CPH:DOX 2025

The remarkable insights from the ever-measured and thoughtful Eileen Collins, the first woman to pilot and command a NASA Space Shuttle, help make Hannah Berryman’s documentary Spacewoman a highly watchable film. As well-balanced as its subject – Collins’s own daughter says that her mother is “serious and procedural” – it beautifully explores the dangers of her chosen profession as well as the pressures it had on her family life.

UK production outfit Hopscotch Films returned to CPH:DOX Forum with Story of Documentary Film, the latest epic by revered filmmaker Mark Cousins. Following on from their collaborations on The Story of Film: An Odyssey and Women Make Film, this new 16x60-minute series sets out to tell the definitive story of non-fiction cinema—"boldly feminist, jargon-free, and truly global in scope."

The Eurimages Outreach Award of €30,000 was won by Becoming Lucien, directed by Lucien Pin & Alex Haugmard and produced by Thibault Elie. The Eurimages Innovation Award of €20,000 went to A Sanctuary of Stuff by Francesca Tremulo & Eszter Várhidi. The $25,000 Sandbox Films Science Pitch Prize went to Metropolis by Anupama Srinivasan & Anirban, while the first Rise and Shine Award went to House No.7, directed by Rama Abdi and produced by Hazar Yazji. All awards…

Over a period of twenty years, filmmaker Tova Mozard gathered material on Russ Kingston as he tried to make it in Hollywood. From this material she has created a glorious, multifaceted, touching monument to an extraordinary extra that should (and will) touch the hearts and cinematic souls of audiences everywhere. “Yes, I like to pretend and make believe,” says Russ Kingston somewhere in the middle of the wonderful film in which he finally stars.

At this year’s CPH:DOX Forum, Norwegian auteur Margreth Olin (Songs of Earth, The Self Portrait, Doing Good) unveiled details of her latest non-fiction venture. Known for her lyrical storytelling and focus on human rights and environmental consciousness, Olin is now turning her lens toward a different kind of subject: the horse - not as a servant to human needs, but as a sentient, autonomous being.

It is rare that a film about death can be so life-affirming, but Thomas Balmès’ story of 39-year-old Amandine - who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer - and the relationship she strikes up with a horse named Peyo, is just that. “The film started as a documentary on the horse in the hospital, and ended being a film about that question of what to do with your life when you know that the time you have left is short, how you are dealing with your kids, with your husband, with your family, to prepare them for your death,” the director tells BDE.

At this year’s CPH:DOX Rough Cut session director Pieter-Jan De Pue unveiled a deeply personal and visually arresting project that has been nearly a decade in the making. Four Brothers [working title], a powerful 120-minute documentary, tells the story of four orphaned siblings growing up in war-ravaged Eastern Ukraine. “This story intrigued me from the moment I heard about families torn apart by war, and that of two brothers fighting on opposite sides of the conflict,” the helmer said.

A powerful environmental and family documentary set in the rugged highlands of Montenegro, The Last Nomads by Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić was presented as part of the Rough Cut sessions held at CPH:DOX 2025, marking the final production push ahead of its eventual premiere. “We joined the local people in defending their land, life, and identity,” said co-director Glomazić. “This is the story I’ve dreamt of telling since my childhood.”

At this year’s CPH:DOX Rough Cut presentations, Czech filmmaker Barbora Chalupová and producer Pavla Klimešová unveiled their latest documentary, Virtual Girlfriends, a compelling exploration of online intimacy and the monetisation of virtual relationships. The project delves into the world of OnlyFans, offering “a deep dive” into the world of virtual relationships. “Barbora is a deeply sensitive director, and our aim is to present a nuanced, observational exploration of this world,” said Klimešová.

Boris Despodov’s feature The Sinner, presented at this year’s CPH:DOX Rough Cut sessions, offers a deeply polarising, character-driven portrait of Petar Nizamov, a former Bulgarian boxer turned ultra-conservative vigilante. “It’s a character-driven film, but also a creative documentary…and it shows how political events can shape not just a person, but society as a whole,” the director told the Copenhagen gathering.