CPH:LAB 2024/2025 Projects revealed

Nine new international immersive documentary projects have been selected for CPH:DOX’s talent development and training programme, CPH:LAB.CPH:LAB introduces a curated line-up showcasing a diversity of topics, genres and artistic approaches as well as a diverse representation among the storytellers.The participants will go through an intense development phase and be ready to present their prototypes at CPH:DOX 2025, which takes place in Copenhagen March 19-30.

 

Since 2009, CPH:LAB has been seeking to advance new visions of what a documentary can be in the digital age while using interactive and immersive technologies to contribute to conversation and spotlight social problems of the world we live through the artistic view of their creators.
Mara Gourd-Mercado, Head of Industry and Training at CPH:DOX, says:

“We are proud of the success that the lab projects have achieved over the years: from invitations to prestigious international film festivals, distribution in cinemas and broadcast on television, to winning critical acclaim and prizes around the world. We’re convinced this tradition will carry on with this new cohort.”

It is with open arms and hearts that we welcome such a strong group of international creators and tutors to embark together on a journey of exploration and open up to a world of possibilities. We cannot wait to see the results of these new matches across countries and competences.´´

Mark Atkin, Head of Studies at CPH:LAB:
‘’At a time when established norms are disintegrating, peoples’ media choices are diversifying in unpredictable ways, and new and powerful tools are disrupting the media landscape at an unprecedented pace, we look to artists to try to make sense of it all. The artists on the CPH:LAB are all doing something difficult: stretching themselves to create new types of media that will appeal to audiences who are abandoning traditional platforms. They are exploring the expressive potential of these new tools while at the same time critically examining their impact on society and the creative process. I am delighted that this experimental space exists to support artists who are exploring what is coming next and look forward to spending the next few months with them and our wonderful team of mentors charting these new media landscapes.’’.

The training programme runs as a combination of onsite and online workshops and mentoring sessions spanning from September 2024 to February 2025. The nine projects’ core teams will be working with the Head of Studies, Mark Atkin, and a slate of internationally renowned mentors to create a prototype that will be presented at CPH:DOX in March 2025 in Copenhagen.

The first residential workshop will take place in October 2024 in Copenhagen and the projects will work with mentors from different creative industries: Vassiliki Khonsari, producer and cofounder of iNK Stories, the award winning Brooklyn studio; Emma Roberts, XR Producer from Australia, Toby Coffey, an award winning Director & Producer from the UK, Ana Brzezińska, Immersive Curator at Tribeca Festival and Creative Europe Expert and Peiman Sichani, XR programmer at KHORA, the Copenhagen-based VR/AR studio.

CPH:LAB’s project line-up deals with a wide range of stories, personal and collective, local and universal, reflecting the world at large. Focusing on the depth and variety of the immersive documentary genre, the 9 projects – bringing together 19 core participants from 11 countries– is curated to point to some of the major issues of the current and past world politics, culture, society and technology.

The nine projects and teams selected for CPH:LAB 2024/2025 are:

 

• Futuristic Pagan: Exploring the Cosmos (Zimbabwe / UK) By Chipo Mapondera, Sabina Mutsvati
  TUNER (France / Denmark) By Omid Zarei, Anne Jeppesen
• LE CHIFFRE 2 (France) By Lucien Pin, Thibault Elie, Alex Haugmard
• Midsummernight X (France / Germany) By Elena Lyubarskaya, David Steiner
• Necessary Tomorrows – The Education of Ursula (Canada) By Brett Gaylor, Cianna Dawn
• Cripping Up VR (UK) By Meg Fozzard, Amy Crighton
• Dioramas of the Unused (Hungary/ Italy / Denmark) By Eszter Várhidi, Francesca Tremulo
• Not so far away places (Guatemala / Georgia / Germany) By Renato Borrayo Serrano, Julia Vishnevets
• Scratching the Surface (Poland / Germany) By Alexander Mettin, Wiktor Filip Gacparski

CPH:LAB: A great track record

Projects from the previous editions of CPH:LAB have traveled the world and had their premieres and participation in international events.
From the most recent editions, The Pathogen of War by Yasmin Fedda (CPH:LAB 2021/2022) had its world premiere as part of the CPH:DOX Interactive Exhibition 2024 at Kunsthal Charlottenborg together with Vocalize (previously known as Unstable Evidence) by Francesca Panetta, Halsey Burgund, Bjerg Mortensen Magnus and Shehani Fernando. Paradise Lost by Yolanda Markopoulou has been selected to pitch at IDFA DocLab Forum 2023 and received support from the Greek Ministry of Culture. Follow the Carnation by Lui Avallo and Catarina Sousa, was selected by the Sunny Side of the Doc team and invited to participate in their Innovation pitch where the project will be presented as a case study.

The Bald Altuus by Kat Mustatea and Peter Burr, was picked by the NewImages team and invited to participate in the XR Financing Market 2024 of the NewImages Festival, a leading European XR Development Market entirely dedicated to authentic immersive artworks. Garden Alchemy by Uri and Michelle Kranot received the Eurimages Innovation Award (20.000€). It is the first time that a CPH:LAB project is eligible for one of the Eurimages Awards. Moreover, it has been shown at Venice Biennale Cinema Immersive.

The CPH:LAB is co-funded by the European Union, Creative Europe MEDIA.