Six films backed by the Fund compete at CPH:DOX

The other three films backed by Nordisk Film & TV Fond selected for Copenhagen’s major documentary film festival are the Norwegian film Exit by Karen Winther screening in F:ACT, while the Finnish film The Punk Voyage by Jukka Kärkkäinen, J-P Passi and Norwegian animated/archive film The Night by Steffan Strandberg are in the Nordic: DOX Award programme.

The six films explore some of the main themes of CPH:DOX’s 15^th edition, - social experiments, identity, family and radicalisation. The festival will also put a special focus this year on science and justice. 

The Raft produced by Erik Gandini and Jesper Kurlansky (Fasad), brings back to the screen the Acali scientific experiment of 1973 in which six men and five women sailed across the Atlantic on a raft. Six remaining crew members tell the story of what actually happened. The film will have its world premiere on March 17 at Grand teatret, ahead of the film’s national release via DOXBIO on September 5. Lindeen will also give a masterclass and the replica of the raft will be exhibited at Copenhagen’s Kunsthal Charlottenborg, home of the festival and market for the second year in a row. 

The Great Game produced by Michael Haslund of Denmark’s Haslund Film, is an epic adventure and family chronicle across three generations featuring the producer himself, his father, former Lord Chamberlain Søren Haslund-Christensen, and his larger than life grand-father and explorer Henning Haslund Christensen. The DOXBIO film will premiere nationwide on June 6.

Lost Warrior produced by Helle Faber (Made in Copenhagen) is about a young Somali man, whose past as a radicalised Islamist, casts a shadow over his present and future life. The co-director of the film Søren Steen Jespersen produced the award-winning Last Men in Aleppo which grabbed last year’s main DOX:Award. 

Another Swedish film in this year’s main competition section is Giants and the Morning After by Alexander Rynéus, Malla Grapengiesser and Per Bifrost described as a ‘Swedish Twin Peaks’ where trolls and giants lurk in the forests of Sweden’s smallest municipality. 

Ten films are in the NORDIC:DOX programme, including 

• The Punk Voyage produced by Mouka Filmi which had its world premiere at the Helsinki-Love & Anarchy Film Festival. 
• The Night produced by Indie Film is director Steffan Strandberg’s personal journey into his childhood memories of growing up with an alcoholic mother, brought to the screen through a mix of animation and archive footage. The film received rave reviews when it opened in Norway last October.
• The film Exit produced by Sant & Usant, explores the struggle and personal price to pay when leaving extremist groups. 

Other Nordic films at the F:ACT section include False Confessions by Danish director Katrine Philp. 

In the NEXT:WAVE section Nordic films include Doel by Denmark’s Frederik Sølberg, and the 30 minute film Entrance to the End by Maria von Hausswolff (cinematographer of Winter Brothers) and Anne Gry Fiis Kristensen. 

Ten films are competing this year for the DKK 50,000 Politiken Audience Award including Simon Lereng Wilmont’s The Distant Barking of Dogs, and F:ACT entries Exit and False Confessions. 

CPHDOX’s opening gala tomorrow March 14 is dedicated to the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, with the screening a new Danish documentary film, produced by TV2, which has together with the newspaper Politiken, investigated sexual abuse in the film community for more than two years. 

Major events held parallel to the festival include the brand new Science Film Forum, and CPH: WIP (both held on March 20), the industry platform CPH:FORUM (March 21-22), and CPH:Market with 200 new documentaries available online.

For more information, check: www.cphdox.dk