The full line-up of films has been announced for the 2023 edition of CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival. This year’s gathering, unspooling from 15-26 March in cinemas in Copenhagen and in 28 other municipalities across the country simultaneously, will showcase more than 200 new documentaries, with more than 100 of them having their world premieres, a record number for the festival. As CPH:DOX is celebrating its 20^th anniversary this year, the main emphasis will be on “celebration”.

The festival comprises five competitive sections – namely, DOX:AWARD, NEW:VISION, F:ACT AWARDS, NORDIC:DOX AWARD and NEXT:WAVE AWARD – featuring a total of 61 titles, including 46 world, ten international and five European premieres. The line-up encompasses films by acclaimed, established directors as well as by emerging talents, with women directing the majority of films in all competitions, marking the second time this has happened in the festival's history.

This year’s DOX:AWARD section, the main competition, will include 13 titles, and for the first time, all of them are world premieres. Starting with the Danish movies, A Storm Foretold (Denmark) by Christoffer Guldbrandsen zooms in on Donald Trump's former adviser Roger Stone, and Theatre of Violence (Denmark) by Emil Langballe and Lukasz Konopa delves into the first-ever court case against a former child soldier accused of crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, from Sweden, After Work [+leggi anche:
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intervista: Erik Gandini
scheda film] (Sweden) by Erik Gandini explores work culture in the 21st century, A Tiger in Paradise (Sweden) by Mikel Cee Karlsson takes viewers on a surreal journey into singer José González's psyche, Motherland [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Sweden/Ukraine/Norway) by Alexander Mihalkovich and Hanna Badziaka examines the impact of corruption and military culture on young people in Belarus, and Vintersaga [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Sweden) by Carl Olsson is a Nordic saga with dark humour and a sociological perspective, split into 24 chapters. The Norwegian title Songs of Earth [+leggi anche:
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The remaining films in the selection include The Hearing [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Switzerland) by Lisa Gerig, in which four asylum seekers engage in a role-playing game to re-enact their conversations with the authorities and switch the power dynamics; On the Edge [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (France) by Nicolas Peduzzi, which depicts a young doctor's struggle to keep a rundown Paris hospital operational; The Other Profile (France) by Armel Hostiou, a detective story set in Kinshasa, where a French filmmaker must locate his own doppelganger; and Total Trust [+leggi anche:
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scheda film] (Netherlands, Germany) by Jialing Zhang. Eat Bitter (Central African Republic/China) by Ningyi Sun and Pascale Appora-Gnekindy and Light Needs (USA) by Jesse McLean wrap the selection.

Niklas Engstrøm, artistic director of CPH:DOX, stated: “CPH:DOX is turning 20 this year, and I cannot think of a better way of celebrating it than presenting a main competition programme consisting of such standout films premiering here in Copenhagen. This year’s selection is full of movies deeply rooted in reality, but always with original perspectives, creative ideas and the courage to challenge the status quo of documentary cinema as well as the world at large. And yes, times are dark and the world is a mess, but as long as we are able to laugh, we still stand a chance, and therefore, I find it encouraging how several of these films use humour as a method to open our minds to the complexity of life in the 21st century.”

Meanwhile, the NEW:VISION AWARD will host 16 titles in total, including 14 world premieres as well as one international and one European one. Furthermore, F:ACT AWARD, the strand dedicated to films perched between documentary filmmaking, investigative journalism and activism, will showcase 11 titles, including six world premieres, whilst the NORDIC:DOX AWARD will present 11 Nordic films and eight world premieres. The line-up is rounded off by the NEXT:WAVE AWARD hopefuls, consisting of ten new films and five world premieres.

The festival’s full programme is available to peruse here.

The event will feature a star-studded line-up of special guests this year. Among them are legendary filmmaker Wim Wenders, who will premiere his new compilation film A Sense of Place, and Oscar winners Asif Kapadia and Chai Vasarhelyi, who will talk about their careers. The festival will also host appearances by Dutch author Rutger Bregman, comedian Nathan Fielder, musician José González and folk legend Joan Baez, among others. In addition, Academy Award winner Oliver Stone will participate in a live conversation about his new film Nuclear Now.