Eleanor Mortimer: How deep is your love

Eleanor Mortimer’s debut feature might be the most inspiring science doc of the year. Funny and serious, light and dark, poetic and informative. “Why we called it planet Earth when more than 70% of its surface is water?” says Mortimer’s playful voice over in the beginning of the film. And, indeed, the film is full of water with sea creatures that seem to come from another planet. But they live in planet Earth. Such a paradox that our civilization is willing to go to Mars while we have a vast portion of our own planet completely unexplored!

The film follows a crew of passionate biologists into the deep ocean. There’s no light five kilometers under the sea surface, however, it turns to be a realm full of life. In order to stop minery in international deep sea waters, it is crucial that marine scientists can map and categorize a vast amount of animals living in the oceanic darkest areas. But such work takes years, how much time do we have? 

A robot named by the Egyptian goddess of death Isis not only conducts such  necessary research but turns to be an extremely talented DoP. The team of biologists cannot believe what they are seeing and the audience will be mesmerized by their enthusiasm. Isis films an extraordinary array of creatures never seen before and still unnamed. So the biologist must give names to the unseen. And lucky for us they have sense of humor! A beautiful unknown creature who moves elegantly in the deep sea is temporary called Spanish Dancer; a starfish with a special skin it’s named as Wedding Dress Star; a pink luminescent alien-like creature becomes the Barbie Pig. Mortimer’s film is full of love for our planet and it is a must see for the young audiences.

United Kingdom, 2025, 101 minutes

Review by Pol Roig

CPH:DOX Forum Day One

To have a pitching session at The Royal Theatre at CPH:DOX with full house… Amazing! And to have the individual meetings in the afternoon at the Odd Fellow Palæet. Amazing. Atmosphere in both places and all works so well. There is a relaxed feeling around it all and there are receptions, where people can discuss projects and maybe end up making contacts become contracts.

I was there for the first day and of course the organizers had placed Mark Cousins as the last pitcher together with his producer John Archer. Cousins pitched his new project, the history of Documentary, which will be 17 hours!!!

Cousins is a showman and a great filmmaker and film historian and as with his “Story of Film” you can expect discoveries and not just the classical Lumière, Flaherty, Grierson and so on. He showed a clip with a baby elephant being helped up from a ditch in a very inventive manner! This is documentary he said.

And – I was sitting next to Zane Balcus from Baltic Sea Docs – when asked by moderator Tabitha Jackson, which film he would highlight from the history of documentary, Mark Cousins answered Herz Frank’s “The Last Judgement”!. We looked at each other knowing that there is a project coming up – a film about this Latvian icon. If you don´t know him (do you?) you can find many articles about him on this site.

If you are in Copenhagen tomorrow, you should know that there is a masterclass with Mark Cousins tomorrow morning, I will for sure be there, have bought the ticket. Join me and many others, you won’t regret it!

Change – Forum Projects at CPH:DOX

Look at the photo and the drawing… two filmmakers from Azerbaijan pitching their project “Kura”, the river that flows into the Caspian Sea coming from Turkey and Georgia. In their upcoming film the two will travel on the river and tell several stories about water and people.

The Change program is great, I have followed it for the years is has existed. The presentation of the projects in Cinemateket was high standard, moderated by producer Christian Popp in a calm and fine way. Several of the projects can not be talked or written about, listed as confidential, so I mention “Kura” and “Entr’actes” (Ukraine/Belgium) by Yuriy Shylov, who follows charismatic 73-year-old Olena, who leads an amateur theater troupe for the elderly amid war.

More information from the website of CPH:DOX:

CHANGE is our development co-production training program in collaboration with IMS and EAVE, featuring documentary projects in development from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine.

Committing to the power of documentary to catalyse change, the ambition of CHANGE is to increase equity and access to the international film market with a programme that will stimulate inter-regional co-production and connect projects, filmmakers and producers from the European Eastern Neighbourhood countries with the international film professionals gathered annually at CPH:DOX.

As a part of this overall mission, eight projects developed by CHANGE are presented for the first time in the framework of CPH:FORUM 2025 to the international industry. The Copenhagen presentation is a culmination of a 6-month long training program, consisting of three residential workshops, with the first two residential sessions in Chișinău, Moldova and culminating in Denmark during CPH:FORUM 2025.

The objective of the programme is to improve the participants’ skills in defining the content, core and goals of the film projects; in regional and international collaboration and co-production, financing structures and production environment; and in preparing for the encounter with the international market.

