CPH:DOX unveiled February 13 the competition programme and juries for the 22nd edition, running March 19-30. The competition selection includes 71 films, featuring 56 world premieres, 12 international premieres, and 3 European premieres. The full festival program will be released on February 26.
“As a contemporary documentary festival, CPH:DOX actively seeks to reflect today’s major themes and conflicts through its program,” the festival writes. “This is evident in the F:ACT Award competition, which spotlights films at the intersection of cinematic documentary art and investigative journalism, as well as in the newest competition, the HUMAN:RIGHTS Award, dedicated to films shedding light on human rights violations worldwide. This year’s main competition, the DOX:AWARD consisting solely of world premieres for the third consecutive year, also mirrors the state of the world in 2025.”
Mads K. Mikkelsen, Head of Program of CPH:DOX, comments: “It is very exciting to share a competition line up that truly represents documentary as an art form made for the cinema. CPH:DOX is about celebrating documentaries and the people who make them, and programming this year’s festival has been a journey rich with discoveries. We are deeply grateful to the filmmakers and look forward to seeing their films light up the screens soon.”
Niklas Engstrøm, Artistic Director of CPH:DOX, adds: “The times we live in are increasingly marked by conflict, chaos, and cynicism, leaving little room for the visionary or the poetic. Against that backdrop, we are proud to present a competition program that not only reflects the world but also refracts its light like a prism. Whether set in Ukraine, Mozambique, America, or China, the nominated films in this year’s program stand as a defense of the role of poetry and art in the world.”
AWARDS of 22nd CPH:DOX
- DOX:AWARD: Sponsored by Politiken with a prize of €10,000, this is the festival’s main competition, honoring films with artistic quality, cultural relevance, and strong personal expression. All 12 nominated films are world premieres.
- NEW:VISION Award (€5,000) celebrates art films and boundary-pushing experiments.
- NEXT:WAVE Award (€5,000) highlights new and emerging filmmakers.
- NORDIC:DOX Award (€5,000) honors standout documentaries from the Nordic region.
- F:ACT Award: Supported by International Media Support and the Danish Union of Journalists with a prize of €5,000, this category recognizes films blending documentary and investigative journalism.
- HUMAN:RIGHTS Award: Awarded for the second consecutive year, sponsored by the Danish Institute for Human Rights with a prize of €5,000, focusing on films dealing with human rights issues.
- Audience Award: With a prize of €10,000, this allows festival-goers to vote for their favorite film, emphasizing CPH:DOX’s dedication to engaging audiences across the documentary genre’s many facets.
Click here to read about this year’s juries.
DOX:AWARD selection
- À demain sur la lune (Director: Thomas Balmès, Producer: Thomas Balmès / France, USA / World Premiere)
- Agatha’s Almanac (Director: Amalie Atkins, Producer: Amalie Atkins / Canada / World Premiere)
- Always (Director: Deming Chen, Producer: Hansen Lin / USA, France, China / World Premiere)
- Balane 3 (Director: Ico Costa, Producer: Terratreme Filmes / Portugal, France / World Premiere)
- Facing War (Director: Tommy Gulliksen, Producers: Anne Marte Blindheim, Danielle Turkov Wilson / Norway, Belgium / World Premiere)
- Flophouse America (Director: Monica Strømdahl, Producer: Breathe Hofseth, Siri Natvik / Norway, The Netherlands, USA / World Premiere)
- My Dear Theo (Director: Alisa Kovalenko, Producer: Kasia Kuczynska / Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine / World Premiere)
- Sanatorium (Director, Gar O’Rourke, Producer: Andrew Freedman, Samantha Corr, Ken Wardop / Ireland, Ukraine, France / World Premiere)
- The Castle (Directors: Danny Biancardi, Virginia Nardelli, Stefano Giuseppe La Rosa, Producers: Nadège Labé, Giulia Campagna, Stefano Collizzolli / France, Italy / World Premiere)
