Deming Chen’s debut documentary Always won the top Dox:Award prize at Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:dox) 2025.
Set in the mountains of China’s Hunan province, Always follows an eight-year-old boy living with his poor family, who discovers poetry as a way of describing his feelings and place in the world.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
The US-France-China co-production is produced by Hansen Lin for US company Timelight Film, in co-production with France’s SaNoSi Production and Taiwan’s Rustic Pictures.
Always receives the €10,000 in the main competition, from a jury of Rikke Tambo Andersen, Max Kestner,...
Set in the mountains of China’s Hunan province, Always follows an eight-year-old boy living with his poor family, who discovers poetry as a way of describing his feelings and place in the world.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
The US-France-China co-production is produced by Hansen Lin for US company Timelight Film, in co-production with France’s SaNoSi Production and Taiwan’s Rustic Pictures.
Always receives the €10,000 in the main competition, from a jury of Rikke Tambo Andersen, Max Kestner,...
- 3/29/2025
- ScreenDaily
Deming Chen’s debut documentary Always won the top Dox:Award prize at Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:dox) 2025.
Set in the mountains of China’s Hunan province, Always follows an eight-year-old boy living with his poor family, who discovers poetry as a way of describing his feelings and place in the world.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
The US-France-China co-production is produced by Hansen Lin for US company Timelight Film, in co-production with France’s SaNoSi Production and Taiwan’s Rustic Pictures.
Always receives the €10,000 in the main competition, from a jury of Rikke Tambo Andersen, Max Kestner,...
Set in the mountains of China’s Hunan province, Always follows an eight-year-old boy living with his poor family, who discovers poetry as a way of describing his feelings and place in the world.
Scroll down for the full list of winners
The US-France-China co-production is produced by Hansen Lin for US company Timelight Film, in co-production with France’s SaNoSi Production and Taiwan’s Rustic Pictures.
Always receives the €10,000 in the main competition, from a jury of Rikke Tambo Andersen, Max Kestner,...
- 3/29/2025
- ScreenDaily
Cph:dox has crowned winners at the latest edition of the renowned nonfiction film festival in Copenhagen.
The Dox:Award, the festival’s top prize, went to Always, the directorial debut of Deming Chen. The film tells the story of a young poet, 8-year-old Youbin, who lives “deep in the lush mountains of Hunan province” in southern China.
“There’s a huge difference between nothing and small things. But life is in fact made up of many, often unnoticed, small things. We need the sensibilities of artists to show us the greatness of the little things,” noted the Dox:Award jury comprised of Rikke Tambo Andersen, Max Kestner, Nicolas Rapold, Adele Tulli and Raul Niño Zambrano. “This exquisitely shot chronicle of a rural farming family is alive with compassion and poetry.”
The ‘Always’ filmmaking team celebrates their Dox:Award win at Cph:dox
The Dox:Award, sponsored by Politiken and Politiken-Fonden, comes with a €10,000 prize.
Mikal...
The Dox:Award, the festival’s top prize, went to Always, the directorial debut of Deming Chen. The film tells the story of a young poet, 8-year-old Youbin, who lives “deep in the lush mountains of Hunan province” in southern China.
“There’s a huge difference between nothing and small things. But life is in fact made up of many, often unnoticed, small things. We need the sensibilities of artists to show us the greatness of the little things,” noted the Dox:Award jury comprised of Rikke Tambo Andersen, Max Kestner, Nicolas Rapold, Adele Tulli and Raul Niño Zambrano. “This exquisitely shot chronicle of a rural farming family is alive with compassion and poetry.”
The ‘Always’ filmmaking team celebrates their Dox:Award win at Cph:dox
The Dox:Award, sponsored by Politiken and Politiken-Fonden, comes with a €10,000 prize.
Mikal...
- 3/29/2025
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Cph:dox, the documentary film festival based out of Copenhagen in Denmark, has revealed the jury winners for its 2025 edition. Audience Award prizes will be announced in April.
More than 90 feature films screened in Copenhagen this past week, including the European premiere of Sundance favorites like “The Perfect Neighbor,” directed by Geeta Gandbhir, whose bodycam-based documentary about a wrongful killing in Florida in 2023 is positioned as one of Netflix’s forthcoming top awards contenders this year. Also bowing in Copenhagen were Amy Berg’s music doc “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley,” Amber Fares’ portrait of Israeli comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi with “Coexistence, My Ass!” David Osit’s “Predators,” about the rise and fall of NBC’s controversial documentary TV series “To Catch a Predator,” also bowed at Cph:dox and will be released by MTV later this year.
But Cph:dox, which has been going since 2008 and is gradually becoming a first stop...
More than 90 feature films screened in Copenhagen this past week, including the European premiere of Sundance favorites like “The Perfect Neighbor,” directed by Geeta Gandbhir, whose bodycam-based documentary about a wrongful killing in Florida in 2023 is positioned as one of Netflix’s forthcoming top awards contenders this year. Also bowing in Copenhagen were Amy Berg’s music doc “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley,” Amber Fares’ portrait of Israeli comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi with “Coexistence, My Ass!” David Osit’s “Predators,” about the rise and fall of NBC’s controversial documentary TV series “To Catch a Predator,” also bowed at Cph:dox and will be released by MTV later this year.
But Cph:dox, which has been going since 2008 and is gradually becoming a first stop...
- 3/28/2025
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
On Friday, the top Dox award at Copenhagen documentary festival Cph:dox went to “Always,” the first feature by Chinese director Deming Chen. The film follows eight-year-old Youbin, raised by his father and grandparents in a remote mountain village in Hunan province, who discovers poetry as a means of making sense of his solitude and the world around him.
