CPH:DOX 2024 focuses on the body as a battleground and builds a new inclusive festival cinema

The body in focus on both screen and stage

Every year, CPH:DOX presents an overarching theme to outline the trends that play a crucial role in our contemporary society. This year, it is the body and our understanding of it that sets the thematic agenda at one of the world’s largest documentary film festivals. The festival explores questions such as: How do we envision the normal body, and have we structured a society that makes it difficult for anyone outside the narrow definition of a so-called ‘ordinary body’?

“The autonomy of the body is constantly negotiated, and in this era, our understanding of both rights and violations is increasingly linked to lived bodily experiences,” says Marie Erbs Ørbæk, Programmer and Head of Live Events at CPH:DOX. “This is what we want to explore further with this year’s theme: Who decides over the body, how much should it weigh, where should it move, how much can it change, what color can it have, and why do some bodies face more prejudices than others?”

The festival presents both an independent film programme focusing on the body and three days with ‘Body Politics’ as the focal point when the festival’s three theme stages open, offering films, debates, events, and parties. This happens on March 15 at the Society Stage in Politiken House, March 19 at the Science Stage in Stærekassen, and March 22 at the Art Stage at the National Gallery of Denmark.

Caspar Eric opens SOCIAL:CINEMA with a manifesto about disabled bodies

The fact that society is not designed with equal access for all is becoming increasingly clear. Even at festivals like CPH:DOX, it is not always easy to get to and from and around, especially for wheelchair users. Therefore, the festival presents a new pop-up cinema at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, inspired by the principles of universal design and designed to be more inclusive for guests with mobility impairments.

The cinema, designed by the Aspekt Office and supported by the Bevica Foundation, is called SOCIAL:CINEMA and focuses on body, inclusivity, and sustainability. Scaffold structures, specially designed furniture, and wheelchair-friendly tables and bars provide access to a more diverse and varied audience.

This year’s theme was developed in collaboration with external partners, including poet and disability activist Caspar Eric, who opens SOCIAL:CINEMA on March 16 with a new visual version of the manifesto ‘Sorry, We Are Here’ (‘Undskyld vi er her’), which is a collective call from a wide range of people with disabilities and their relatives. “Delving into a theme about bodily limitations requires an awareness of our own blind spots. Therefore, it has been crucial for us to develop the theme in collaboration with organizations with the knowledge – and individuals with the experiences – that we do not have ourselves,” says Marie Erbs Ørbæk.

Debates and events: Bodies on film and gin on crooked cucumbers

CPH:DOX initiates the Body Politics theme when the festival, in collaboration with the Bevica Foundation and Politiken, takes the stage during the Politiken Festival on January 27.

Journalist Felix Thorsen Katzenelson hosts a debate on how the bodies we encounter in films shape our perceptions of the normal body – also outside the big screen. Directors Zara Zereny and Mette Carla Albrechtsen, both featured in this year’s festival, sociologist and researcher Olivia Dahl, and actress Laura Allen Müller (‘A Bigger Picture / ’’Et Større Billede’) share their insights on how encounters with old bodies, fat bodies, female bodies, and disabled bodies can contribute to challenging our notions of what constitutes a healthy and strong body.

CPH:DOX’s full festival programme will be announced on February 21, featuring a multitude of debates, talks, and events with a focus on the body. However, tickets for the opening of this year’s Science Stage on March 19 can already be purchased now. CPH:DOX, along with the Muskelsvindfonden and Pærfekt Gin & Croquis, invites you to a film screening, live drawing of people of all shapes and sizes, and gin and tonics brewed from crooked, discarded cucumbers. Lifestyle expert Christine Feldthaus is among those on stage.

Photo credit: Nørrebro Teater