Wendy Mitchell

“I always dreamed about becoming an explorer,” Danish filmmaker Lars Ostenfeld tells Business Doc Europe ahead of the March 23 world premiere of CPH:DOX opener Into The Ice. “Every day we see something in the news about the ice melting, but we have no idea how fast it’s going,” says the director of what inspired his eco-doc. "Instead of just telling people something is wrong with the climate, I wanted to discover where do we get these numbers?”

Business Doc Europe talks to a very busy Steven Dhoedt, who is presenting two projects at RE>CONNEXT, The Sound of Seoul which examines the unique musical culture of post-War Korea, and Sunrise Kids, about the “historical tension between rebellion and conformity within post-war Japanese society.”

Director Louisiana Mees had previously explored coming-of-age in her fictional short Waithood, which was about Greek teenagers struggling to make their way in an economically depressed society; that marked her graduation project from Antwerp’s Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Now she tells a very different coming-of-age story in her feature doc debut And Tomorrow, The Whole World, she tells BDE.

Back in 2017 Belgian producer Frederik Nicolai had a big idea – how were ordinary people’s lives being impacted along the borders throughout Europe? Now that big idea is a big series of six creative documentary features. The producer explains the concept to Business Doc Europe.

Co-directors Cecilie Debell and Maria Tórgarð rap with Business Doc Europe about Skál, which was supposed to be about Faroe Islands hip hop artist Trygvi Danielsen, until his girlfriend Dania made an even bigger impression on the filmmakers. “There was only one rule: we didn’t want to use interviews or talking heads. But that meant we could play with it a lot,” says Debell.

Raising a School Shooter is the final film in Frida and Lasse Barkfors’ trilogy about social stigma which included Pervert Park (2014), about convicted sex offenders, and Death of a Child (2017) where they meet parents responsible for their child’s death in a hot car. The filmmakers explain their new film, selected for Nordisk Panorama Documentary Competition to BDE.

Finnish director Suvi West didn’t just want to tell the story of the mistreatment of Sámi people in Finland – she felt the need to tell it, she explains to Business Doc Europe. “I felt like I didn’t have any other choice,” she underlines of her film selected for Nordisk Panorama Documentary Competition.

Finnish director Suvi West didn’t just want to tell the story of the mistreatment of Sámi people in Finland - she felt the need to tell it, she explains to Business Doc Europe. “I felt like I didn’t have any other choice,” she underlines of her film selected for the Hot Docs/EFP Changing Face of Europe programme.

Co-directors Cecilie Debell and Maria Tórgarð rap with Business Doc Europe about Skál, which was supposed to be about Faroe Islands hip hop artist Trygvi Danielsen, until his girlfriend Dania made an even bigger impression on the filmmakers. The film world-premieres April 24 in Copenhagen’s Dox:Award Competition.

When Swedish filmmaker Engeli Broberg met an eight-year-old named Gabi nearly seven years ago, she thought she might make an interesting short film subject. But quickly she decided, “I wanted to stay with her for longer.” Now Gabi is the fascinating young protagonist of Broberg’s first feature-length doc. The director explains why to BDE.