CPH:DOX, the documentary film pageant primarily based out of Copenhagen in Denmark, has revealed the jury winners for its 2025 version. Audience Award prizes will probably be introduced in April.
More than 90 function movies screened in Copenhagen this previous week, together with the European premiere of Sundance favorites like “The Perfect Neighbor,” directed by Geeta Gandbhir, whose bodycam-based documentary a couple of wrongful killing in Florida in 2023 is positioned as certainly one of Netflix’s forthcoming prime awards contenders this yr. Also bowing in Copenhagen have been Amy Berg’s music doc “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley,” Amber Fares’ portrait of Israeli comic Noam Shuster-Eliassi with “Coexistence, My Ass!” David Osit’s “Predators,” in regards to the rise and fall of NBC’s controversial documentary TV sequence “To Catch a Predator,” additionally bowed at CPH:DOX and will probably be launched by MTV later this yr.
But CPH:DOX, which has been going since 2008 and is regularly turning into a primary cease for documentary premieres forward of festivals like Toronto’s Hot Docs and DOC NYC in New York and IDFA in Amsterdam in November, additionally world-premiered 56 titles. Twelve have been eligible for the DOX:Award in the primary competitors, with jurors together with Rikke Tambo Andersen (producer), Max Kestner (producer), Nicolas Rapold (journalist), Adele Tulli (director), and Raul Niño Zambrano (inventive director of Sheffield DocFest).
The prime prize went to Deming Chen’s “Always” from China, a strikingly photographed black-and-white portrait of an eight-year-old boy within the Hunan province who discovers a ardour for poetry. (Serving on Danish magazine Ekko’s review grid this year, I fairly preferred the movie, which is contemplative and exhibits the filmmaker’s affinity for forming closeness to his topics and displaying their household tragedies.) A particular point out went to Monica Strømdahl’s “Flophouse America,” an actually devastating portrait of a 12-year-old boy’s makes an attempt to boost himself alongside his impoverished and alcoholic dad and mom in a cramped resort room. Only a European director might get so shut with such little sentimentality to her American topics — I count on this emotionally highly effective documentary to discover a dwelling within the United States.
The F:ACT Award, with a jury led by Alexis Bloom, Mikala Krogh, and Steffi Niederzoll, went to Mstyslav Chernov’s “2000 Meters to Andriivka,” a Sundance premiere PBS has rights to. The intense you-are-there movie is advised totally by bodycam footage of Ukrainian troopers preventing on the frontlines of a very brutal counteroffensive towards Russia. Chernov beforehand received the 2024 Best Documentary Feature Oscar for “20 Days in Mariupol,” a PBS Frontline-produced documentary in regards to the conflict in Ukraine.
Ketevan Vashagashvili’s “9-Month Contract” received the Human:Rights Award, from a jury led by Mohamed Saïd Ouma, Tomáš Poštulka, and Birgitte Stærmose. It’s a portrait of the surrogate motherhood business in Tbilisi and is in search of a U.S. distributor; Vashagashvili fashioned a detailed relationship together with her topic, a determined single mom from Georgia who sees no different option to give her teenage daughter a greater life.
Other prizes handed out included the Nordic:DOX Award (“Walls,” about ladies looking for justice in Greenland), the Next:Wave Award (“Abode of Dawn,” a couple of just lately dismantled however nonetheless traumatizing Christian cult in Siberia), and the New:Vision Award (Juliette Le Monnier’s Israeli-Palestine battle documentary “Ramallah, Palestine, December 2018”).
See the complete listing of winners out of CPH:DOX beneath.
DOX:AWARD
Winner: ‘ALWAYS’ by Deming Chen / US, FR & CN / 2025 / World Premiere
Special Mention: ‘FLOPHOUSE AMERICA’ by Monica Strømdahl / NO, NL & US / 2025 / World Premiere
Sponsored by Politiken and Politiken-Fonden with a prize of €10,000, the DOX:AWARD is the pageant’s important competitors, honoring movies with creative high quality, cultural relevance, and robust private expression.
The jury consisted of Rikke Tambo Andersen, Max Kestner, Nicolas Rapold, Adele Tulli and Raul Niño Zambrano.
F:ACT AWARD
Winner: ‘2000 METERS TO ANDRIIVKA’ by Mstyslav Chernov / UA / 2025 / European Premiere
Special Mention: ‘THE PERFECT NEIGHBOR’ by Geeta Gandbhir / US / 2025 / International Premiere
Supported by International Media Support (IMS) and the Danish Union of Journalists with a prize of €5,000, the F:act Award competitors acknowledges movies mixing documentary and investigative journalism.
The jury consisted of Alexis Bloom, Mikala Krogh and Steffi Niederzoll.
HUMAN:RIGHTS AWARD
Winner: ‘9-MONTH CONTRACT’ by Ketevan Vashagashvili / GE, BG & DE / 2025 / World Premiere
Special Mention: ‘THE ENCAMPMENTS’ by Michael T. Workman & Kei Pritsker / US / 2025 / World Premiere
Awarded for the second consecutive yr, the Human:Rights Award is sponsored by the Danish Institute for Human Rights with a prize of €5,000, and focuses on movies coping with human rights points.
The jury consisted of Mohamed Saïd Ouma, Tomáš Poštulka and Birgitte Stærmose.
NORDIC:DOX AWARD
Winner: ‘WALLS – AKINNI INUK’ by Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg & Sofie Rørdam / GL/ 2025 / World Premiere
Special Mention: ‘THE NICEST MEN ON EARTH’ by Josefine Exner & Sebastian Gerdes / DK / 2025 / World Premiere
The NORDIC:DOX Award (€5,000) honors standout documentaries from the Nordic area.
The jury consisted of Butheina Kazim, Dario Oliveira and Roja Pakari.
NEXT:WAVE AWARD
Winner: ‘ABODE OF DAWN’ by Kristina Shtubert / DE / 2024 / International Premiere
Special Mention: ‘WHO WITNESSED THE TEMPLES FALL’ by Lucía Selva / SP / 2025 / World Premiere
The NEXT:WAVE Award (€5,000) highlights new and rising filmmakers.
The jury consisted of Sissel Morell Dargis, Sona Karapoghosyan and María Palacios Cruz.
NEW:VISION
Winner: ‘RAMALLAH, PALESTINE, DECEMBER 2018’ by Juliette Le Monniyer / BE / 2025 / World Premiere
Special point out: ‘SCRAP’ by Noémie Lobry
FR / 2025 / World Premiere
The NEW:VISION Award (€5,000) celebrates artwork movies and boundary-pushing experiments.
The jury consisted of Mason Leaver-Yap, Jeppe Lange and Marina Kožul.
INTER:ACTIVE AWARD
Winner: ‘CONSTANTINOPOLIAD’ by Sister Sylvester & Nadah El Shazly / UK / Installation / 2025 / International Premiere
Special Mention: ‘THE GARDEN SAYS…’ by Uri Kranot, Michelle Kranot, Sara Topsøe Jensen, Sarah John & Marieke Breyne / DK / XR Perfomance-Installation / 2025 / World Premiere
The award winner will obtain a successful bundle together with two complimentary business accreditations for Sunny Side of the Doc, two full entry accreditations for the Industry Days of New Images Festival, 6 hours of authorized session on European IP legislation and a money prize of €1000.
The jury consisted of Irene Campolmi, David Adler and Carl Emil Carlsen.
Leave a Reply