discuss the value of diplomacy in the new world order in light of the festival’s opening film Facing War. The two top politicians, with their substantial experience on the global political stage, can give people all over Denmark a unique insight into the diplomatic work and their views on the NATO alliance and the current security situation in Europe.”
Facing War is directed by Tommy Gulliksen and produced by Anne Marte Blindheim and Danielle Turkov Wilson at Dox Division in co-production with NRK, SVT and Think-Film Impact Production with support from Norsk Filminstitutt, Oslo Filmfond, Viken Filmsenter,Fritt Ord, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Impact Partners, Bergesen-stiftelsen and Fond for lyd og bilde.
The film’s trailer can be seen below.
