CPH:FORUM 2024 announced February 8 that it will this year showcase brand new projects by filmmakers such as Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh (‘Writing With Fire’), Sky Hopinka (‘Kicking the Clouds’), Talal Derki (‘Of Fathers and Sons’), Lindsey Dryden (‘Trans in America’), Mila Aung-Thwin (‘Midwives’), Rachel Leah Jones and Philippe Bellaiche (‘Advocat’), Mads Brügger (‘Cold Case Hammarskjöld’), as well as producers Signe Byrge Sørensen (‘Flee’), Kat Mansoor (‘Cow’), Mandy Chang (‘Welcome to Chechnya’), Sidsel Lønvig Siersted (‘Apolonia, Apolonia’), Diane Becker (‘Navalny’) among many others.
The selected projects will compete for a number of established and new awards at CPH:INDUSTRY, running from March 17-22, 2024.
“The 2024 CPH:FORUM line-up puts forward a curated group of projects, ranging from deeply personal to global stories, all painting a portrait of the state of our world and representing diverse documentary styles. These 32 projects – bringing together over 65 filmmakers and producers from 26 countries echo each other and reflect on pressing themes,” the festival writes.
The financing and co-production event will welcome hundreds of guests in Copenhagen from Tuesday to Thursday, March 18-21, 2024, with CPH:WIP and CHANGE presentations taking place on Monday, March 18.
Wider WORK-IN-PROGRESS selection
This year, CPH:WIP will present a total of 6 projects, both Nordic and international. The titles include projects from established and up and coming filmmakers, who will showcase selected scenes with the purpose of securing gap financing or a launch pad for further distribution. The selected works will be featured as a prelude to CPH:FORUM in the CPH:WIP presentation on Monday, March 18, 2024.
Eastern European perspectives from the CHANGE projects
For the third year in a row, CPH:DOX, IMS (International Media Support) and EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) unite in the development co-production training program CHANGE, highlighting projects from the Eastern European Partnership countries (EaP) – Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The third edition of the 6-month long training program will have its last residential workshop in Copenhagen, which is organised in partnership with the National Film School of Denmark and will culminate with a presentation of the 8 participating projects at the CHANGE pitch session on Monday, March 18, 2024.
Comments Mara Gourd-Mercado, Head of Industry & Training: “As voices are fighting to be heard all around the globe, it is a great honor to be able to present on a global stage projects that touch upon the human experience in all its hardship and its beauty. We’re humbled by the trust filmmakers bestow upon the CPH:FORUM and are excited to see these projects build bridges between people and spark dialogue.”
New raft of industry awards
After a decade of partnership on the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, CPH:FORUM and Eurimages have introduced two new awards: the Innovation Award and the Outreach Award, focusing on innovative and experimental projects at different stages of production. The Innovation Award, with a €20,000 prize, targets projects by directors or visual artists showing potential for international cooperation. The Outreach Award, offering €30,000, aims to support independent production companies or directors with projects that seek to engage audiences internationally. Both awards are for the 2024-2026 cycle, and eligible projects must comply with Eurimages’ support criteria.
CPH:FORUM 2024 will also present the brand new Rise And Shine Award consisting of €3000 cash prize for the best project with international potential and no sales agent attached; the Unifrance Doc Award, in collaboration with Unifrance and TitraFilm, totaling nearly €5500 in benefits for the best French co-produced pitch, and The NewImages – Forum des Images Award inviting two CPH:LAB projects to the XR Development Market 2024 for further development and visibility. Finally, the Sunny Side of the Doc Awardwhich will select up to three CPH:LAB projects to participate in its 2024 edition.
More than 270 CPH:FORUM financiers and decision makers so far confirmed
The selected projects will be presented to established film financiers, representatives of streaming platforms such as Netflix, MUBI and HBO Europe; broadcasters such as ARTE, ZDF, Canal+, BBC, POV, Al Jazeera, Banijay and DR; film studios Participant Media, TIME Studios, Amazon Studios, Concordia Studio, Fremantle, Sandbox Films and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios; distributors such as NEON, Fifth Season and IMAX; art institutions such as Tate Modern, Fondazione MAXXI and the Barbican Centre; philanthropic foundations such as Bloomberg Philanthropies, Sundance Institute, Doc Society, Chicken and Egg Pictures, Catapult, Open Society Foundations, The Whickers among many others.