- The Father, The Sons and The Holy Spirit (Director: Christian Sønderby Jepsen, Producer: Mira Jargil / Denmark / World Premiere)
- The Helsinki Effect (Director: Arthur Franck, Producer: Sandra Enkvist / Finland / World Premiere)
- We Live Here (Director: Zhanana Kurmasheva, Producer: Banu Ramazanova / Kazakhstan / World Premiere)
NEW:VISION Award selection
- All These Summers (Director: Therese Henningsen, Producer: Therese Henningsen / UK, Denmark / World Premiere)
- Available Light (Director: Morgan Quaintance, Producer: Morgan Quaintance / UK / World Premiere)
City Child (Director: Austin Lynch, Producer: Austin Lynch, Andro Steinbron / USA, Germany / World Premiere) - Fear Fokol (Director: Tuva Björk, Producer: Dennis Harvey, Melissa Lindgren, Tobias Janson / Sweden, International Premiere)
- Green Grey Black Brown (Director: Yuyan Wang, Producers: Yuyan Wang / South Korea / World Premiere)
- Illiyeen (Director: Eliyah Mesayer, Nanna Rebekka, Producer: Rebekka Laugesen / Denmark / World Premiere)
- Images de Tunisie (Director: Younes Ben Slimane, Producer: Jane Pavitt, Younes Ben Slimane / UK, Tunisia / World Premiere)
- International Satan’s Day (Director: Raed Yassin, Producer: Raed Yassin / Lebanon / World Premiere)
- Melted into the Sun (Director: Saodat Ismailova, Producer: Leonardo Bigazzi / Italy, Uzbekistan / World Premiere)
- Perishable Idol (Director: Majid Al-Remaihi, Producer: Luc-Jérôme Bailleul, Elodie Wattiaux / France, Kuwait, Qatar / World Premiere)
- Ramallah, Palestine, December 2018 (Director: Juliette Le Monnyer, Producer: Juliette Le Monnyer, Ellen Meiresonne / Belgium / World Premiere)
- Scrap (Director: Noémie Lobry, Producer: Marion Darrieux / France / European Premiere)
- Sinking Latitude (Director: Jiawei Zheng, Producer: Jiawei Zheng /Denmark, China / World Premiere)
- Songbook (Director: Mariah Garnett, Producers: Mariah Garnett, Jibz Cameron / USA / World Premiere)
- Siticulosa (Director: Mariah Garnett, Producers: Mariah Garnett, Jibz Cameron / UK, Denmark / World Premiere)
- Time Paradox (Director: Minha Park, Producer: Minha Park / South Korea / World Premiere)
- Unstable Rocks (Director: Ewelina Rosinska, Producers: Ewelina Rosinska, Nuno Barroso / Germany, Portugal / International Premiere)
NEXT:WAVE Award selection
- 50 Meters (Director: Yomna Khattab, Producers: Ahmed Amer, Patricia Drati / Egypt, Denmark / World Premiere)
- Abode of Dawn (Director: Kristina Shtubert, Producer: Kristina Shtubert / Germany / International Premiere)
- Copan (Director: Carine Wallauer, Producers: Viviane Mendonça, Camilo Cavalcanti, Nabil Bellahsene, Justin Pechberty / Brazil, France / World Premiere)
- Fantastic Family (Director: Nicoline Skotte, Producer: Vibeke Vogel / Denmark / World Premiere)
- I am Night at Noonday (Director: Gaspard Hirschi, Producer: Quentin Laurent / France / International Premiere)
- ILOVERUSS (Director: Tova Mozard, Producers: Daniel Pynnönen, Alice Sunnelius Aldén / Sweden / World Premiere)
- Latina, Latina (Director: Adrian Duncan, Producer: Adrian Duncan / Ireland / International Premiere)
- Open Call (Director: Sille Storihle, Producer: Sille Storihle / Norway / World Premiere)
- The Golden Spurtle (Director: Constantine Costi, Producers: Rebecca Lamond, John Archer / UK, Australia / World Premiere)
- Red Forest (Director: Laurie Lassalle, Producer: Frédéric Féraud / France / World Premiere)
Unanimal (Directors: Sally Jacobson, Tuva Bjork, Producers: Victor Ede, Melissa Lindgren / Sweden, France / World Premiere) - Who Witnessed the Temples Fall (Director: Lucía Alonso Santos, Producers: Guillem Mula Blanch, Alejandro González Clemente, Daniel Peña, Irene M. Borrego / Spain / World Premiere)
NORDIC:DOX Award selection
- Fighter (Directors: Sunniva Sundby, Mari Bakke Riise, Producer: Mari Bakke Riise / Norway / International Premiere)
- If I Die Today (Director: Camilla Arlien, Producer: Marie Schmidt Olesen / Denmark / World Premiere)
