Veronika Châtelain from Open Society Foundation, Anadil Hossain from UNHCR and award-winning filmmakers Asif Kapadia, Maite Alberdi, Jessica Kingdon and Jialing Zhang are joining other “forward-thinkers and documentary industry gatekeepers” at CPH:DOX’s upcoming CPH:CONFERENCE 2023. The theme of the conference is ‘Future at Our Fingertips’ and runs March 20-24.
This year’s edition of CPH:CONFERENCE, curated in partnership with the training initiative Documentary Campus, “is aiming to gather the international non-fiction community to collectively envision the future of the industry, discover and unlock the currently available resources, possible solutions, and transformative potential of the industry of tomorrow,” write organisers.
Filmmakers Conversations
The mornings of CPH:CONFERENCE are dedicated to the art of filmmaking – and creative challenges it brings. The programme will feature a series of conversations of award-winning filmmakers such as the Oscar winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi andAsif Kapadia, Oscar nominees Jessica Kingdon, Maite Alberdi and Jialing Zhang. “In various formats, the filmmakers will walk the audience through their most recent films and discuss how they negotiated the access, developed deep intimacy and maintained the security of vulnerable characters of their films, in order to create powerful, cinematic language for nuanced, complicated stories,” write organisers.
Future at Our Fingertips
Taking a point of departure in the changed post-pandemic distribution and financing landscape, the afternoons will bring together producers and gatekeepers of the non-fiction world to collectively envision a positive future for the industry. Centered around core questions of inclusivity, freedom and sustainability of documentary as an art form, the programme will feature inspiring keynotes, case studies and panel discussions of representatives of key commercial entities incl. Netflix, Amazon or Concordia Studios, public broadcasters and institutions such as the United Nations, and philanthropy organisations incl. Open Society Foundation, IRIS and many others.
Film for Democracy
The programme of CPH:CONFERENCE 2023 will culminate on the last day dedicated to the role of film and filmmakers in society. Prominent filmmakers such as Margreth Olin, Elwira Niewiera, or Nanfu Wang will join their fellow citizens among civil society leaders, visionaries, and thinkers to collectively brainstorm the possibilities of cinema to help build and strengthen democracy, freedom and equality.
“We are excited to provide a future-looking platform that brings together diverse, creative voices and visionaries of the documentary filmmaking world with other forward thinkers to exchange ideas, network and create meaningful partnerships. We look forward to stimulating conversations at CPH:CONFERENCE!” says Donata von Perfall, Director of Documentary Campus.
“We are proud that CPH:CONFERENCE is also a place for tangible work. The DocuMentality initiative will further their research, our partners at the International Media Support are organising a think-tank on fair co-production, whereas the Global Impact Producers Association is gathering to support impact production around the world. It is important for CPH:CONFERENCE not only to discuss, but facilitate a real, positive change”, says Tereza Simikova, the Head of Industry & Training of CPH:DOX.
The CPH:CONFERENCE programme is available here.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the International Documentary Film Festival CPH:DOX, which will offer a programme of approximately 180 films by both established and emerging filmmakers as well as talks, debates, performances, exhibitions, parties and much more between 15-26 March 2023.
