The German government has leverage over the Berlin Film Festival. It largely funds the international event and oversees its supervisory board. Ther
The German government has leverage over the Berlin Film Festival. It largely funds the international event and oversees its supervisory board. Therefore, when something happens at the festival that it doesn’t like – prize winners criticizing Israel, for instance – the government can and does operate its influence to pressure the Berlinale leadership.
Contrast that with CPH:DOX, the all-documentary festival that just wrapped in Copenhagen. It is partially funded by Denmark, but with a difference, according to artistic director Niklas Engstrøm.
“We are an independent institution,” he tells Deadline, while acknowledging, “We do get financial support from the Danish government that is through the Danish Film Institute. And that is important that it’s through the DFI, because that’s the whole idea of the ‘arm’s length’ principle, that no matter what we program, the state should not be able to interfere — no matter what films we screen, no matter what the directors of the films would say on stage or in other contexts, it’s not a matter of any [government] minister [weighing in]. It’s a matter of what we believe in at this festival… programming great films and putting [filmmakers] on stage to speak their mind. And I think it’s really important that we keep that principle.”
Engstrøm adds, “We haven’t, luckily, experienced any political pressure from the government or the municipality of Copenhagen, but there are examples here in Denmark of politicians, especially on the local level, not being fully able to respect the arm’s length principles.”
The festival doesn’t steer clear of politically sensitive topics to avoid the possibility of mighty reaction or censure. Several films in this year’s program examined Israel and the Occupied Territories, including Here and Not Here, a compact directed by Andrea Zimmerman described as “a cinematic diary from the West Bank and the Golan Heights – places caught between occupation, oppression, and a lived, collective experience.”
Filmmaker Louis Theroux (right) with settlement proponent Ari Abramowitz in SE Jerusalem.
CPH:DOX
British documentarian Louis Theroux screened his documentary The Settlers, about the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, which are illegal under international law. Poh Si Teng’s American Doctor, meanwhile, follows three U.S. physicians who volunteer their time in Gaza to try to save children who sustained terrible injuries from Israeli ordnance.
“In these dark times, festivals like CPH:DOX need to put forward all these difficult subjects and to screen films, also controversial films, films with different points of views, and to put them in a context where the films will be discussed by people that might not agree with the POV of the filmmaker,” Engstrøm comments. “And that’s what we need in a time where polarization also goes hand in hand with all kinds of [social media] technology that produces echo chambers. I think that a festival like ours is really the opposite. We need to be able to sit down with people that we disagree with.”
CPH:DOX
CPH:DOX was founded in 2003 and really took off after moving from its original November slot – which put it in the shadow of IDFA – to March, a transition that happened with the 2017 festival. It was a bold decision, because it involved skipping the entire 2016 year as CPH:DOX made the calendar shift.
This year’s lineup boasted more than 200 films, dozens of them world premieres. Among highlights for Engstrøm was the opening night film, Mariinka, directed by Pieter-Jan De Pue, a film set in Ukraine that’s “very much a film about the war,” the artistic director notes, “and the whole prelude to war since 2014.”
Juliette Binoche in ‘In-I In Motion’
Courtesy of Miao Productions
Engstrøm also cited Oscar winner Juliette Binoche, who came to CPH:DOX with her directorial debut, In-I In Motion, a film that documents an unusual dance and theater performance she created with British dancer and choreographer Akram Khan. Speaking of Brits, Engstrøm noted Louis Theroux, who not only screened The Settlers but took part in two public talks.
“I was there myself, both for Louis Theroux’s Q&A [about The Settlers], but also the conversation between him and John Wilson [director of The History of Concrete], and that was a personal highlight,” Engstrøm shares. “It was a lot of fun and really, I think a moment with two amazing filmmakers, thinking very differently, but also alike and putting out unique visions of what documentaries can be. So yeah, that was brilliant.”
‘Mr. Nobody Against Putin’ director David Borenstein accepts the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature from presenter Jimmy Kimmel.
Kevin Winter/Getty Images
The festival overlapped with the Academy Awards on March 15, which turned into a milestone for Denmark as the Danish production Mr. Nobody Against Putin won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. The film is directed by David Borenstein, an American based in Copenhagen, and co-directed by Pavel Talankin – the titular ‘Mr. Nobody,’ a primary school educator from a compact town in Russia who defied Kremlin orders to implement a nationalistic and militaristic curriculum nationwide after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The documentary “started out at our Forum three years ago where they pitched secretly because it was, of course, a confidential project,” Engstrøm notes. “[They] had a lot of great meetings here and started the journey that now had its culmination with the Oscar.”
Niklas Engstrøm makes a point at the 2026 CPH:DOX Awards ceremony.
Matthew Carey
Engstrøm continues, “I think Denmark has, in the last 15 years, actually been the number 2 country in terms of documentary nominations after the U.S., which is pretty impressive for a small country with the less than six million inhabitants… Actually, going on to win it was another step forward… Yeah, it was huge.”
The growing prominence of CPH:DOX has played no compact role in the emergence of Denmark as a powerhouse in documentary.
“For the festival as an international platform, I think we are just beginning,” Engstrøm affirms. “I think we are in a very, very good spot building up a whole ecosystem for the industry at a time where it’s really needed because it’s not only in Denmark that financing documentaries is getting harder. So, we have all kinds of plans for that, that I think are super interesting.”
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