‘Motherland’ Picks Up Top Award at CPH:DOX

Cohen Media Group (CMG) has acquired US rights to the feature documentary Slava Ukraini, co-directed by French philosopher and activist Bernard-Henri Lévy.

CPH:DOX, the international nonfiction film festival in Copenhagen, isn’t shy about stating its ambitions.

Motherland, a “dark and monumental” film about neo-nationalism in Belarus, earned the top prize tonight at the prestigious CPH:DOX festival in Copenhagen.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Documentary specialist Autlook Filmsales closed a raft of sales at a vibrant market during the Copenhagen documentary festival CPH:DOX. “Subject,” directed by Camilla Hall and Jennifer Tiexiera, got picked up by Sweden’s SVT, Denmark’s DR, Norway’s NRK, Norway’s VGTV, The Netherlands’ VPRO, Israel’s Yes Doc, and Madman for Australia and New Zealand. Dogwoof released the film early this month in the U.K. “Subject” is an examination of the relationship between nonfiction filmmakers and their subjects. It raises important ethical questions during a golden of age for documentaries, when docs are screened by millions of viewers. The film re-visits protagonists of some of the most viewed documentaries of today – “The Staircase,” “The Square,” “Hoop Dreams,” “The Wolfpack” and “Capturing the Friedmans.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Swiss sales agency Lightdox has acquired the international rights to feature documentary “On the Edge” by Nicolas Peduzzi, which just had its world premiere at Copenhagen documentary festival CPH:DOX in the DOX:AWARD competition, and received a Special Mention from the jury, who said the film “gripped us, and took us on a journey through the labyrinth of a human mind.” The film centers on Jamal Abdel Kader, who is the only psychiatrist in a 400-bed state hospital on the outskirts of Paris. Dedicated to his patients, he does his utmost to soothe their pain, listen to their words, and protect them from their own demons. However, the public health service is doing badly. There isn’t enough time, the caregivers are under severe strain as the institution is understaffed and underfunded. Yet Jamal and his colleagues keep striving to fulfil their mission: to heal bodies and souls.

World class climber Jimmy Chin met his future wife, filmmaker Chai Vasarhelyi, over a mountain – of footage.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Three projects pitched at CPH:FORUM – the industry program of CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen-based documentary festival – have been awarded cash prizes. They are Robin Petré’s “Only on Earth,” Iryna Tsilyk’s “Red Zone” and Yegor Troyanovsky’s “Cuba & Alaska.” The filmmakers were awarded at a ceremony in the Danish capital on Thursday. Petré’s “Only on Earth” garnered the Eurimages Co-Production Development Award worth €20,000 for best pitch. The docu, produced by Signe Skov Thomsen, and Malene Flindt Pedersen, depicts a journey deep into one of Europe’s hottest fire zones, Galicia, where wild horses roam the mountains under the watch of local cowboys. These horses are excellent at fire prevention, but now they are vanishing in the clash between humans and nature.

Oscar winner and Academy member Roger Ross Williams is saying publicly what many in the documentary community have stewed over privately – that the sums of money being spent on Oscar documentary campaigns has “gotten insane.” And Williams, a former Academy Governor representing the Doc Branch, says something may be done about it.

Ben Croll LILLE, France – Producers, commissioning editors and creative talents from across La Belle Province took the spotlight at a Series Mania showcase of the best of recent Quebecois scripted offerings. Below are the seven series that drew whoops and appreciative hollers from a room full of international buyers. Late summer doldrums, young adult love, and the generally placid rhythms of suburban life take on additional heft and resonance for a group of friends all suffering from cystic fibrosis – especially once one’s condition takes a turn for the worst. Far from jerking tears, the offbeat comedy “Thin Air” finds irreverent and life-affirming humor following young adult characters that feel the pangs of mortality more acutely than most. Produced by Urbania and created by acclaimed writer Jean-Christophe Réhel, the bittersweet series offers another plum role to “Mommy” star Antoine Olivier Pilon.

Addie Morfoot Contributor During a talk at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX on Wednesday, Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams spoke about a wide variety of topics, including his latest documentary, “Love to Love You, Donna Summer,” how insanely expensive it is to garner a doc Oscar nomination, and why the racial reckoning that occurred in the nonfiction community after George Floyd’s murder is over. Despite celebrity-driven docs being all the rage, Williams admitted that he usually rejects them. “I have so many celebrities who come to me about making a documentary (about their life),” the helmer told moderator Thom Powers. “It’s never worked out because if they are a living celebrity, who is very popular, they are all about control. It’s a piece of propaganda about their image and their career. It’s not a documentary.”

Whenever the Iranian regime feels threatened by public protest its reflex is to go after two groups: demonstrators, most assuredly, but also artists – especially filmmakers.

Lise Pedersen Los Angeles non-profit The Film Collaborative has boarded Swedish director Tove Pils’ debut feature “Labor,” which is competing in the Nordic:Dox section at the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival, CPH:DOX. The film follows Hanna, who leaves her family and girlfriend behind in her small Swedish hometown and travels to San Francisco to explore her sexuality in the city’s vibrant queer scene. She soon meets Chloe, a professional dominatrix, and Cyd, a trans man who works as an escort for gay men. Together with her new friends, she embarks on a journey that takes her further and further away from her life in Sweden. “Labor” was shot over more than a decade, and one of the reasons it took them so long to put the film together was their concern for the protagonists’ anonymity and the effect it might have on their lives, Pils explains to Variety.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent DR Sales has boarded “Behind Every Man,” an off-beat restaurant drama from Julie Rudbæk and Jesper Zuschlag, the actors-turned-screenwriters duo whose credits include “Love You For Now” (“29”). Produced by Drive Studios for the Danish broadcaster DR Drama, “Behind Every Man” takes place at a high-end restaurant in Copenhagen and explores power struggles in that hectic work environment. The show’s creators, Rudbæk and Zuschlag, will also take on the lead roles as Michael and Nadia. The cast is completed by prominent Nordic talent, including Ann Eleonora Jørgensen (“Ride Upon The Storm,” “The Killing”) and Camilla Lau (“Those Who Kill,” “Ride Upon The Storm”).

Imagine not only believing the world is coming to an end, but wanting it to happen. Eagerly. Then, take it a step further and imagine people with such a mentality engineering American politics and foreign policy to bring about the very thing they seek — the apocalypse.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, Nick Faldo, and Aaron Judge are among the elite professional athletes who have benefitted from working with a sports psychologist. Now some esports stars are catching onto the idea.

Addie Morfoot Contributor When CPH:DOX shifted from a fall festival to a spring-based fest in 2017, it got out of IDFA’s shadow and grew into one of the most influential documentary events of the year. “It made a big jump in prominence when it moved to March because it fit into the calendar in a more exciting way for a lot of documentary stakeholders,” Thom Powers, lead documentary programmer for Toronto Film Festival, says. “It became a great place for films coming out of Sundance to have a European launch. It’s also become a very significant place for films to make world premieres near the beginning of the year, which can then send them on a circuit, traveling to other festivals like Hot Docs or DOC NYC.”

Charna Flam Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” (Spain), Lilo and Camilo Vilaplana’s “Plantadas” (U.S.), Hansel Porras Garcia’s “Febrero” (U.S., Cuba), Chandler Levack’s “I Like Movies” (Canada) and Pavel Giroud’s “The Padilla Affair” (Cuba, Spain) were among the winners at the 40th edition of Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival, which ran March 3-12. “The Beasts,” won the festival’s top awards, including the top jury prize, the $25,000 Knight Marimbas trophy and the Rene Rodriguez Critics nod. In addition to the two awards, “The Beasts” composer, Oliver Arson was recognized for his soundtrack and awarded the Alacran Music in Film Award, he was selected by Art of Light (Composer) Award honoree Nicholas Britell.

Lise Pedersen Swiss sales agent Lightdox has acquired international rights for “The Other Profile” by French director Armel Hostiou (“Day,” “Stubborn,” “The Invisible Pyramid”), which is nominated for the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival’s top Dox:Award. The film’s starting point is when he discovers the existence of a Facebook doppelganger whose friends are mostly women based in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This other Facebook profile organizes auditions for an upcoming film to be shot in the DRC. After notifying Facebook about what clearly seems to be identity theft, Hostiou receives an answer informing him that it is not a fake profile and cannot be shut down, leading to what he describes as a “Kafkaesque” situation.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Netflix has acquired global rights to Italian rom-com “Era Ora” (“Still Time”), marking a rare instance in which an Italian comedy is set to gain worldwide visibility. “Still Time” is directed by Alessandro Aronadio, a Los Angeles Film School graduate whose first work “One Life, Maybe Two” launched from Berlin’s Panorama section. The concept comedy stars Edoardo Leo (“Perfect Strangers”) as a workaholic named Dante who is perpetually late to everything important and Barbara Ronchi, soon to be seen in Marco Bellocchio’s “La Conversione,” as his girlfriend Alice with whom Dante winds up leaping ahead a year every few hours, just as he wants to slow down.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Once considered a showcase committed to hybrid documentaries, the CPH:FORUM in Copenhagen has steadily transformed into a four-day event that presents a variety of topics, genres and artistic approaches from a diverse group of filmmakers. While the carefully curated market isn’t fazed by experimental approaches to the form, the industry event also champions traditional docu projects and provides a prominent platform for veteran, mid-career and newbie directors and producers. This year, the financing and co-production event, taking place in the middle of the 20th edition of the CPH:DOX documentary film festival, will feature 34 international projects selected from a record number 478 submissions. According to artistic director of CPH:DOX Niklas Engstrom, the films selected to participate in the FORUM didn’t need to meet a specific criteria, but each project is “important artistically, socially, politically, and culturally.”