Alisa Kovalenko: My Dear Théo

I will write about this film again and again. Here just some few notes. The film will travel to all festivals and it will win awards. Happy that it simply has been made. It was not the idea, Alisa told the audience at CPH:DOX. It was her friend and colleague Marina Stepanska, who said that “there is a film” in the material – your letters to your son, the video clips, what you have shot… She told the audience that there was only 20 hours of material making a tribute to the editor, Polish Kasia Boniecka, “she is a magician”.

The tone of the film. Beautiful, balanced, Alisa´s voice, the voice of Théo in the face time clips, her colleagues at the front, the constant sound of bombing, I had to shake my head after the screening to get it away, the decision not to include any battle scenes, Alisa did not shoot any, everything is so well thought and she survived (!) contrary to many of her colleagues, we see them at the end credits with the sad information that they did not make it. And we see – like in the film of Olha Zhurba – a long sequence, where cars, with coffins, on the road pass people kneeling to pay respect. It gives me tears in the eyes every time I see it.

Alisa and Théo, Mother and Son. A love story. A hope for the future?!

Nicolas Philibert: The Typewriter and Other Headaches

Of course there is a film by Nicolas Philibert at CPH:DOX. And of course it is placed in the category “Highlights”. This time the third of the triptych that started with “On The Adamant” followed by “Averos & Rosy Parks” with protagonists, who have a relationship to the Adamant, the great psychiatric place on the Seine. In this film a couple working for Adamant pays visits to some of the patients, who have problems with things. The poet and his typewriter, the woman and her cd that does not function – and she wants to hear Janis Joplin! – the piano player and his friend with printer-problems and the painter, who lives in a one room flat. The caregivers talk so well with the hosts, solve their problems and create an atmosphere that is warm. Because of the man behind the camera, who always has respect and understanding for the people he films. You sense that and you sense that the protagonists trust him.

”Constantly looking for beauty… my work consists of creating the conditions for something to happen, he said once, this great filmmaker, who masters the art of listening to the other. I am a documentarian and not a fiction filmmaker, I do not want people to play roles. Maybe I ask them to repeat something or ask if I can be present on a special occasion but they are themselves.”

There is not so much more to say about this – one more – masterpiece of Nicolas Philibert. The last of the five in the film, the painter, showed the visiting woman paintings from sunshined buildings in rue Saint-Antoine in Paris and of Jim Morrison and his Pamela – he goes to rest on his couch in the corner of the room and you expect Doors-music. No a LP is set to play with birds singing. The sun was shining when we left the cinema. Merci beaucoup!

France, 2024, 72 mins.

Viktor Nordenskiöld: The Eukrainian

Olha Stefanishyna er “The EUkrainian” med formentlig akkurat så mange rejsedage som Jens Stoltenberg havde på sit sidste år som NATO’s generalsekretær i flg. festivalens åbningsfilm “Facing War”. Svenske Nordenskjiöld har været tæt på hende, hun er diplomat, men holder sig ikke tilbage, når Ukraines sag skal tales på de store adresser i EUropa. Jeg må ikke anmelde filmen før premieren den 24. marts så dette er en anbefaling, hvor jeg har valgt at give ordet til filmens instruktør, en tekst taget fra pressematerialet:

”I disse dage virker det relevant at spørge: Hvordan ville verden være, hvis flere kvinder ledede verdens stormagter?

Efter at have filmet Olha Stefanishyna i to år, fangede jeg et intimt øjeblik af hende. Hun kigger ind i kameraet og taler direkte til sine børn og siger, at hun ønsker, at de kan “leve det liv, de vil”. De fleste forældre kan nok relatere til dette. Men det faktum, at hun er vicepremierminister i et land i krig, et land der er blevet invaderet, gør ønsket skræmmende alvorligt.

Hvad kræver det, for at ukrainere kan leve det liv, de ønsker? Hvad kræver det for nogen at leve det liv, de ønsker, i en verden, hvor autoritære regimer vinder magt?

Da jeg først mødte Olha Stefanishyna ved et EU-møde i Prag i juni 2022, vidste jeg med det samme, at hun var én, der kunne personificere og gøre den komplicerede og komplekse historie levende. Hvis man vil tale om Europas fremtid og demokratiets fremtid, skal man bruge en følelsesladet, skarp, jordnær og fascinerende person...

Det er 30 år siden, jeg for første gang tog til Ukraine. I løbet af det sidste årti, har jeg lavet mange workshops i Kyiv og Odessa. Mange af de folk, jeg har mødt, er blevet fantastiske filmskabere. Nu har nogle af dem været nødt til at opgive deres kameraer for våben. Når Ruslands fuldskalainvasion begynder, har man i Ukraine ikke noget valg, hvis man vil bevare muligheden for at vælge. Det er hjerteskærende på så mange måder.