Shot in stunning black and white, the film blends lyrical beauty with raw realism, following Youbin’s coming-of-age as he grapples with life, loss, and the passage of time.
Taking to the stage, a very emotional Chen thanked his entire team. Producer Hansen Lin said: “Through the journey of making this film, we hope to share this happiness and achievement with everyone who still believes in their dreams. If you believe in it, you will make it – even if life may sometimes disappoint you. We always hold onto the hope that peace...
Shot in stunning black and white, the film blends lyrical beauty with raw realism, following Youbin’s coming-of-age as he grapples with life, loss, and the passage of time.
Taking to the stage, a very emotional Chen thanked his entire team. Producer Hansen Lin said: “Through the journey of making this film, we hope to share this happiness and achievement with everyone who still believes in their dreams. If you believe in it, you will make it – even if life may sometimes disappoint you. We always hold onto the hope that peace...
- 3/28/2025
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival has selected 71 films for its competition sections, including 56 world premieres, 12 international premieres and three European premieres.
World premieres for the festival’s 22nd edition include Ukrainian director Alisa Kovalenko’s My Dear Theo. Few details have been revealed for the film yet; Theo is the name of Kovalenko’s son. The film will be produced by Kasia Kuczynska of Poland’s Haka Films, with Ukrainian production company Moonman Productions, the company behind recent festival titles Songs Of Slow Burning Earth and A House Made Of Splinters.
Scroll down for the full list of competition titles...
World premieres for the festival’s 22nd edition include Ukrainian director Alisa Kovalenko’s My Dear Theo. Few details have been revealed for the film yet; Theo is the name of Kovalenko’s son. The film will be produced by Kasia Kuczynska of Poland’s Haka Films, with Ukrainian production company Moonman Productions, the company behind recent festival titles Songs Of Slow Burning Earth and A House Made Of Splinters.
Scroll down for the full list of competition titles...
- 2/13/2025
- ScreenDaily
Payal Kapadia’s Cannes grand prix winner All We Imagine As Light and Mohammad Rasoulof’s special prize recipient The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, along with Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Venice selection Harvest are among the international competition selections at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival running October 16-27.
A packed line-up also brings Joshua Oppenheimer’s Telluride entry The End to the International Feature Competition, along with the North American premiere of The Quiet Son from Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, which debuted on the Lido.
There are world premieres for Clarissa Campolina and Sérgio Borges’s Suçuarana...
A packed line-up also brings Joshua Oppenheimer’s Telluride entry The End to the International Feature Competition, along with the North American premiere of The Quiet Son from Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, which debuted on the Lido.
There are world premieres for Clarissa Campolina and Sérgio Borges’s Suçuarana...
- 9/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
Payal Kapadia’s Cannes grand prix winner All We Imagine Is Light and Mohammad Rasoulof’s special prize recipient The Seed Of The Sacred Fig, along with Athina Rachel Tsangari’s Venice selection Harvest are among the international competition selections at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival running October 16-27.
A packed line-up also brings Joshua Oppenheimer’s Telluride entry The End to the International Feature Competition, along with the North American premiere of The Quiet Son from Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, which debuted on the Lido.
There are world premieres for Clarissa Campolina and Sérgio Borges’s Suçuarana...
A packed line-up also brings Joshua Oppenheimer’s Telluride entry The End to the International Feature Competition, along with the North American premiere of The Quiet Son from Delphine Coulin and Muriel Coulin, which debuted on the Lido.
There are world premieres for Clarissa Campolina and Sérgio Borges’s Suçuarana...
- 9/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
The Mediterrane Film Festival has unveiled the line-up for its second edition (June 22-30), with Cannes premiere The Count Of Monte Cristo set to open the event.
Scroll down for the full line-up
Directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, the film is among seven titles in the out of competition strand, which also includes Jane Schoenbrun’s Sundance title I Saw The TV Glow and Tarsem Singh’s Dear Jassi.
The 15-strong competition section features Cannes competition titles Kinds Of Kindness and The Substance, and Berlin premiere The Strangers case starring Omar Sy,
Seven films compete in the environment-themed Mare Nostrum section,...
Scroll down for the full line-up
Directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, the film is among seven titles in the out of competition strand, which also includes Jane Schoenbrun’s Sundance title I Saw The TV Glow and Tarsem Singh’s Dear Jassi.
The 15-strong competition section features Cannes competition titles Kinds Of Kindness and The Substance, and Berlin premiere The Strangers case starring Omar Sy,
Seven films compete in the environment-themed Mare Nostrum section,...
- 6/12/2024
- ScreenDaily
Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival has set the full competition and industry lineup for its second edition, which runs June 22 to 30 in the country’s capital, Valletta.
The programme includes 15 films in competition, seven out-of-competition, and seven films competing in the environment-themed Mare Nostrum section, topped up by 14 immersive projects.
Select competition titles include Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest Kinds of Kindness, Coralie Fargeat’s body horror The Substance, and The Damned by Italian filmmaker Roberto Minvervini. All three films debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Scroll down to see the full lineup. Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller will serve on the competition jury.
The festival has also set its industry lineup, featuring a series of masterclass sessions. Speakers include editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, production designer Nathan Crowley, casting director Margery Simkin, and composer Simon Franglen...
The programme includes 15 films in competition, seven out-of-competition, and seven films competing in the environment-themed Mare Nostrum section, topped up by 14 immersive projects.