The selected CPH:FORUM projects are, in alphabetic order:
- Before the Fire by Angel Giovanni Hoyos, produced by Jorge Botero. CO/AR/ES
- Children of Honey by Jigar Ganatra, produced by Natalie Humphreys. TZ/UK
- Cinderella Unbound by Ilinca Calugareanu, produced by Anamaria Antoci and Ilinca Calugareanu. UK/RO
- First Woman by Patricia Drati, produced by Maria Helga Stürup. DK
- Freedom (WT) by Camilla Nielsson, produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen. DK
- Haiti – Collapse by Martin Tamm Andersen, produced by Andreas Dalsgaard. DK
- I Am an Olive Tree by Yasaman Sharifmanesh, produced by Kristofer Henell and Erika Malmgren. SE
- I Am Pippi by Maria Loohufvud and Love Martinsen, produced by Maria Loohufvud and Love Martinsen. SE
- In Praise of Invasive Species by Mila Aung-Thwin, produced by Bob Moore. CA
- ISKRA (Spark!) by Alenka Pavlin, produced by Errol Morris, Petra Vidmar, Geoffrey Smith and Cynthia Kane. SI/US
- Karsai vs. Hungary by Marcell Gerő, produced by Jean-Laurent Csinidis and Sára László. HU/FR
- My Estranged Sister by Marina Vorobyeva, produced by Julie Walenciak. DK
- My Skin and I by Milton Guillen and Fiona Hall, produced by Nevo Shinaar and Brigid O’Shea. NI/US/DE
- Oriente by Juan Alvaro Hein, produced by Sidsel Lønvig Siersted. DK/AR
- Our Sister Angela – Black Power in the GDR by Katharina Warda and Jascha Hannover, produced by André Schäfer. DE
- Podium (You Have Three Minutes) by Rachel Leah Jones, produced by Philippe Bellaiche. IL/CA/FR/CH
- Powwow People by Sky Hopinka, produced by John Cardellino. US
- Project Z by Till Schauder and Sara Nodjoumi, produced by Kat Mansoor, Sara Nodjoumi, Till Schauder. UK/US
- Second Woman by Ursula Macfarlane, produced by Mandy Chang. UK
- Showtime in Helsinki by Arthur Franck, produced by Sandra Enkvist. FI/SE
- The Blue Sweater With a Yellow Hole by Tetiana Khodakivska, produced by Elena Saulich. UA
- The Broken Greenhouse by Lars Bergström and Mats Bigert, produced by Mats Bigert. SE
- The Call: A Political Odyssey by Lise Birk Pedersen, produced by Sara Stockmann. DK
- The Dirty Dream by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, produced by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh. IN
- The Invisible World by Talal Derki, produced by Talal Derki. DE
- The Listeners by Lindsey Dryden, produced by Samantha Steele and Lindsey Dryden. UK/US/FR
- Timestamp by Kateryna Gornostai, produced by Olha Beskhmelnytsina. UA/NL
- Towards the Abyss by Mads Brügger, produced by Carsten Annonsen, Stig Andersen and Silje Viki. NO/DK/BE
- Tree People by Regina Sobel, produced by Sarah Goodwin, Elliot Kirschner, Adam Bolt and Julia de Guzman. US
- Under the Dream by Saelyx Finna, produced by Yollótl Alvarado, Isabel López Polanco and Laurie Polisky. MX/US
- Victor by Stephani Victor, produced by Diane Becker, Melanie Miller and Matt Radecki. US
- Whispers in May by Dongnan Chen, produced by Jia Zhao. CN/NL
The selected CPH:WIP projects are, in alphabetic order:
- About a Hero by Piotr Winiewicz, produced by Mads Damsbo and Rikke Tambo Andersen. DK/DE
- Burnt Earth by John Webster, produced by Eveliina Kantola and Marko Talli. FI
- If Pigeons Turned to Gold by Pepa Lubojacki, produced by Wanda Kaprálová and Klára Mamojková. CZ/SK
- North South Man Woman by Morten Traavik and Mary Sun Kim, produced by Verona Meier. NO/LV/KR
- Unwelcomed by Amilcar Infante and Sebastian Gonzalez Mendez, produced by Sebastian Gonzalez. CL
- Confidential project from Yemen. YE
The selected CHANGE projects are, in alphabetic order:
- Between Strange Borders by Mira Oyetoro and Sabina Asadova, produced by Mira Oyetoro. UA
- Echoes of Avey by Atanur Nabiyeva, produced by Durna Safarova. AZ
- Land of Fairy Tales and Dreams by Denis Pavlovic. MD/DE
- Language X by Tanya Haurylchyk, produced by Katerina Barushka. BY/PL
- Lessons of Chemistry by Magda Grudniewska. PL
- Nana’s Wings by Maradia Tsaava, produced by Mariam Chachia. GE
- Sacred Songs by Nona Giunashvili, produced by Mariam Bitsadze. GE
- The Ferryman by Pavlo Dorohoi, produced by Olha Symonenko. UA