- The Nicest Men on Earth Director: Maeve Brennan, Producers: Maeve Brennan, Ali Roche / UK, Denmark / World Premiere
- Portrait of a Confused Father (Director: Gunnar Hall Jensen, Producers: Christian Aune Falch, Torstein Parelius / Norway / World Premiere)
- Lowland Kids (Director: Sandra Winther, Producers: Sigrid Dyekjær, Darren Aronofsky / Denmark, USA / World Premiere)
- The Ground Beneath Our Feet (Director: Yrsa Roca Fannberg, Producer: Hanna Björk Valsdóttir / Iceland / World Premiere)
- The Last Misfits by The Golden River (Director: Juho-Pekka Tanskanen, Producer: Isabella Karhu / Finland / World Premiere)
- The Sequel to Summer Rain (Director: Viktor Johansson, Producer: Linus Andersson / Sweden / International Premiere)
- Walls – Akinni Inuk (Directors: Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg, Sofie Rørdam, Producer: Emile Hertling Péronard / Greenland / World Premiere)
- Witch (Director: Emil Nørgaard Munk, Producers: Thor Hampus Bank, Emil Lynge Johnsen / Denmark / World Premiere)
- Zlatan’s Nose (Directors: Nils Toftenow, Mathias Rosberg, Olle Toftenow, Producer: Olle Toftenow / Sweden / World Premiere)
F:ACT Award selection
- 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Director: Mstyslav Chernov, Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath / Ukraine / European Premiere)
- Antidote (Director: James Jones, Producer: James Jones / UK / World Premiere of new and updated version)
- K-Number (Director: Seyoung Jo, Producer: Dukjoong Kim / South Korea / International Premiere)
- Men of War (Directors: Jen Gatien, Billy Corben, Producers: Alfred Spellman, Jen Gatien, Billy Corben / USA, Canada / European Premiere)
- Predators (Director: David Osit, Producers: Kellen Quinn, Jamie Gonçalves / USA / International Premiere)
- The End of the Internet (Director: Dylan Reibling, Producer: Dylan Reibling / Canada / World Premiere)
- The Eukrainian (Director: Viktor Nordenskiöld, Producers: Christian Popp, Malcolm Dixelius, Olha Beskhmelnytsina, Sergio Ghizzardi / Sweden, France, Ukraine, Belgium / World Premiere)
- The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy (Director: Håvard Bustnes, Producers: Carsten Aanonsen, Håvard Bustnes / Norway, Germany, UK / World Premiere)
- The Last Ambassador (Director: Natalie Halla, Producers: Peter Drössler, Arash T. Riahi, Sabine Gruber / Austria / World Premiere)
- The Perfect Neighbor (Director: Geeta Gandbhir, Producers: Geeta Gandbhir, Nikon Kwantu, Alisa Payne, Sam Bisbee / USA / International Premiere)
HUMAN:RIGHTS Award selection
- 9-Month Contract (Director: Ketevan Vashagashvili, Producers: Anna Khazaradze, Nino Chichua, Martichka Bozhilova, Sylvia Nagel / Georgia, Bulgaria, Germany / World Premiere)
- 2000 Meters to Andriivka (Director: Mstyslav Chernov, Producers: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath / Ukraine / European Premiere)
- Black Water (Director: Natxo Leuza, Producer: Lucía Benito / Spain / World Premiere)
- Girls & Gods (Directors: Verena Soltiz, Arash T. Riahi, Producers: Arash T. Riahi, Peter Drössler, Sabine Gruber, Sarah Schiesser, Rhea Plangg, Amel Soudani / Austria / World Premiere)
- Little Syria (Directors: Madalina Rosca, Reem Karssli, Producers: Paul Arne Wagner, Madalina Rosca / Portugal, Romania, Germany / World Premiere)
- Matabeleland (Director: Nyasha Kadandara, Producer: Sam Soko / Zimbabwe, Kenya, Botswana / World Premiere)
- Moria Six (Director: Jennifer Mallmann, Producer: Matthias Drescher / Germany / International Premiere)
- The Dialogue Police (Director: Susanna Edwards, Producer: Susanna Edwards / Sweden / International Premiere)
- The Encampments (Directors: Michael T. Workman, Kei Pritsker, Producers: Matthew Belen, Munir Atalla, Kei Pritsker, Michael T. Workman / USA / World Premiere)
- The Lions By The River Tigris (Director: Zaradasht Ahmed, Producers: Thorvald Nilsen, Harmen Jalvingh, Hester Breunissen / Norway, Netherlands / World Premiere)