Select competition titles include Yorgos Lanthimos’ latest Kinds of Kindness, Coralie Fargeat’s body horror The Substance, and The Damned by Italian filmmaker Roberto Minvervini. All three films debuted at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Scroll down to see the full lineup. Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate director Tim Miller will serve on the competition jury.
The festival has also set its industry lineup, featuring a series of masterclass sessions. Speakers include editor Yorgos Mavropsaridis, production designer Nathan Crowley, casting director Margery Simkin, and composer Simon Franglen...
- 6/12/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
The story shocked the world 10 years ago: the Copenhagen Zoo’s decision to euthanize a healthy two-year-old giraffe named Marius because they considered it a “surplus animal.” CNN reported on it. So did Le Monde in France, the U.K.’s Guardian and The Independent, and the Irish Times.
The New York Times wrote on February 9, 2014: “Marius the reticulated giraffe died at the Copenhagen Zoo on Sunday. He was 2 years old. The cause of death was a shotgun blast, and after a public autopsy, the animal, who was 11 feet 6 inches, was fed to the zoo’s lions and other big cats.”
Marius the giraffe at the Copenhagen Zoo days on February 7, 2014, before he was euthanized.
A decade after the death of Marius, the Cph:dox festival in Copenhagen hosted the world premiere of Life and Other Problems, a documentary that uses the case of Marius to ponder the interconnectivity of species,...
The New York Times wrote on February 9, 2014: “Marius the reticulated giraffe died at the Copenhagen Zoo on Sunday. He was 2 years old. The cause of death was a shotgun blast, and after a public autopsy, the animal, who was 11 feet 6 inches, was fed to the zoo’s lions and other big cats.”
Marius the giraffe at the Copenhagen Zoo days on February 7, 2014, before he was euthanized.
A decade after the death of Marius, the Cph:dox festival in Copenhagen hosted the world premiere of Life and Other Problems, a documentary that uses the case of Marius to ponder the interconnectivity of species,...
- 3/16/2024
- by Matthew Carey
- Deadline Film + TV
Documentaries, by their very nature, are driven by curiosity. Nonfiction filmmakers arrive at their subjects — be they people, places or events — with a wide-eyed sense of wonder. But as Max Kestner’s “Life and Other Problems” attests, curiosity can only take you so far. Ostensibly structured around the director’s interest in big questions about life and consciousness, this journey through philosophy, biology, and evolution never quite brings its many-pronged interrogations into a cohesive whole. Eager to posit that we are no different from the microbes that live within us — or the animals we keep in zoos — the documentary never does more than meander around its many provocative questions.
The precipitating incident at the start of Kestner’s film is a global headline-grabbing moment from 2014. That’s the year the Copenhagen Zoo decided to euthanize Marius, a 2-year-old giraffe under their care. Clearly rankled by the incident and the issues...
The precipitating incident at the start of Kestner’s film is a global headline-grabbing moment from 2014. That’s the year the Copenhagen Zoo decided to euthanize Marius, a 2-year-old giraffe under their care. Clearly rankled by the incident and the issues...
- 3/13/2024
- by Manuel Betancourt
- Variety Film + TV
Danish filmmaker Max Kestner opens Cph:dox, his hometown festival, with the world premiere of Life And Other Problems in the Dox:Award competition.
The documentary uses the euthanasia of a giraffe in the Copenhagen Zoo in February 2014 as the jumping-off point for an exploration of life, love and consciousness. Kestner intersperses interviews with scientists such as Charles Foster and Eske Willerslev, with a philosophical consideration of existence.
It is an eighth feature for Kestner, whose previous films include Cph:dox titles Little Galaxies in 2021, and Dreams In Copenhagen in 2009, and whose work often gives a wry look at contemporary life in Denmark and further afield.
The documentary uses the euthanasia of a giraffe in the Copenhagen Zoo in February 2014 as the jumping-off point for an exploration of life, love and consciousness. Kestner intersperses interviews with scientists such as Charles Foster and Eske Willerslev, with a philosophical consideration of existence.
It is an eighth feature for Kestner, whose previous films include Cph:dox titles Little Galaxies in 2021, and Dreams In Copenhagen in 2009, and whose work often gives a wry look at contemporary life in Denmark and further afield.
- 3/12/2024
- ScreenDaily
Cph: Dox, Copenhagen’s International Documentary Festival, has set the full lineup for its 2024 edition, including 84 world premieres, 32 international premieres, and 9 European premieres.
Running March 13-24, the festival will feature six competition categories: Dox: Award, F: Act Award, Nordic: Dox Award, Next: Wave Award, New: Vision Award, and the new Human: Rights Award.
Musician Pete Doherty will attend the festival for a screening of Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin. The event will take place on March 18 at Bremen Theater, when he and the film’s director Katia de Vidas – who became Doherty’s wife over the ten years she followed him with her camera – openly discuss the substance abuse that has shadowed his entire career. After the screening, Doherty will give an acoustic concert. Other high-profile titles include Lana Wilson’s Look Into My Eyes, Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s Gaucho Gaucho, Carla Gutierrez’s Frida, Yance Ford’s Power,...
Running March 13-24, the festival will feature six competition categories: Dox: Award, F: Act Award, Nordic: Dox Award, Next: Wave Award, New: Vision Award, and the new Human: Rights Award.
Musician Pete Doherty will attend the festival for a screening of Peter Doherty: Stranger in My Own Skin. The event will take place on March 18 at Bremen Theater, when he and the film’s director Katia de Vidas – who became Doherty’s wife over the ten years she followed him with her camera – openly discuss the substance abuse that has shadowed his entire career. After the screening, Doherty will give an acoustic concert. Other high-profile titles include Lana Wilson’s Look Into My Eyes, Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s Gaucho Gaucho, Carla Gutierrez’s Frida, Yance Ford’s Power,...
