The Fund Copenhagen Film Festivals which runs the Danish capital’s major film events CPH:DOX, CPH:PIX, BUSTER as well as DOXBIO, announced on Wednesday the move of CPH:DOX from its current November slot to March and the merger of the Fiction festival CPH:PIX with the Children & Youth festival BUSTER.

Commenting on CPH:DOX’s change of dates, Copenhagen Film Festival’s CEO Steffen Andersen-Møller (picture) said: “Moving from the current position in November to the spring is more than just a change in the calendar. The ambition of CPH:DOX to be a leading international documentary event is intact and will require more space to unfold its potential. Ideally, it will ensure that CPH:DOX opens the year, and IDFA closes it.”

Festival director Tine Fischer added: “CPH:DOX has taken place in the week before IDFA since the very beginning without too many overlaps and complications, but with the latest year’s growth in international industry attendance we need more space around us.” The 13th CPH:DOX was a record year in attendance, with 91,400 visitors, more than twice 2011 figures.

The merger between CPH:PIX and BUSTER into one major fiction film festival – not yet named - is set to ‘create greater impact and optimise the use of resources’. The new festival intends to expand CPH:PIX existing ‘focus on talent to include films for children and youth and at the same time ‘sharpen its focus on children's media consumption and film understanding’.

Copenhagen’s new film festival will take place in the autumn 2016 and will screen children and youth films in the daytime and edgier adult-oriented films in the evening. No changes are expected to the teams of CPH:PIX run by Jacob Neiiendam and BUSTER headed by Füsun Eriksen in cooperation with a board of directors.