News

Niklas Engstrøm has been appointed Artistic Director of Copenhagen Film Festivals, which includes CPH:DOX, CPH PIX and BUSTER, and will work closely with a new managing director which the festival board is in the process of recruiting. Outgoing Tine Fischer to sit on the board of Copenhagen Film Festivals.

The CGIL Prize was awarded May 1 to Lobster Soup by Pepe Andreu and Rafa Molés, (Spain/Iceland/Lithuania) while the Jury Prize was handed to Alt det jeg er/All that I am by Tone Grøttjord-Glenne, Norway. Sixteen documentaries were selected for Bergamo’s competitive Close Up section.

Speaking at the CPH:DOX 2021 Reset! Conference, Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht, the filmmakers behind Netflix’s Oscar nominated documentary Crip Camp (exec produced by Barack and Michelle Obama) hailed this year’s Oscar ceremony as “an incredible breakthrough” in its approach to disability.

Sometimes documentaries are made as a means of catharsis, either for the filmmaker or the protagonists. Our Memory Belongs To Us is a healing process for both parties, as well as an important document about the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011.

During the April 30 CPH:DOX Award Show the winners of the six international competitions were announced. The main DOX:Award went to The Last Shelter by Ousmane Samassekou. The Eurimages Co-Production Development Award (€20,000) was handed to CPH:FORUM project Tata/Father, directed by Radu Ciorniciuc and Lina Vdovîi.

Kluijfhout’s meditative film serves up both stunning visuals and gentle lyric in telling the story of six very different people all motivated by their affection for, and connection to, the oyster.

Sheffield Doc/Fest 2021 has announced the films that will premiere in its Rhyme & Rhythm strand. ‘Rhyme & Rhythm is where cinema and other artforms meet. Through music and performance, visual art and sport, each film offers encounters and inspirations to a different beat,” say organisers. The fest runs 4 - 13 June, in Sheffield and online.

Weits’ detailed and absorbing film has all of the elements for debate, controversy and angst as she delves into the diaries of her long-revered great grandfather hailed as one of the heroic pioneers of Israel.

National Film Board of Canada presents four world premieres exploring themes of identity and human rights by Indigenous, LGBTQ2+ and women film creators. The new docs (two features, two shorts) are by Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers, Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams, Sheona McDonald and Courtney Montour.

Honigmann’s journey into her past finds room for humour and compassion as well as tears and frustration, but ultimately helps weave together a generous and life-affirming, and rather special, film.