- 2/21/2024
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Cph:dox, one Europe’s leading documentary film festivals, has announced its full program, which includes no fewer than 84 world premieres out of more than 200 films being screened in the Danish capital and nationwide from March 13 through March 24.
This 21st edition, which aims to make documentary film accessible not only to a select industry few but to the public at large, will take off with a new nationwide approach, with mini festivals running simultaneously in nearly half of Denmark’s municipalities. In addition, alongside the six main awards, a new Audience Award is being revived by popular request, which comes with a €5,000 prize.
Running alongside the festival’s overarching theme of “Body Politics,” which explores questions about the body and our understanding of it, organizers have announced the other main theme of this edition: “Conflicted.”
Born from the war in Gaza, which has hit the headlines again since Oct. 7 last year,...
This 21st edition, which aims to make documentary film accessible not only to a select industry few but to the public at large, will take off with a new nationwide approach, with mini festivals running simultaneously in nearly half of Denmark’s municipalities. In addition, alongside the six main awards, a new Audience Award is being revived by popular request, which comes with a €5,000 prize.
Running alongside the festival’s overarching theme of “Body Politics,” which explores questions about the body and our understanding of it, organizers have announced the other main theme of this edition: “Conflicted.”
Born from the war in Gaza, which has hit the headlines again since Oct. 7 last year,...
- 2/21/2024
- by Lise Pedersen
- Variety Film + TV
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:Dox) has unveiled the line-ups for its five competitive sections for its 2024 edition. All films in the main Dox:Award competition are world premieres for the second successive year.
Scroll down for the full list of competition titles
Titles in that section include Alessandra Celesia’s The Flats, a France-uk-Ireland-Belgium co-production about Belfast youngsters accessing their memories of the Troubles. Belfast-based Italian filmmaker Celesia has previously made documentaries including 2017’s Anatomy Of A Miracle, which played at Locarno.
The 12-strong Dox:Award competition also includes Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter’s UK title Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other,...
Scroll down for the full list of competition titles
Titles in that section include Alessandra Celesia’s The Flats, a France-uk-Ireland-Belgium co-production about Belfast youngsters accessing their memories of the Troubles. Belfast-based Italian filmmaker Celesia has previously made documentaries including 2017’s Anatomy Of A Miracle, which played at Locarno.
The 12-strong Dox:Award competition also includes Manon Ouimet and Jacob Perlmutter’s UK title Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other,...
- 2/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
Going Clear director Alex Gibney and The Mother Of All Lies filmmaker Asmae El Moudir are among the speakers confirmed for the 2024 Cph:Conference, the industry talks programme of Cph:dox film festival in Copenhagen (March 13-24).
US director Gibney and Moroccan director El Moudir will both participate in ‘A Morning With’ sessions, alongside Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez.
The ‘Morning’ sessions will be followed by ‘Film:Makers In Dialogue’ events, where filmmakers behind two festival titles will engage in discussions about their latest projects.
The Conference will begin on March 18 with ‘Our Declaration Of Independence, a new session aiming to articulate the importance of independent documentaries to culture,...
US director Gibney and Moroccan director El Moudir will both participate in ‘A Morning With’ sessions, alongside Belgian filmmaker Johan Grimonprez.
The ‘Morning’ sessions will be followed by ‘Film:Makers In Dialogue’ events, where filmmakers behind two festival titles will engage in discussions about their latest projects.
The Conference will begin on March 18 with ‘Our Declaration Of Independence, a new session aiming to articulate the importance of independent documentaries to culture,...
- 2/14/2024
- ScreenDaily
Dr Sales has picked up “Piggy” (“Murk” in Norwegian), a quirky crime comedy from advertising, film and TV production banner The Oslo Company, credited for Netflix’s “Home for Christmas 1 & 2.”
The six-part series set to premiere on the commercial channel TV2 Norway March 17, will be sneak-peeked Feb. 9 at the Scandinavian Drama Series Showcase in Berlin, co-hosted by the Göteborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision and the European Film Market.
Headlining “Piggy”’s Norwegian ensemble cast are Ine Jansen (“Mammon”), Trond Espen Seim, Jonis Josef (“Kasko”), John Carew (“Home Ground”), Iben Akerlie (“Norsemen”), and Lars Berge (“Wisting”).
“The Playlist” co-helmer Hallgrim Haug serves as concept director on the series, created by The Oslo Company founder Trond Kvernstrøm. Both shared the writers’ room with Marie Hafting (“Everything You Love”), Tobias Nordbø, Katie Hetland and Kjetil Indregard. The Oslo Company’s Ronny Johansen is producing.
The story turns on Lisa (Jansen) a...
The six-part series set to premiere on the commercial channel TV2 Norway March 17, will be sneak-peeked Feb. 9 at the Scandinavian Drama Series Showcase in Berlin, co-hosted by the Göteborg Film Festival’s TV Drama Vision and the European Film Market.
Headlining “Piggy”’s Norwegian ensemble cast are Ine Jansen (“Mammon”), Trond Espen Seim, Jonis Josef (“Kasko”), John Carew (“Home Ground”), Iben Akerlie (“Norsemen”), and Lars Berge (“Wisting”).
“The Playlist” co-helmer Hallgrim Haug serves as concept director on the series, created by The Oslo Company founder Trond Kvernstrøm. Both shared the writers’ room with Marie Hafting (“Everything You Love”), Tobias Nordbø, Katie Hetland and Kjetil Indregard. The Oslo Company’s Ronny Johansen is producing.
