CPH:DOX Winners “Whispers in May” & “Amazomania”
“Whispers in May”: Dongnan Chen / Hong Kong, Netherlands, Republic of Korea (South Korea) & Sweden / 2026 / World Premiere Winner of the main award.
A darling, wonderful to watch, obvious that the director loves the three girls as they laugh and talk about, what it means to have the age they have. With an empty word as it is being used again and again, a coming-of-age film. The jury put it like this: “Telling mythical stories about hidden worlds is a gift. Giving breadth and depth to quotidian moments is a talent. Weaving cinematic forms while allowing reality to resonate is captivating. Ultimately, we were charmed by a young girl’s journey. Walking over the edge of the last days of childhood, this director has succeeded in sharing a modern-day fairy tale that heeds monsters and factories alike.”
“Amazomania”: Nathan Grossman / Sweden, Denmark & France / 2026 / World Premiere Winner of the Fipresci Award.
A translation from the headline of the review in Danish newspaper Politiken: “Their clubs could crush a skull. Now they have solar cells and iPhones”. In 1996 a Swedish journalist met the Kurubo tribe in the Amazonas, he filmed them, they put on some of the clothes of the people of the exhibition, they had fun.
Erling Söderström went back to the tribe twice and in 2023, the light atmosphere between the man who filmed and those being filmed had changed. The Kurubo’s demanded that the material from 1996 should be handed over to them. You have stolen our soul through the filming, they said. Quite a good question. Who owns the rights?
