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.

Presented in partnership with Documentary Campus, CPH:CONFERENCE will take place this year from March 24-28, bringing together a “stellar” line-up of filmmakers, industry leaders, and visionaries, including Christo Grozev, James Jones, Alexis Bloom, Kate Townsend, Sam Soko, Mstyslav Chernov, Nathan Grossman and many more.

Viktor Nordenskiöld’s new documentary The Eukrainian profiles Ukraine's deputy prime minister Olha Stefanishyna, who is the one spearheading the country’s attempts to gain EU membership. “When I met her, I saw directly that she was somebody who could embody and personalise this complicated story. You felt her energy. She was unspoiled as a politician. She seems very honest and also very sharp,” Nordenskiöld tells BDE.

It takes a brave filmmaking team to pivot when the story they thought they were telling suddenly changes – and also to realise when they’ve become a protagonist in the story. That’s what happened with Walls – Akinni Inuk, directed by Denmark’s Sofie Rørdam and Greenland’s Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg. The film has its world premiere at CPH:DOX on March 21. The directors talk to Business Doc Europe.

Ai Weiwei’s Animality offers a global overview of human-animal relationships in the age of industrialisation, from circus animals in China to the culling of mink in Denmark. Documenting without judging, Ai’s often beautiful, often hard to watch panorama quietly forces us to rethink our own opinions. That Ai Weiwei manages to raise so many questions without ever asking them is a testament to the effectiveness of his wide-ranging approach.

Human Race by Danish director Simon Lec covers both the scientific research by his compatriot, evolutionary geneticist Eske Willerslev, into the ancient human genome, and the scientist’s ‘race’ for international recognition – specifically the Nobel Prize. Unfortunately, in the CPH world-premiere doc, the latter tends to overshadow the former.

The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in Helsinki in 1975, gathered world leaders as part of the détente between the Warsaw Pact and NATO countries. Arthur Franck’s archival documentary is fascinating, relevant and exciting - especially now, fifty years on, as Russia and the West are once again at war. But it is less in need of irony than director Franck may think…

The renowned artist and activist Ai Weiwei will present his latest doc ‘Animality’ and will engage in a discussion on the intersection of art and activism. Israeli architect Eyal Weizman will speak after the screening of 'Rule of Stone' which reveals how architecture has been used as a tool of control and displacement since Israel’s capture of East Jerusalem in 1967. The INTER:ACTIVE line-up is presented under the theme of Untamed: Humanity Rewilded, and promises a “provocative and immersive experience that urges audiences to reimagine humanity’s role within the natural world.”

The Polish doc industry is enjoying a busy CPH:DOX with the co-pros My Dear Théo and The Ground Beneath Our Feet in DOX:AWARD and NORDIC:DOX respectively. Words We Never Say, the new project by Agnieszka Zwiefka is selected for Forum, while a delegation of five female producers will also attend CPH:INDUSTRY. “This is very gratifying because it proves that the goal we set ourselves when we started Polish Docs has been achieved,” says Head of Polish Docs PRO Katarzyna Wilk. “Producers and filmmakers from Poland are becoming more and more aware of their strong position in the international industry.”

Yes, Gar O’Rourke did himself try the mud treatment when he was preparing his new feature doc Sanatorium (a world premiere in International Competition at CPH:DOX and sold by MetFilm Sales). He has also done the salt pools the electro-massages and everything else between. Many docs have been made in Ukraine since the invasion but this is surely the gentlest, funniest and most surprising. O’Rourke gets the full treatment from BDE.