The story turns on Lisa (Jansen) a...
- 2/14/2024
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
Copenhagen-based Dr Sales has snapped up international rights on the anticipated opening film of the 21st Cph:dox Festival, “Life and Other Problems.” Variety debuts the trailer below.
The playful existential film by Danish documentary filmmaker Max Kestner is shepherded by Denmark’s Bullitt Film (Prix Europa for “Absolute Beginners”), with Ruben Östlund’s Swedish banner Plattform Produktion and the U.K.’s Hopscotch Films (“Story of Film”). Bullitt and Plattform teamed up earlier on the 2023 Sundance special jury prize winning doc “And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine.”
Commenting on the Dr Sales pick up, Kim Christiansen, executive producer, in charge of documentaries and co-productions, says: “Max Kestner has for decades been one of the most intelligent filmmakers in Denmark, and I have personally been a huge fan since his 2002 TV series ‘Blue Collar White Christmas,’ which in tone and humor was way ahead of its time.”
“It’s...
The playful existential film by Danish documentary filmmaker Max Kestner is shepherded by Denmark’s Bullitt Film (Prix Europa for “Absolute Beginners”), with Ruben Östlund’s Swedish banner Plattform Produktion and the U.K.’s Hopscotch Films (“Story of Film”). Bullitt and Plattform teamed up earlier on the 2023 Sundance special jury prize winning doc “And the King Said, What a Fantastic Machine.”
Commenting on the Dr Sales pick up, Kim Christiansen, executive producer, in charge of documentaries and co-productions, says: “Max Kestner has for decades been one of the most intelligent filmmakers in Denmark, and I have personally been a huge fan since his 2002 TV series ‘Blue Collar White Christmas,’ which in tone and humor was way ahead of its time.”
“It’s...
- 2/9/2024
- by Annika Pham
- Variety Film + TV
The 21st edition of Cph:dox will open with the world premiere of Danish documentary “Life and Other Problems” on March 12 at the Conservatory’s Concert Hall, Copenhagen, where director Max Kestner and a number of the film’s participants will be present. The film will compete for the festival’s main prize, Dox:award. The festival runs until March 24.
Niklas Engstrøm, artistic director for Cph:dox, said: “‘Life and Other Problems’ is an eternally relevant story about the value of life and the quest to make sense of one’s own — and all of our — existence. With his new film, Max Kestner has created a deeply personal tour de force through the scientific answers to what we know about life, fir trees, animal rights activists, and just how much imagination a Chinese giant salamander really has. It has become nothing short of a fantastic film that challenges our worldview, stimulates both the mind and the funny bone,...
Niklas Engstrøm, artistic director for Cph:dox, said: “‘Life and Other Problems’ is an eternally relevant story about the value of life and the quest to make sense of one’s own — and all of our — existence. With his new film, Max Kestner has created a deeply personal tour de force through the scientific answers to what we know about life, fir trees, animal rights activists, and just how much imagination a Chinese giant salamander really has. It has become nothing short of a fantastic film that challenges our worldview, stimulates both the mind and the funny bone,...
- 1/31/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The world premiere of Danish documentary Life And Other Problems will open the 2024 Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:Dox) on March 12.
Max Kestner’s film will play as the opening gala at the Conservatory’s Concert Hall in Copenhagen, with Kestner and several subjects from the film in attendance. It will also compete in the festival’s main Dox:Award section
Kestner’s film uses the death of a giraffe in a Copenhagen zoo 10 years ago as a jumping off point for existential questions about the nature of life, consciousness, love and connections. Subjects in the film include scientists Charles Foster and Eske Willerslev.
Max Kestner’s film will play as the opening gala at the Conservatory’s Concert Hall in Copenhagen, with Kestner and several subjects from the film in attendance. It will also compete in the festival’s main Dox:Award section
Kestner’s film uses the death of a giraffe in a Copenhagen zoo 10 years ago as a jumping off point for existential questions about the nature of life, consciousness, love and connections. Subjects in the film include scientists Charles Foster and Eske Willerslev.
- 1/31/2024
- ScreenDaily
A TV documentary titled Barbie Uncovered and an adaptation of Homer’s classic The Odyssey starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche are among the titles to receive cash during the latest round of U.K. Global Screen Fund awards.
Financed through the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Dcms), the latest round handed out over £1.2 million in cash awards through the fund’s International Co-production strand, supporting UK producers to work as partners on international co-productions. To date, the strand has now awarded over £5 million to 33 co-productions.
This latest round of awards sees the UK co-producing with 12 territories and will be the first time the fund has supported collaborations with India and Finland. The funding will also support partnerships with Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Ireland, Canada, and New Zealand.
TV doc Barbie Uncovered is an unofficial majority UK co-production with New Zealand. The UK...
Financed through the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Dcms), the latest round handed out over £1.2 million in cash awards through the fund’s International Co-production strand, supporting UK producers to work as partners on international co-productions. To date, the strand has now awarded over £5 million to 33 co-productions.
This latest round of awards sees the UK co-producing with 12 territories and will be the first time the fund has supported collaborations with India and Finland. The funding will also support partnerships with Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, Ireland, Canada, and New Zealand.
TV doc Barbie Uncovered is an unofficial majority UK co-production with New Zealand. The UK...
- 7/25/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Ariane Labed’s ’Sisters’ and Uberto Pasolini’s ’The Return’, starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche, have also received backing.
Documentaries Barbie Uncovered, Justice For Magdalenes and Beast are among the nine titles to receive funding from the British Film Institute (BFI) through the UK Global Screen Fund, via the fund’s international co-production strand.
