News

Romanian filmmaker Radu Ciorniciuc presented his new investigative documentary project, titled Director’s Cut, at the CPH:DOX Forum 2026, offering a behind-the-scenes look at humanitarian aid operations in times of war, and the murky intersection between crisis response, political influence and media narratives. “Slowly, I understood that goodwill here is laundered into power, control and profit,” he says.

The NEFTi International Short Film Comp and Movies That Matter Festival announced March 23 a new partnership to support displaced filmmakers living in the European diaspora and across the African continent. The organisations have together launched the 2026 NEFTi Competition, aimed at identifying and supporting emerging filmmakers whose perspectives are shaped by global displacement.

A new documentary exploring the life and work of largely overlooked African-American photographer Alvin Baltrop (1948-2004) was pitched to industry professionals at CPH:DOX Forum. The film, titled Letter to Alvin, is directed by Hilton Als and Göran Hugo Olsson, and produced by Tobias Janson and Melissa Lindgren, with Sweden and the United States attached as producing countries. BDE reports.

Irish filmmaker Roisin Agnew presented her hybrid documentary Blackest Ever Black at CPH:DOX Forum 2026, a project examining the political, environmental and economic implications of Ireland’s rapid expansion of data centres – using satire and fictional framing to interrogate the global power of Big Tech. “Ireland has been at the forefront of this expansion for decades. If you want to understand tech and the threat it presents, you need to understand Ireland and how these companies operate there,” explained Agnew.

The winners of the international competitions of CPH:DOX 2026 were announced March 20. The international competition line-up included a total of 74 films, hand-picked from thousands of submissions from around the world, featuring 53 world premieres, 17 international premieres, and 4 European premieres. The main prize, the DOX:AWARD, was awarded to ‘Whispers in May’ by Dongnan Chen.

A community of Congolese plantation workers turning art into a tool for land restitution and ecological repair took centre stage at the CPH:DOX Roughcut showcase held on 16 March, as filmmakers Céd’art Tamasala and Renzo Martens presented The Dawn of the Post Plantation. “This film is a tool,” DRC artist Tamasala underscored. “A tool to get back our land, our dignity and to bring the sacred back into our community.”

The winners of the CPH:INDUSTRY Awards 2026 were announced March 19, with the Eurimages New Lab Outreach Award, valued at €30,000, going to Don’t Let The Sun Go Up On Me by director Asmae El Moudir and producer Emma Lepers. The Sandbox Films Science Pitch Prize 2026, worth $25,000, went to Matrescence by Kathryn Ferguson. produced by Eleanor Emptage, Rosie Crerar. All awards…

Irish filmmaker Gar O’Rourke (Sanatorium) returned to CPH:DOX this year with The Siege of Paradise, a character-driven documentary exploring the human consequences of over-tourism in Italy’s Cinque Terre. “A few years ago an Italian friend told me about this small place of fewer than 4,000 people receiving more than four million tourists every year,” O’Rourke recalled. “I wanted to understand what that actually felt like.”

Moroccan filmmaker Asmae El Moudir presented her new hybrid doc project Don’t Let the Sun Go Up on Me, which concerns teenager Fatimazahra who, before her sad passing, suffered from xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), a rare genetic condition that makes exposure to sunlight potentially fatal. Now her younger sister Meriem carries forward Fatimazahra’s dream of travelling to Norway’s Lofoten Islands, where the polar night allows for months without sunlight. “I’m looking for ways to keep her alive,” the filmmaker explained. “Through her voice, through her own images — creating a dialogue between the living and the absent.”

Estonian filmmaker Maris Salumets presented her investigative documentary War on Women during this year's CPH:DOX Rough Cut presentation, held on 16 March. Salumets offered industry professionals an early look at a project that seeks to map the global networks driving anti-gender politics across Europe. “This is a film about my own journey investigating the anti-gender movement in Europe and its close ties to US and Russian money and influence,” she told the Copenhagen audience.