Danish films at CPH:DOX

CPH:DOX 2021 boasts a programme of six competitive series, comprising 64 films from around the world – including 19 Danish films and 2 Danish co-productions.

The main competition, DOX:AWARD, features Phie Ambo's climate film '70/30' as its opening title, as well as Rami Farah and Signe Byrge Sørensen's 'Our Memory Belongs to Us', Camilla Nielsson's Sundance winner 'President', the Danish-Faroese 'Skál' by Cecilie Debell and Maria Guldbrandsø Tórgarð, and finally the co-production 'Children of the Enemy' by Gorki Glaser-Müller.

The festival reports that the competition programme this year presents a historical number of women directors, with 58% of the titles (37 films) being directed by one or more women. The share is at 66% if you include films co-directed by female and male directors.

Festival director Tine Fischer says in a press release:

"This year’s line-up includes films focusing on important subjects such as the dominance of tech giants, new democratic movements, decolonization and climate change. It is a selection of films aiming to fight prejudice, offer new perspectives, and dive deeper into otherwise well-known conflicts. Films which offer solutions and give the stage to underrepresented voices, which would normally have a hard time being heard."

CPH:DOX runs 21 April 21 to 2 May. The full festival programme will be announced at the end of March. See more at cphdox.dk.

See the full list of Danish films featuring in the six competitions below.

Danish films in competition at CPH:DOX

DOX:AWARD 

• '70/30' by Phie Ambo, produced by Malene Flindt Pedersen for Hansen & Pedersen. Opening film. Portrays the biggest challenge of our times through the creation of the Danish climate law and the young activists' fight for a greener future.
• 'Our Memory Belongs to Us' by Rami Farah and Signe Byrge Sørensen, produced by Anne Köhncke and Signe Byrge Sørensen for Final Cut for Real. On the 10th anniversary of the Syrian uprising, three exiled citizen journalists from Daraa reunite to watch footage from the beginning of the revolution.
• 'President' by Camilla Nielsson, produced by Signe Byrge Sørensen and Joslyn Barnes for Final Cut for Real. Sundance winner. About power games and the dream of freedom in Zimbabwe, in the weeks around the country's first elections after the dictatorship.
• 'Skål' by Cecilie Debell and Maria Guldbrandsø Tórgarð, produced by Made in Copenhagen. Old Christian faith is entering new times in the Faroe Islands where two female friends stage their own youth revolt while respecting tradition.
• 'Children of the Enemy' by Gorki Glaser-Müller (Sweden/Denmark/Qatar), co-produced by Toolbox Film. One man's lonely struggle to free his seven grandchildren from a prison camp in Syria in an unforgettable film about an inflamed political dilemma.

NEW:VISION AWARD 

• 'Industries of Freedom' by Freja Sofie Kirk and Esben Weile Kjær. A portrait of the work of a group of dancers at Privilege, the biggest night club in the world..
• 'Look at Me' by Christian Falsnæs. An exploration of power relations between performer, viewer and camera, staged by artist Christian Falsnaes.
• 'Summer Night by the Beach' by Kirsten Astrup and Maria Bordorff. Artist duo Astrup & Bordorff revisit the Kongshavn baths and summer stage in Oslo in their colourful film cabaret.

F:ACT AWARD

• 'Too Fast to be True' by Anna Thyrri and Stine Uldbjerg Hansen, produced by Lars Høj for Dokumentarkompagniet. The film seeks to unveil an international cover-up in a world-leading sports environment where endurance and being fast are key.

NORDIC:DOX AWARD

• 'Elsewhere' by Vibeke Bryld, produced by Heidi Elise Christensen for Final Cut for Real. A sensually saturated hybrid documentary brings back the magic and the mystery to Danish nature north of the Limfjord.
• 'Follow You Home' by Kathrine Ravn Kruse, produced by Mathilde Hvid Lippmann for Made in Copenhagen. After 9 years apart, two refugee brothers are reunited in Denmark. With a clergy couple as close allies, Popal fights not to lose his brother again.
• 'He's My Brother' by Cille Hannibal and co-director Christine Hanberg, produced by Monica Hellström for Final Cut for Real. What does it mean to give your life to another person?
• 'Raising a School Shooter' by Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors, produced by Anne Köhncke for Final Cut for Real. Three parents of American youngsters who committed school shootings speak their minds in a film that tries to put an unimaginable trauma into words.
• 'Solutions' by Pernille Rose Grønkjær, produced by Sigrid Jonsson Dyekjær for Danish Documentary. Some of the world's leading scientists isolate themselves for 10 days in the desert of New Mexico. Their aim: to develop real solutions to the world's most pressing problems.
• 'The Banality of Grief' by Jon Bang Carlsen, produced by Jon Bang Carlsen for C&C Productions. An impressionistic love letter to his beloved wife after her passing, written with a camera as a pen by one of Danish cinema's greatest adventurers.‍
• 'Julia&I' by Nina Hobert (Sweden/Denmark) co-production. The friendship between two women who live life to the extreme in Copenhagen, filmed by one of them during four intense and important years of their lives.  

NEXT:WAVE AWARD

• 'Cannon Arm and the Arcade Quest' by Mads Hedegaard, produced by Katrine A. Sahlstrøm for Good Company Pictures. Can Kim Kanonarm beat the world record and play arcade games for 100 hours non-stop? A Danish feelgood film about friendships, dreams and high scores.
• 'Dark Blossom' by Frigge Fri, produced by Mathilde Hvid Lippmann for Made in Copenhagen.The deep friendship between three young outsider Goths is threatened when one of them falls in love and eyes a possible escape from the Danish province.
• 'The Soldier' by Nikolaj Møller, produced by Lina Flint for Nordisk Film Spring. A Danish war veteran with a scarred soul travels to the Amazon jungle to find himself with the help of natural remedies and ayahuasca trips.

POLITIKEN:DANISH:DOX AWARD

• 'Cannon Arm and the Arcade Quest' by Mads Hedegaard. See more above.

• 'Dark Blossom' by Frigge Fri. See more above.

• 'President' by Camilla Nielsson. See more above.

• ‍'The Soldier' by Nikolaj Møller. See more above.

• 'Raising a School Shooter' by Frida Barkfors and Lasse Barkfors. See more above.

• ‍'Too Fast to be True' by Anna Thyrri and Stine Uldbjerg Hansen. See more above. 

• '70/30' by Phie Ambo. See more above.

• 'Skál' by Cecilie Debell and Maria Guldbrandsø Tórgarð. See more above.

• 'Loves Me, Loves Me Not' by Andrine Moland, Caroline Mathilde Salic, Kathrine Skibsted. Honest conversations about love, emotions and expectations with 20 young Copenhageners in a film where everyone can recognise thoughts from their own lives.‍

• 'From the Wild Sea' by Robin Petré, produced by Malene Flindt Pedersen for Hansen & Pedersen. Berlin world premiere. The relationship between humans and animals seen from the animals' perspective – in a film from the European coasts, where volunteers are fighting to save nature.

70/30

Phie Ambo, 2021

In the spring of 2019 thousands of young Danes took to the streets. They ditched school to demonstrate for the climate, they mobilized their parents and grandparents and demanded climate action NOW! When the national election came later that year, it was evident that the climate needed to be a central part of the political agenda to win. Now, it is time for the new government to put action behind their words.

Our Memory Belongs to Us

Rami Farah, 2021

Nearly 10 years after the beginning of the Syrian revolution, three Syrian activists – Yadan, Odai and Rani – reunite on a theatre stage in Paris. Through life-size projections onto a big screen, Syrian director Rami Farah confronts the three men with footage, some of it their own, depicting events that changed their destinies forever. Watching the brutal footage together, they reflect on their personal journeys, revive their collective memory, and wonder what is left of their hopes and dreams.

President

Camilla Nielsson, 2021

Zimbabwe is at a crossroads. The new leader of the opposition party, MDC, Nelson Chamisa, is challenging the old guard, ZANU-PF, represented by the acting president Emmerson Mnangagwa, also known as ‘the crocodile’. The election will be the ultimate test for both the ruling party and for the opposition.

Skál

Cecilie Debell, Maria Tórgarð, 2021

Dania, 21, grew up in a Christian congregation on the Faroe Islands. She recently moved to Tórshavn, where she became romantically involved with hip-hop artist and poet Trygvi, aka Silver boy. He is from a secular family and writes dark hip-hop lyrics.

Raising a School Shooter

Frida Barkfors, Lasse Barkfors, 2021

As the disaster of yet another school shooting hits, some parents are faced with a brutal fact: Their child was the one pulling the trigger. Jeff’s son Andy shot and killed two classmates and wounded thirteen other students when he was 15. Andy is serving 25 to life.

He's My Brother

Cille Hannibal, 2021

Most people have five senses. Peter only has three, having lost both his sight and
hearing as a newborn. His family must see and hear the world for him.

Solutions

Pernille Rose Grønkjær, 2021

A group of the world’s leading scientists and entrepreneurs isolate themselves for 10 days at the renowned Santa Fe Institute hidden away in the desert of New Mexico. They come from all corners of science representing environment, economy, democracy, cyberspace, education, status of institutions and artificial technology. They want to secure the future of humanity by creating a new and optimistic pathway into the future.

The Banality of Grief

Jon Bang Carlsen, 2021

Nothing is. Everything is becoming. Even life already lived.

Elsewhere

Vibeke Bryld, 2021

A film about the invisible life in the North of Denmark. Here, nature is rougher and faith is stronger than in the rest of the country. The hybrid documentary moves through the living, breathing organism of the heath, the sea and the woods.

Cannon Arm and the Arcade Quest

Mads Hedegaard, 2021

A film about friendship and arcade games that will put a smile on your face and tug at your heartstrings. With the help from his friends at Bip Bip Bar, Kim Cannon Arm attempts to be the first in the world to play an arcade machine from the early '80s for 100 consecutive hours. With its collection of heroic outsiders, dreams about legendary world records, quirky hairdos and brilliant players, the documentary praises solidarity and the attempt to achieve the sublime.

Dark Blossom

Frigge Fri, 2021

Josephine has colorful wigs, a large heavy nose ring and collects bones from road-kills. She is 20 years old and has never been part of the handball clique in the small town in Denmark where she grew up. Instead, in goth culture, she has found her two friends - the maximalist with the self-proclaimed name Mareridt and the reflective Christian, Jay.

The Soldier

Nikolaj Møller, 2021

Henrik, a Danish war veteran, returns to Denmark with post-traumatic stress syndrome after his second deployment in Afghanistan. After various failed treatment attempts he moves deep into the Amazon jungle trying to cure himself with plant medicine, including the world’s most halogenic drink, Ayahuasca. The film follows Henrik’s fight in the jungle over three years, offering a close-up of a broken human being, a man let down by the same society he tried to protect, on a journey that doesn’t cure him the way he had hoped.

From the Wild Sea

Robin Petré, 2021

As the peak of winter draws near, a vast European network of marine animal rescue volunteers are bracing themselves for the rough season. Night and day, all year round, they work tirelessly to rescue coastal wildlife from life-threatening elements: Oil. Plastic.