Denmark’s CPH:DOX Documentary Festival Goes Digital in Wake of Coronavirus

By Robert Mitchell

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – The Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, known as CPH:DOX, will go digital this year in the wake of coronavirus concerns, the festival has announced.

The festival had been due to run March 18-29 with over 700 screenings planned for a program of 220 films. While the physical screenings have had to be abandoned, festival organizers said it is launching “part of the festival digitally.”

has partnered with online portal Festival Scope to deliver an online program, which will highlight a selection of Danish and international titles for the local audience. The festival said it was also working towards having its six competition programs judged online by appointed juries and reviewed by Danish and international critics.

Titles available on the Festival Scope portal will include DOX:AWARD competition titles “Songs of Repression,” from Oscar-nominated producer Signe Byrge Sørensen (“The Act of Killing”), directed by Estephan Wagner and Marianne Huge-Moraga, and “Long Live Love,” directed by Sine Skibsholt.

CPH:Forum, the co-production event which runs alongside the festival, the five-day CPH:Conference, and training course CPH:Lab will also go ahead in a digital form “to a great extent.” Cinando will host CPH:Market titles for accredited delegates to view.

A statement issued by the festival Wednesday night came in reaction to an announcement from the Danish government at 8:30PM local time (1:30PM PT) further restricting public gatherings in the country.

The Danish event is the latest industry event to suffer the impact of the pandemic, following the cancellation of high-profile events including Cinemacon, SXSW, MipTV and E3. However, CPH:DOX’s digital alternative could offer other festivals a blueprint of options.