CPH:DOX '22

It may be framed by images of the total eclipses of 1961 and 1999 which were observable in her former country of Serbia, but Nataša Urban’s DOX:Award documentary is not a study of astronomical phenomena. Far from it. Rather, the film comprises a heartfelt mea culpa for Serbian atrocities inflicted during the Balkan wars. “My homeland […] put me through hell, and much worse, had done unconceivable atrocities, genocide even, in neighbouring countries,” says Urban.   

Dutch firebrand and iconoclast Renzo Martens is taking on Jesus in his next project, which he pitched at CPH:FORUM 2022. Part fiction/part documentary, a key driver for Martens is to enable the Congolese cast and crew, led by Matthieu Kasiama (who will play Jesus), to buy back the land stolen from them over 100 years ago, using their participation fees paid to them up front.

In solidarity with the country and its filmmakers, CPH:DOX has added 3 further Ukrainian films to this year’s programme, which now numbers seven films in total. “We have chosen to expand our programme and give more space to some of the many brave Ukrainian filmmakers who in recent years have created strong and important films with the conflict as a backdrop,” says Artistic Director Niklas Engstrøm.

In Emilie Beck’s debut feature doc, screening in Nordic:Dox, a young woman, Priyangika, who was adopted at a young age, embarks on an existential odyssey to her birth country of Sri Lanka to discover her own story. “I knew that whatever she [Priyangika] found during the journey, I wanted to follow her emotions, her existential travel...[but] the further we went, the bigger the story got,” director Beck tells BDE.

There is a striking unworldly quality to They Made Us the Night which trades on folk myths and supernatural visions despite its core story being about the challenges faced by the inhabitants of a small Mexican town which, according to the maps, does not even exist. Playful, elusive and engrossing the film allows its protagonists to tell their own story even if that means heading into the realm of magical realism at times.

CPH:DOX returns to cinemas April 23 after two online editions, opening with Into The Ice, a timely reminder of the dangers of the West’s continuing dependence on fossil fuels. “Now it seems that we finally understand that energy politics is security politics and that therefore we have to act fast…and this film shows we need to act even faster than we thought to save the climate,” says the festival’s Niklas Engstrøm.

Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007) was a towering figure in contemporary music. A genius, but one with a headstrong and flawed personality. As well as telling the story of 2019 staging of his magnum opus Licht, Dutch director Oeke Hoegendijk also offers an intimate and revealing portrait of Stockhausen himself, from the point of view of his wives, former lovers, children and collaborators. She explains more to BDE.

British filmmaker Ben Rivers and French musician and artist Félicia Atkinson are yet to meet in person - but audiences at CPH:DOX last week enjoyed an unusual collaboration between the duo. Atkinson provided new voice-over and musical accompaniments for two of Rivers’ films, Urth (2016) and Look Then Below (2019). The soundtracks were performed ‘live.’ Rivers was too busy with other work to travel to Copenhagen but he made time to speak to Business Doc Europe.

This isn’t the first time that Danish filmmaker Mistrati has explored the dirty secrets of the chocolate industry. His previous films include The Dark Side Of Chocolate (2010) and Shady Chocolate (2012). “The price for a chocolate bar is unnaturally low. It doesn’t make any sense. A chocolate bar should cost around 4 or 5 quid, not 50p. It’s unrealistic…unless you don’t pay the farmer and the farmer’s employees,” the director tells BDE of his F:act Award Comp selection.

It is tough to strike the right tonal balance when it comes to looking at the impact of poverty on the vulnerable in society, but while Łukasz Kowalski’s humour in his new doc may well be pitch-black at times, the CPH:DOX Next:Wave film is also astutely compassionate as it dwells on staff and customers as they struggle to deal with their harsh lives.