CPH:DOX - Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival
November 3 - 13, 2011
Copenhagen / Denmark
Founded in 2003, CPH:DOX, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival is the largest documentary film festival in Scandinavia. Each year the festival presents a selection of more than 200 documentary films from around the world. In addition, industry visitors attend a five-day programme that includes professional seminars, a screening market and an international financing and co-production event CPH:FORUM.
Included in the DOX:AWARD competition, Karel Vachek's latest "film novel" The Obscurantist and His Lineage won the Film New Europe Visegrad Prix 2011 at the Jihlava IDFF. Anca Damian's Crulic - The Path to Beyond, winner of the 2011 Silver Eye Award in the mid-length category, and Our School by Mona Nicoara and Miruna Coca-Cozma (a 2011 Silver Eye Award nominee) are part of the Amnesty Award competition programme. Olda by Czech filmmaker Viera Čákanyová is screened in the section dedicated to successful festival docs, along with, for instance, Michael Glawogger's Whore's Glory. Special curated programmes are introduced by photographer Nan Goldin, and experimental filmmakers Ben Russell & Ben Rivers.
Section: DOX:AWARD (EUR 5,000)
14 films have been chosen to compete for this year's DOX:AWARD. The nominated films are our selection of this year's outstanding, international documentaries. They stand out thanks to their strong personal vision, their cinematic qualities, and by insisting on the rightful place of documentaries on the cinema screens.
Obscurantist and His Lineage
Tmář a jeho rod , Czech Republic, 2011, 199 min, 35 mm, Creative, Society
The film-study of old-fashioned phenomena such as dowsing; parallel worlds and gates to other universes; time machines; involuntary spontaneous invisibility; colour therapy; living and dead water; hibernation; magic mushrooms; UFOs etc. Life in Europe, within the broader “world” of the era of globalization, will be seen through the crooked mirror of non-rational and expansive perception of reality: psychics and “mediums” will contribute to the film and draw connections to social reality.
East European Forum 2009 / Doc Launch 2009 / Catalogue of Upcoming Czech Documentary Films 2010 / East Silver 2011
Section: Amnesty Award (EUR 5,000)
Amnesty Award is CPH:DOX's competition programme for auteur films focusing on various aspects of the struggle for human rights.
Crulic - The Path to Beyond
Crulic - Drumul spre dincolo , Poland, Romania, 2011, 69 min, 35 mm, DCP, Digi Beta, HD, Animated, Drama doc, Human Rights, Social Issues
The animated documentary feature "Crulic - The Path to Beyond" tells the story of Crulic, a 33-year-old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while on a hunger strike. The story is told from the point of view of Crulic, in the present tense, after his death. A strong visual style, the result of beautifully blending hand-drawn collage, stop-motion and cut-cut animation techniques, create a striking, surprisingly integrated and memorable film.
East Silver 2011 / Silver Eye Award 2011
Our School
Şcoala Noastră , Romania, Switzerland, USA, 2011, 93 min, 35 mm, Beta, HD, Creative, Human Rights, Social Issues
Alin, Beniamin, and Dana fighting to overcome racism as they are moved from a dead-end Roma school into a mainstream Romanian school. Alin falters in isolation, while Beniamin finds the strength to stay on in the friendship of Romanian classmates. Dana abandons school for early marriage and motherhood. Shot over four years, the film follows the workings of race relations from close up. The hand-held camera allows for the complex construction of scenes, lingering on whispered exchanges between children during class and using the evocative settings of the small Transylvanian town to convey the subtle shifts in atmosphere that come with fear of change and unresolved, long-standing racial tension.
East European Forum 2006 / East Silver 2011 / Silver Eye Award nominee 2011
Section: TOP:DOX
TOP:DOX is the section for festival hits and front page stories from the world of documentaries.
Olda
Olda , Czech Republic, 2010, 80 min, DV, Creative, Personal View, Portrait
Having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and suffered two strokes, Ms. Oldriska lives with her dog in an apartement with a lovely view of Brno. Using a simple digital camera she records a few days of her life – an everyday struggle with body and brain, a visit by her friend and son, the reconstruction of her apartment. With no previous experience filming, she uses the camera in a very spontaneous way, sometimes fighting with the technical limits of the device, sometimes even forgetting about the shooting itself. The film deals with ageing, pain, solitude, and also love, for people and animals, in a very raw and non-aestheticized manner.
Contact:
CPH:DOX
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival
Tagensvej 85F
2200 København N
T: +45 33 93 07 34
info(at)cphdox.dk