Kvöldvaka by Dane Christensen, Carol Dalrymple, Barna Szász, Denmark
CPH:DOX announced March 15 details of its 2021 Inter:Active exhibition that will showcase 13 unique pieces from across the world. “Using extended reality and interactivity, the pieces delve deep into the pressing contemporary themes of confinement, climate change, protopian visions and digital identities,” says a festival statement. “Each piece will be a live event providing a unique experience shared with other festival goers in a programme which will be accessible globally online.”
“For CPH:DOX it has always been important to not only present the best documentaries right now, but to also be curious on how the genre is developing,” comments festival CEO Tine Fischer.
“During the last five years we have explored the interaction between documentary and new technology […with…] a special focus on the artistic development within virtual reality. This year Inter:Active will not be a physical exhibition, instead we explore, how digital art, extended reality and documentary can merge into a brand new interactive and digital live format. All the works can be experienced online and gather our international and national audiences in unique live experiences.”
Mark Atkin, Inter:Active Curator and CPH:LAB Head of Studies, adds: “I’m particularly thrilled with this year’s programme, where all works are examples of a rapidly-developing new genre of Live Documentary. No two performances are the same. Living through lockdown, it is more crucial than ever to bring people together. By making each of our events live, we are dissolving the barriers between artists and audience and allowing people to interact with each other while participating in the work.”
Climate, QAnon and live interview on death row
The Inter:Active programme will open on Earth Day April 22 with the presentation of Anthropocene in C Major, described as “a new form of live performance documentary, re-imagining 12,000 years of human influence on earth as a 40-minute symphony of sound and image. The work is an act of creation which the audience embodies along with the artists: as listeners, observers, makers and subjects.”
Project Immerse is described as a collaborative, paranoid thriller that takes its origin in the far-right conspiracy theory QAnon, exploring the nature of misinformation, radicalization and deception while “swirling” the audience into a real true crime experience. The work addresses “how we act – not towards the planet but psychologically, when exposed to deepfakes, conspiracy theories and group dynamics.”
The Webdoc Exposed seeks to give a glimpse into a closed environment, examining the shocking spread of COVID-19 in the US prison system, along with live testimony from Tim Young, a prisoner on death row at San Quentin State Prison in California, and Craig Haney, a psychologist specializing in the effects of confinement on mental health.
Protopian Visions
Part of the interactive line-up consists of works made by artists who participated in CPH:LAB, the festival’s talent development programme that encourages creative risk-taking and supports visionaries to push the existing boundaries of documentary filmmaking. The pieces were made during lockdown and are all centred on the theme of protopian visions: the hope for a better tomorrow.
CPH:DOX’s Inter:Active 2021 line-up, as arranged by theme:
Climate Change
Anthropocene in C Major by Jamie Perera, Katharine Round, Leah Borromeo. UK
Camp Century by Anrick Bregman. UK/Denmark
Confinement
Exposed by Sharon Daniel. USA
Those Left Waiting by Michael Beets, Christian Pazzaglia. Australia
Digital Identities
In My Own Skin by Illlya Szilak, Cyril Tsiboulski, Loise Braganza, Tagger Yancey IV. USA/India
Privy To by Michelle Leddon, Julia Scott-Stevenson, Liz Steininger, Jason J.Snell. Australia/Germany/USA
Project Immerse by Lead artist Lance Weiler. USA
Protopian Visions
Connections – No One Is an Island by Suvi Andrea Helminen, Ulrik Gutkin, Kasper Bøttcher. Denmark/Finland
Kvöldvaka by Dane Christensen, Carol Dalrymple, Barna Szász, Denmark. Hungary/USA
MIMIC by Reid Hannaford, Danielle Sheli Levy, Arthur Choi. Canada/Korea/USA
The Smallest of Worlds: A Social Landscape of Collected Privacy by Uwe Brunner, Bettina Katja Lange, Joan Soler-Adillon. Austria/Germany/Spain
Sonic Cellumonials by Baum & Leahy, Sofie Birch, Greg Orrom Swan. Denmark/UK
Symbiotica by Natalia Cabrera, Juan Ferrer, Sebastián González. Chile
As previously announced, CPH:DOX 2021 will open with Danish director Phie Ambo’s new documentary film 70/30 (trailer), putting climate change back on top of the agenda. The film follows the Danish Minister of Climate, Energy and Utilities and young environmentalists as they fight for a more sustainable world. 70/30 will be live-transmitted on CPH:DOX’s streaming platform.
Also, as previously announced, festival founder and CEO Tine Fischer will be leaving after heading up the 18th edition (April 21 to May 2) to take up a her new role as Director of The National Film School of Denmark.
“Needless to say, it’s been a difficult decision for me to leave the festivals. I founded CPH:DOX in 2003, and in collaboration with amazing colleagues and partners from all over the world I have spent almost my entire adult life growing the festival to become what it is today,” Fischer said in a February 8 statement.
