CPH:DOX – DOX:Award 2023

Below you find the 13 films that have been picked for the DOX:Award 2023 competition, but first some introductory words from the festival:

”Marking the 20th anniversary of the International Documentary Film Festival CPH:DOX, the 2023 edition will offer an outstanding programme of approximately more than 200 films by established and emerging filmmakers as well as talks, debates, performances, exhibitions, parties and much more. The festival takes place 15-26 March 2023. 

CPH:DOX’ industry events will include the financing and co-production event CPH:FORUM, CPH:CONFERENCE and INTER:ACTIVE symposium. The industry programme runs under the banner “Business as Unusual” between March 19-24. Read more about the key dates and events in the industry programme here.” 

DOX:AWARD 2023 – the full line-up of nominated films – if you click on the title you will find more information:

After Work (Erik Gandini, Sweden)
A thought-provoking film that looks at the phenomenon of work in the 21st century with a sharp eye and an equally sharp humor. 

Eat Bitter (Ningyi Sun & Pascale Appora-Gnekindy, Central African Republic/China)
A local construction worker and a Chinese engineer are assigned to build a bank in the Central African Republic.

The Hearing  (Lisa Gerig, Switzerland)
Four asylum seekers reenact their conversations with the authorities in a role-playing game that reverses the roles.

Light Needs (Jesse McLean, United States)
Generous and imaginative film about the inner life of houseplants, which takes other life forms seriously with creative and artistic originality. 

Motherland (Alexander Mihalkovich & Hanna Badziaka, Sweden/Ukraine/Norway)
Dark and monumental film from Belarus, where corruption and a brutal military culture push young people to choose sides.

On the Edge (Nicolas Peduzzi, France)
A young doctor with an exemplary humanist spirit fights a brave battle to hold together the run-down Paris hospital where he works.

The Other Profile (Armel Hostiou, France)
An elementally suspenseful and completely unpredictable detective story from Kinshasa, where a French film director has to find his own double.

Songs of Earth (Margreth Olin, Norway)
The mountainous landscapes of Norway provide the monumental backdrop for a magnificent, existential journey with the filmmaker’s parents as its human yardstick.

A Storm Foretold (Christoffer Guldbrandsen, Denmark)
Christoffer Guldbrandsen’s long-awaited film about Donald Trump’s former adviser Roger Stone is a chilling report from the rotten core of power. 

Theatre of Violence (Emil Langballe & Lukasz Konopa, Denmark)
An epic and unshakeable drama of guilt and punishment about the first ever court case against a former child soldier accused of crimes against humanity.

A Tiger in Paradise (Mikel Cee Karlsson, Sweden)
A surreal journey into singer José González’s inner world of thoughts and shadows, staged with dark humor in the picturesque Swedish countryside.

Total Trust (Jialing Zhang, China)
The first major film about the Chinese surveillance state is a disturbing tale of technology, abuse of power and (self-)censorship in the 21st century.

Vintersaga (Carl Olsson, Sweden)
The human comedy unfolds in an aesthetically uncompromising and unmistakably Nordic saga in 24 chapters with dark humor and a sociological gaze.