Selvom jeg har tilbragt mange måneder i Kyiv efter fuldskalainvasionen – og hørt Ukraines soundtrack, luftalarmerne mange gange – er jeg blot en besøgende. Mit job har været at rejse mellem Kyiv og andre europæiske hovedstæder, at forstå det diplomatiske bånd, at undersøge den politiske koreografi, og gennem en hovedkarakter lave en overbevisende film, en “politisk thriller”, som jeg håber vil blive i folks hjerter og inspirere til kritisk tænkning.

Hvad lærer Ukraine os? Tror vi stadig på, at demokrati og de værdier, som EU-familien blev grundlagt på, er værd at kæmpe for? Jeg håber, at nogle seere vil reflektere over disse spørgsmål, og også over hvilke ledere de ønsker for fremtiden.”

Producers: MALCOLM DIXELIUS, Sweden, OLHA BESKHMELNYTSINA, Ukraine, CHRISTIAN POPP, France, SERGIO GHIZZARDI, Belgium.

2025, 90 mins.

Christian Sønderby Jepsen: Faderen, Sønnerne og Helligånden

Jeg vender tilbage til min afdøde kollega Allan Bergs tekst om “Testamentet”, som han skrev I 2013. Her er i citat det meste af det smukt formulerede oplæg til en visning af filmen I Randers.

”Der er Andreas, Christian og mig, Henrik og min far og min mor og min hustru. Alle drikker.” Det siger fortælleren. Det er altså personerne, og han er en af dem, hovedpersonen, første person, ental, og jeg er inde i et familiedrama, i gang med at lytte til og iagttage en sørgelig historie, og det er disse mennesker, jeg skal være sammen med en film lang. Jeg har problemer med at holde mig fast, for jeg kan ikke holde med, ikke identificere mig, ikke forelske mig, jeg kan ikke holde det ud. Jeg stødes fra, hvor jeg skulle trækkes ind og opsluges. Og jeg kan ikke bare afvise filmen, jeg får mistanke til mig selv, til mine evner til at udfylde min rolle, min opgave. Den at være publikum, som her viser sig som et ansvar. Først og fremmest gæstens ansvar, jeg skal være høflig og forstående og accepterende, jeg er i et fremmed land, hos et besynderligt folk, som opfører sig særegent, som taler et anderledes sprog. Men jeg er anfægtet og jeg kommer i tvivl. Jeg holder filmen ude fra mig, undrende.

Jeg er ikke optaget af hovedpersonens projekt, jeg er ikke optaget af instruktørens projekt. Jeg kan ikke lide nogen, fascineres ikke af nogen. Jeg oplever mig selv som ufrivillig kigger, vil genert vende ansigtet væk, se ned i gulvet. Men jeg krummer ikke tæer, dette er fremragende film, det er autentisk, det er ægte. Sådan er det for mig nogle minutter inde i filmen, efter begravelsen, efter mødet med faren, det ubehagelige menneske, efter mødet med broren, denne mærkeligt uinteressante stakkel.

Det gamle ord anfægtelse falder mig ind, jeg er jo altså ikke rørt, bevæget, imponeret, overbevist, jeg er anfægtet af filmen, den bestrider det, som er mig, går imod min kultur, er hævet over min smag, indifferent over for min dannelse. Jeg mærker, tæppet skride under mine fødder. Filmen anfægter mig.

Måske har jeg det med Sønderby Jepsens film, som Henrik har det med morfarens testamente. Han anfægter det, bestrider det…”.

Jeg har det med “Faderen, Sønnerne og Helligånden” som Allan havde det med “Testamentet”. Jeg er i et et fremmed land og jeg kan ikke umiddelbart holde af de medvirkende. Ikke umiddelbart men jo længere jeg er med dem, jo flere nuancer Sønderby Jepsen giver sine karakterer, jo mere jeg forstår jeg de problemer, de har og har haft, brødrene og deres familier. Faren der ikke vil vide af dem, moren som døde alt for tidligt, misbruget, de kan ikke tage sig sammen, men kærligheden er der og jeg bliver så glad, når jeg ser Henrik komme i gang med arbejde og ende med at kaste sig over det fag, som han er uddannet i: elektriker. Derimod er det trist at se Christian falde for en serbisk militssoldats religiøse broderskab og hans racistiske holdninger: “Under krigen lagde vi bomber i moskeerne og så boom..” Danmark for danskere, siger Christian, det er du for klog til at mene, tænker jeg.

Aleksander er ét af Henriks børn. Han bliver student med topkarakter. Den første i familien med hue. Henrik er pavestolt og konen er tilsyneladende holdt op med at drikke. Christian er med til festen, jeg tror det er hans søn han taler kærligt med. Der er måske håb forude.

Med Allans ord: dette er fremragende film, det er autentisk, det er ægte.