It is financed through the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Dcms). This round, the awards allocate over £1.2m to support UK producers to work as partners on international co-productions. To date the strand has now awarded over £5m to 33 co-productions.
The awards,...
Documentaries Barbie Uncovered, Justice For Magdalenes and Beast are among the nine titles to receive funding from the British Film Institute (BFI) through the UK Global Screen Fund, via the fund’s international co-production strand.
It is financed through the UK government’s Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Dcms). This round, the awards allocate over £1.2m to support UK producers to work as partners on international co-productions. To date the strand has now awarded over £5m to 33 co-productions.
The awards,...
- 7/25/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
TV documentary “Barbie Uncovered” and an adaptation of Homer’s “The Odyssey” starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche are among the latest projects awarded by the U.K. Global Screen Fund.
On “Barbie Uncovered,” an unofficial majority U.K. co-production with New Zealand, the U.K. producers are Ross Wilson from Rw Productions and Alan Clements from Two Media Rivers who will co-produce with New Zealand’s Daniel Story and Cass Avery from Augusto. It will be directed by Eddie Hutton-Mills and focuses on the unknown history of the global icon Barbie and the dramatic and dark story behind the creation of the world’s most famous doll.
On “The Odyssey” adaptation “The Return,” a minority U.K. co-production with Italy, Greece and France made under the European Convention, the U.K. producers are James Clayton and Uberto Pasolini from Red Wave Films who will co‐produce with Italy’s...
On “Barbie Uncovered,” an unofficial majority U.K. co-production with New Zealand, the U.K. producers are Ross Wilson from Rw Productions and Alan Clements from Two Media Rivers who will co-produce with New Zealand’s Daniel Story and Cass Avery from Augusto. It will be directed by Eddie Hutton-Mills and focuses on the unknown history of the global icon Barbie and the dramatic and dark story behind the creation of the world’s most famous doll.
On “The Odyssey” adaptation “The Return,” a minority U.K. co-production with Italy, Greece and France made under the European Convention, the U.K. producers are James Clayton and Uberto Pasolini from Red Wave Films who will co‐produce with Italy’s...
- 7/25/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Max Kestner's upcoming sci-fi thriller Qeda looks to be a stylish and mind-bending film featuring a future world in ecological peril and a time travelling plot that sends two versions of the same person back to 2017, Looper style. In the film, the world is ravaged by ecological disaster. Oceans have risen and all natural freshwater is gone. Fang Rung has undergone a medical process of "molecular fission" in order to send his other half, code name "Gordon Thomas", back in time to the year 2017 in order to search for Mona Lindkvist, a scientist whose ground-breaking research was lost before it could save the world. When Fang Rung loses contact with Gordon he sees no alternative but to travel back to 2017 himself trying to locate his...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 8/24/2017
- Screen Anarchy
Two Danish guys shoot for the stars, by attempting to home-build a craft capable of space travel, on a partially crowdfunded budget six orders of magnitude smaller than Nasa’s, in Max Kestner‘s engaging doc, “Amateurs In Space,” which plays as part of the Transilvania Film Festival‘s documentary sidebar. It’s a film that feels immediately ripe for a narrative feature remake, if only Hollywood can work out which formula to follow: should it be a gentle comedy starring Ben Mendelsohn, that follows the wacky adventures of an odd couple of Danes and their David-and-Goliath story?
Continue reading In Space, No One Can Hear You Whine: Tragicomic Doc ‘Amateurs In Space’ [Transilvania Fest Review] at The Playlist.
Continue reading In Space, No One Can Hear You Whine: Tragicomic Doc ‘Amateurs In Space’ [Transilvania Fest Review] at The Playlist.
- 6/6/2017
- by Jessica Kiang
- The Playlist
Doc festival opens in Amsterdam; Dogwoof, Autlook ready new titles.
Europe’s biggest and longest established doc festival, Idfa (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) launched its 29th edition last night (November 16) with a screening of Guido Hendrikx’s refugee-themed Stranger in Paradise, in the Carré Theatre, one of Amsterdam’s biggest venues, in the presence of the Dutch culture minister, Jet Bussemaker.
This will be the final festival under the creative control of co-founder Ally Derks, who will be stepping down officially at the 30th anniversary edition of Idfa next year. Derks will shortly be starting a fellowship at ‘Robert Bosch Stiftung’ in Berlin. Barbara Visser will take over her duties as interim artistic director.
“I’m very proud to be standing here in this beautiful Carré Theater. It’s the 29th Idfa, my last, and how amazing to have the opening in such a huge place. Who could have even imagined this 29 years ago? I remember...
Europe’s biggest and longest established doc festival, Idfa (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) launched its 29th edition last night (November 16) with a screening of Guido Hendrikx’s refugee-themed Stranger in Paradise, in the Carré Theatre, one of Amsterdam’s biggest venues, in the presence of the Dutch culture minister, Jet Bussemaker.
This will be the final festival under the creative control of co-founder Ally Derks, who will be stepping down officially at the 30th anniversary edition of Idfa next year. Derks will shortly be starting a fellowship at ‘Robert Bosch Stiftung’ in Berlin. Barbara Visser will take over her duties as interim artistic director.
“I’m very proud to be standing here in this beautiful Carré Theater. It’s the 29th Idfa, my last, and how amazing to have the opening in such a huge place. Who could have even imagined this 29 years ago? I remember...
- 11/17/2016
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Doc festival opens in Amsterdam; Dogwoof, Autlook ready new titles.
