A total of 34 documentary projects and six Nordic works in progress will be unveiled to key decision makers.
CPH:FORUM takes place between March 24-26 in Copenhagen, parallel to CPH:DOX Festival. Major companies attending include Disney+, Netflix, Arte, ZDF, BBC, DR and POV.
The 34 projects from 17 countries, with a 50/50 gender representation, were picked from a record 470 submissions, looking for co-financing and development support.
Among the projects are the latest works by the Oscar-nominated Syrian/Kurdish Talal Derki (Of Fathers and Sons), Golden Bear Romanian director Adina Pintilie (Touch Me Not), Sweden’s Carl Javér (Reconstructing Utøya), Finnish/Bulgaria’s Tonislav Hristov (The Good Postman), Denmark’s Pernille Rose Grønkjær (The Monastery) as well as new talents, tackling hot societal and political issues.
The selected projects split in the five categories Fiction non Fiction, Cinema, FACT, Art and Science, will be introduced to potential co-financiers, ranging from streaming platforms Disney+, Netflix and MUBI, broadcasters such as ARTE, ZDF, BBC, CNN, Nat Geo, POV and DR, movie studios Participant Media, Topic, HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, and philanthropic foundations such as Science Sandbox, Freedom of Speech Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Open Society Foundation.
All pitched projects will vie for the Eurimages Co-production Development Award and its €15,000 cash prize.
Katrine Kiilgaard, Head of Industry and Deputy Director to CPH:DOX, said: “CPH:FORUM is a curated market that reflects an overall vision. We take pride in supporting the continued existence of a variety of voices and aesthetic expressions as is presented at our festival, even as that becomes increasingly difficult in a European market with less public funding available and less courage to take risks. With our new ventures such as our Science strand, we aim to expand the boundaries and possibilities for documentary film and filmmakers and grow the role of art as an active voice in civil society.”
Due to an increasing number of participants, CPH:DOX will move this year to a bigger venue. “Over the past five years, our platform has doubled its attendance resulting in almost 2,000 industry delegates last year. It’s a big responsibility and a huge pleasure to meet the expectations of so many people who are fighting for the documentary genre in all its forms and believe CPH:DOX is the place to be”, said Tereza Simikova, Head of CPH:FORUM.
The eight Nordic projects among the 34 international titles to be pitched are the following:
Science
Cinema
FACT
The six Nordic works in progress, looking for gap financing or festival and distribution have been selected in collaboration with the Nordic film institutes.
Three of them have received support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
The three other Nordic works in progress are: