The upcoming CPH:DOX runs from 11-22 March in Copenhagen, with this year’s industry programme centring on “safe havens” and media sovereignty (see the news). Ahead of the festival, head of industry and training Mara Gourd-Mercado spoke to Cineuropa about the evolving CPH:INDUSTRY platform, the FORUM’s mix of established and emerging voices, and the practical strategies that filmmakers are developing to navigate a shifting global documentary landscape.

Cineuropa: CPH:DOX SUMMIT centres on “safe havens” and media sovereignty. Are we witnessing a structural turning point for independent documentary?
Mara Gourd-Mercado: It seems so. Journalism underwent these attacks and the loss of funds long before documentary. They were the canary in the coal mine. Filmmakers need to build safe havens, and many are doing so through cross-border co-productions, relocation hubs, encrypted workflows and resilient archives. We are also seeing streaming niches, festival-platform hybrids and philanthropic impact funds diversifying distribution channels. At the same time, AI, surveillance and disinformation are rising, and that is adding costs to documentary production all around. Protections and resources remain concentrated in the Global North, leaving many filmmakers exposed. The complexity of navigating these realities means “safety” is often conditional and temporary. Resources need to be invested in structures that can support independent documentary globally.

Much of this year’s industry programme addresses platform dominance and algorithmic suppression. What practical alternatives can filmmakers realistically build today?
We are exploring potential avenues throughout our industry programme this year. Our role is not to come up with ready-made solutions, but to spark discussion and facilitate spaces to explore potential solutions and new pathways. This year’s industry programme aims to suggest practical alternatives to platform dominance, rather than offer a single fix. We look at how filmmakers can build direct relationships with audiences, experiment with collective distribution approaches and rely more on editorial curation in order to reduce dependence on opaque algorithms. We are also exploring new technical and business models, cross-sector partnerships, and shared skills and infrastructure that could help create more resilient pathways. Our role is to convene filmmakers, funders and technologists, surface promising prototypes, and provide spaces where realistic, incremental solutions can be tested and scaled.

The 2026 FORUM selection blends established auteurs with politically urgent projects. Is the FORUM taking a more strategic, even activist, curatorial approach?
The world is upside down and has been for a while. Documentary reflects the state of the world, whether through personal stories or global ones, and our selection reflects that reality. Our approach is strategic not in the sense you’re implying, but in a market sense. At the FORUM, we strive to select and present projects that can get made, that are highly cinematographic and that have market appeal. We also look strategically at what we can realistically do for each of those projects before selecting them. Our approach has always been curatorial. Great care is put into selecting projects that speak to each other, reflect the times we live in and echo the overarching curatorial line of CPH:DOX. That key element has built our reputation and continues to guide the programme today.

AI runs through both the CPH:DOX SUMMIT and CPH:CONFERENCE. From a training perspective, how do you ensure it becomes an empowering tool, rather than another gatekeeping mechanism?
Across our initiatives, including CPH:LAB and the CPH:CONFERENCE with the DOX:AI workshop, we design hands-on, context-driven activities that emphasise practical agency. This includes small-group labs, step-by-step toolkits and work on real projects so participants can learn to control AI workflows, rather than be controlled by them. We prioritise transparency about how models make decisions, as well as low-cost and open tools, plus transferable skills such as prompt design, metadata practices and ethical risk assessment so that makers across a range of different budgets can benefit. Peer learning, mentorship and shared resource hubs help reduce technical gatekeeping, while evaluation exercises and community feedback ensure that these tools serve creative goals and fair distribution, rather than creating new barriers.

With many speaking of the end of a documentary “golden age”, what concrete shifts are you seeing in financing and co-production models?
We’re seeing a move away from single-source funding towards more diversified, smaller-scale revenue mixes combining public funding, philanthropy, branded partnerships and audience-backed models, depending on the territory. Co-productions are also becoming more flexible, with producers building patchwork financing across territories and sectors, rather than relying primarily on traditional broadcaster pre-sales. There is also growing interest in co-op and platform-agnostic distribution collectives that allow filmmakers to retain rights and share revenue more fairly. What seems to characterise the landscape at the moment is nimble, collaborative financing that prioritises sustainability and control over single-channel market access.

CPH:INDUSTRY now spans the SUMMIT, FORUM, ROUGHCUT, CHANGE, LAB, MARKET and CONFERENCE. Has the platform reached a new phase of maturity, or is it still in a process of structural reinvention?
I don’t see our industry platform in terms of maturity. We are constantly reinventing and improving the way we engage with the industry and how we build our activities. As a team, we see CPH:INDUSTRY as a space that needs to evolve and change alongside the needs of the documentary sector. We have to accompany filmmakers and stakeholders in order to remain relevant. Of course we have grown, made progress and refined our offer over the years, but there is still – and there will always be – work to do.