Europe’s biggest and longest established doc festival, Idfa (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) launched its 29th edition last night (November 16) with a screening of Guido Hendrikx’s refugee-themed Stranger in Paradise, in the Carré Theatre, one of Amsterdam’s biggest venues, in the presence of the Dutch culture minister, Jet Bussemaker.
This will be the final festival under the creative control of co-founder Ally Derks, who will be stepping down officially at the 30th anniversary edition of Idfa next year. Derks will shortly be starting a fellowship at ‘Robert Bosch Stiftung’ in Berlin. Barbara Visser will take over her duties as interim artistic director.
“I’m very proud to be standing here in this beautiful Carré Theater. It’s the 29th Idfa, my last, and how amazing to have the opening in such a huge place. Who could have even imagined this 29 years ago? I remember...
Europe’s biggest and longest established doc festival, Idfa (International Documentary Festival Amsterdam) launched its 29th edition last night (November 16) with a screening of Guido Hendrikx’s refugee-themed Stranger in Paradise, in the Carré Theatre, one of Amsterdam’s biggest venues, in the presence of the Dutch culture minister, Jet Bussemaker.
This will be the final festival under the creative control of co-founder Ally Derks, who will be stepping down officially at the 30th anniversary edition of Idfa next year. Derks will shortly be starting a fellowship at ‘Robert Bosch Stiftung’ in Berlin. Barbara Visser will take over her duties as interim artistic director.
“I’m very proud to be standing here in this beautiful Carré Theater. It’s the 29th Idfa, my last, and how amazing to have the opening in such a huge place. Who could have even imagined this 29 years ago? I remember...
- 11/17/2016
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Alberdi, Grude, Lozinski and Koguashvili set to compete in main competition.
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) has unveiled the line-up for its 29th edition, which is set to take place Nov 16-27.
The 15-title competition line-up includes Chilean director Maite Alberdi’s The Grown Ups, about four adults living with Down’s syndrome.
It follows her award-winning Tea Time about five septuagenarians who have been meeting for tea and cake once a month for 60 years.
Other contenders include Mogadishu Soldier by prolific Norwegian documentary producer and director Torstein Grude; respected Polish documentarian Pawel Lozinski’s exploration of a mother and daughter’s relationship You Have No Idea How Much I Love You, and Gogita’s New Life by Georgian director Levan Koguashvili, which follows a recently-released prisoner’s search for a wife.
Koguashvili is best known internationally for his fiction feature Blind Dates.
A total of 297 films will screen at the festival, 102 of which will...
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (Idfa) has unveiled the line-up for its 29th edition, which is set to take place Nov 16-27.
The 15-title competition line-up includes Chilean director Maite Alberdi’s The Grown Ups, about four adults living with Down’s syndrome.
It follows her award-winning Tea Time about five septuagenarians who have been meeting for tea and cake once a month for 60 years.
Other contenders include Mogadishu Soldier by prolific Norwegian documentary producer and director Torstein Grude; respected Polish documentarian Pawel Lozinski’s exploration of a mother and daughter’s relationship You Have No Idea How Much I Love You, and Gogita’s New Life by Georgian director Levan Koguashvili, which follows a recently-released prisoner’s search for a wife.
Koguashvili is best known internationally for his fiction feature Blind Dates.
A total of 297 films will screen at the festival, 102 of which will...
- 10/10/2016
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Netflix to launch Us-Danish documentary Knox in autumn; Screen speaks to key doc companies about their lineups.
The Danish documentary world has been going from strength to strength – and not just Joshua Oppenheimer’s Danish productions The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence.
Screen spoke to three of Denmark’s most prominent documentary production companies last week in Copenhagen, to talk about their slates, which include a new Netflix title with exclusive access to Amanda Knox, two Syrian documentaries, and a Tribeca premiere about insects as a sustainable food source.
All the companies said Danish documentaries were booming thanks in part to generous support systems from the Danish Film Institute, which has specialist documentary funding consultants, to help them create such a range of work now.
As Signe Byrge Sorensen of Final Cut For Real says: “There is a long tradition here for documentary, and its also very diverse. People do all...
The Danish documentary world has been going from strength to strength – and not just Joshua Oppenheimer’s Danish productions The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence.
Screen spoke to three of Denmark’s most prominent documentary production companies last week in Copenhagen, to talk about their slates, which include a new Netflix title with exclusive access to Amanda Knox, two Syrian documentaries, and a Tribeca premiere about insects as a sustainable food source.
All the companies said Danish documentaries were booming thanks in part to generous support systems from the Danish Film Institute, which has specialist documentary funding consultants, to help them create such a range of work now.
As Signe Byrge Sorensen of Final Cut For Real says: “There is a long tradition here for documentary, and its also very diverse. People do all...
- 4/13/2016
- by wendy.mitchell@screendaily.com (Wendy Mitchell)
- ScreenDaily
Copenhagen-set time travel thriller set in a world where the oceans have risen.
Global Screen has picked up international sales rights to Far Rung, a sci-fi thriller staring Danish actor Carsten Björnlund (The Legacy, ID:a) and Sofia Helin (The Bridge).
It marks the narrative feature debut of established documentary director Max Kestner.
Filming began last week in Copenhagen. Global Screen will present first images at Afm (American Film Market) in November.
Written by Dunja Gry Jensen (Terribly Happy), the story begins in 2095, in a time when the world has been ravaged by ecological disaster: The oceans have risen, and all natural freshwater has disappeared.
Behind fortified dams, Copenhagen has survived the flood but is facing disaster. As a last resort, the Ministry of Defense agrees to send Fang Rung, the head of scientific security, back in time, to 2015. But when Rung tries to return to the future, he realizes that someone has begun to alter the course...
Global Screen has picked up international sales rights to Far Rung, a sci-fi thriller staring Danish actor Carsten Björnlund (The Legacy, ID:a) and Sofia Helin (The Bridge).
It marks the narrative feature debut of established documentary director Max Kestner.
Filming began last week in Copenhagen. Global Screen will present first images at Afm (American Film Market) in November.
Written by Dunja Gry Jensen (Terribly Happy), the story begins in 2095, in a time when the world has been ravaged by ecological disaster: The oceans have risen, and all natural freshwater has disappeared.
Behind fortified dams, Copenhagen has survived the flood but is facing disaster. As a last resort, the Ministry of Defense agrees to send Fang Rung, the head of scientific security, back in time, to 2015. But when Rung tries to return to the future, he realizes that someone has begun to alter the course...
- 6/1/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Abdellatif Kechiche’s Palme d’Or winner to open T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival; competition titles announced.Scroll down for competition titles
Poland’s T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival (July 18-28) is to open with this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Blue is the Warmest Colour (La vie d’Adèle - Chapitre 1 & 2) by Abdellatif Kechiche.
The closing film will be the Polish premiere of Malgoska Szumowska’s Berlinale competition title and Teddy Award winner In the Name of.
Festival organizers also announced the films in competition at this year’s event.
The New Horizons International Competition consists of 12 Polish premieres including Rotterdam competition title Noche by Leonardo Brzezicki, Locarno Fipresci award winner Leviathan by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, as well as this year’s Cannes’ Un Certain Regard title Stranger by the Lake by Alain Guiraudie.
The Jury for this competition will be announced next week.
The Films in...
Poland’s T-Mobile New Horizons International Film Festival (July 18-28) is to open with this year’s Palme d’Or winner, Blue is the Warmest Colour (La vie d’Adèle - Chapitre 1 & 2) by Abdellatif Kechiche.
The closing film will be the Polish premiere of Malgoska Szumowska’s Berlinale competition title and Teddy Award winner In the Name of.
Festival organizers also announced the films in competition at this year’s event.
The New Horizons International Competition consists of 12 Polish premieres including Rotterdam competition title Noche by Leonardo Brzezicki, Locarno Fipresci award winner Leviathan by Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Véréna Paravel, as well as this year’s Cannes’ Un Certain Regard title Stranger by the Lake by Alain Guiraudie.
The Jury for this competition will be announced next week.
The Films in...
- 6/27/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Cannes is now over which means it’s time to move to Britain as the Edinburgh Film Festival kicks off!
We’ve just been sent the full line-up for the 2012 Edinburgh Film Festival which is now in it’s 66th year. We have our people (Jamie, Steven and Emma) on the ground at the event right now ready to catch as many films as they possible can throughout the next wee or two as we get to see 121 new features and 19 world premieres.
I’ll let the full press release below do the talking but let us know what you’re looking forward to in the comments section below.
World Premieres:
Berberian Sound Studio Borrowed Time Day Of The Flowers Exit Elena Flying Blind Fred Future My Love Guinea Pigs Here, Then Leave It On The Track The Life And Times Of Paul The Psychic Octopus Life Just Is Mnl...
We’ve just been sent the full line-up for the 2012 Edinburgh Film Festival which is now in it’s 66th year. We have our people (Jamie, Steven and Emma) on the ground at the event right now ready to catch as many films as they possible can throughout the next wee or two as we get to see 121 new features and 19 world premieres.
I’ll let the full press release below do the talking but let us know what you’re looking forward to in the comments section below.
World Premieres:
Berberian Sound Studio Borrowed Time Day Of The Flowers Exit Elena Flying Blind Fred Future My Love Guinea Pigs Here, Then Leave It On The Track The Life And Times Of Paul The Psychic Octopus Life Just Is Mnl...
- 5/30/2012
- by David Sztypuljak
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
The full programme for the 66th edition of the Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), which runs from 20 June to 1 July, has been officially announced and will feature nineteen World premieres and thirteen International premieres.
The Festival will showcase one hundred and twenty-one new features from fifty-two countries, including eleven European premieres and seventy-six UK premieres in addition to the World and International premieres. Highlights include the World premieres of Richard Ledes’ Fred; Nathan Silver’s Exit Elena and Benjamin Pascoe’s Leave It On The Track and European premieres of Lu Sheng’s Here, There and Yang Jung-ho’s Mirage in the maiden New Perspectives section; and the International premiere of Benicio Del Toro, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, Elia Suleiman, Gaspar Noé, Juan Carlos Tabio and Laurent Cantet’s 7 Days In Havana and the European premiere of Bobcat Goldthwait’s God Bless America in the Directors’ Showcase. In addition to the new features presented,...
The Festival will showcase one hundred and twenty-one new features from fifty-two countries, including eleven European premieres and seventy-six UK premieres in addition to the World and International premieres. Highlights include the World premieres of Richard Ledes’ Fred; Nathan Silver’s Exit Elena and Benjamin Pascoe’s Leave It On The Track and European premieres of Lu Sheng’s Here, There and Yang Jung-ho’s Mirage in the maiden New Perspectives section; and the International premiere of Benicio Del Toro, Pablo Trapero, Julio Medem, Elia Suleiman, Gaspar Noé, Juan Carlos Tabio and Laurent Cantet’s 7 Days In Havana and the European premiere of Bobcat Goldthwait’s God Bless America in the Directors’ Showcase. In addition to the new features presented,...
- 5/30/2012
- by Phil
- Nerdly
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