Albert Serra: Afternoons of Solitude

It’s looking at you, the bull. From the big screen in the cinema Grand in Copenhagen. Together with an almost full hall on a Wednesday afternoon, the first day of CPH:DOX 2025, I booked a ticket for Catalan Albert Serra’s first non-fiction film. Admired for his fiction films, considered a true auteur, he had a masterclass last year at DocsBarcelona, that I missed but I understood that he and editor Artur Tort told that they had spent 9 months of editing the two hour long bullfighting documentary! And that Serra said that it would have been impossible to find an actor for the role of torero. That’s why he decided to leave fiction for this film. He found Andrés Roca Rey, see photo.

You also hear the breathing of the bull. It’s ready for the fight that in most cases ends with its death. And in some cases with blood on the torero, again see photo of Roca, as they call him, in a hotel room undressing after a fight assisted by what you could call his butler. The same man is the one who – in a precious scene – dresses Roca starting with feminine underwear and pink socks before the heavy colorful outfit is settled on the body of the young man.

A fight yes, but also a show, that Serra has his focus on. No spectators are seen, but they are heard, we see Roca in the arena alone with the bull with his red cloth, moving, inviting the bull to attack, the sound is strong, Roca communicates with the bull, he gets advice from his team and praise, all is hearable and even more so when they are back in the car, the sole other location, “you’ve got balls”, “you are the best”, simple dialogues in this world of men.

It’s all about the image. I don’t remember having seen so poignant closeups of a bull suffering; with blood all over it keeps the attack until Roca delivers the death blow with his sword after the bull has received lances in its body. Serra comes back with detail after detail of Roca, bull after bull, taking dancing steps with inviting sounds toward the animal and a face that changes expression depending on how close we are to the final sword thrust. In some sequences Roca performs as a kind of Shakespearean character supported by strong music, classical.

I would never enter a bullfighting arena, it’s disgusting animal cruelty what is going on there to entertain us – Serra is not telling us what to think about this cultural phenomenon – up yo you, but I was caught by the drama as it was magnificently conveyed on the screen by a filmmaker, who knows his métier. One man in the arena.

Spain, France, Portugal, 2024, 125 mins.

David Borenstein: Mr. Nobody Against Putin

This is not a review. The film is already known and has been shown in Denmark and came home from Sundance with an award. Adrian Horton wrote this (a quote) in Guardian to refresh your memory and for all those who are to watch the film during the festival:

…Any formal quibbles I had while viewing – and there were few – were easily overridden by fascination and gratitude, so infrequently is an unvarnished, honest, personal portrait of Russian daily life available to a western audience, especially since the invasion. To wit, this film was only possible because of a documentary team outside of the country, and the fact that Talankin, at great personal cost, decided to leave Russia for an undisclosed destination, an outcome the film touches on just briefly at its bookends. Mr Nobody Against Putin ultimately stands as both an act of service and a tribute – to a school that once was, to students whose lives were and will be irrevocably changed for the worse by the regime, to a once fruitful job. Talankin has produced a must-watch, indelible document of ideological warfare that echoes far beyond Russia. How’s that for a nobody?…

Tommy Gulliksen: Facing War

Unique access to film is what is written in the festival press about the opening film of CPH:DOX 2025. Unique access to former General Secretary of NATO Jens Stoltenberg during his last year in that position. And this is what Gulliksen had to his compatriot, access. Example: Oh… I had forgotten that you would be here, Stoltenberg says a couple of times, when he enters the car waiting for him, to take him to the next meeting. Gulliksen is there with the camera and questions.

Actually, Stoltenberg entering cars and getting out of cars are the most used scenes in the film about the very sympathetic Norwegian diplomat, who wanted to end his Brussels career to come home to wife and family, but President Biden convinced him to take one more year of hard work.

Stoltenberg, a warmhearted man, goes to Kyiv, meets Zelenskyj – great scenes in the train(s) trips to Ukraine – good scenes with his advisors in the office in Brussels – Stoltenberg having breakfast quite alone in his NATO salon – Stoltenberg trying to make the Hungarian troublemaker, Putin-lover Orban, refrain from making trouble at one of big NATO meetings, where Stoltenberg aims for a unity FOR Ukraine.

The meetings and the themes discussed at them are well known and the film structure is a classic cinéma vérité style, it’s a well known built visual monument of a great statesman, a diplomat indeed, but how close do we really get to him – yes, once, with archive from the emotional and intelligent speech Stoltenberg made in 2011 to commemorate the victims of Utøya. Now he is Minister of Finances in Norway… Does that give him more of the rest, he deserves after NATO and the eternal traveling…

Norway, Belgium, 2025, 100 mins.