Right Here, Right Now

Human rights, civil rights and international rights. This year's theme focuses on a world where the game rules for how we treat each other and the world around us are being renegotiated.

A contemporary festival like CPH:DOX struggles both with and against reality when choosing a theme. Because sometimes the world gets ahead of us and steals our attention with international conflicts and big agendas we can’t and won’t ignore.

This year, reality and festival curation intersect to an almost eerie degree. While the international rule of law is under acute pressure from a resurgent enthusiasm for imperialism, trust between citizens, authorities and media is severely tested by leaked documents and questionable revelations of everything from white gold in Greenland to black swans in the justice system.

Last year, we founded the Human:Rights Award with a special focus on human rights. This year, we’re broadening our perspective to include the civil and international rights – even animal rights – that are being challenged in the world around us, right here, right now.

The ‘Right Here, Right Now’ program includes Human:Rights Award-nominated films, an exhibition at Kunsthal Charlottenborg, the theme stage Society:Cinema in Pressen, Politikens Hus and a large debate and event program.

The program is presented in collaboration with the Danish Institute for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch and is supported by Dreyers Fond and Frececo Fonden.

30 Rights, 30 Films

Save Our Souls

A filmmaker boards a ship bound for the coast of Libya to document the crew's rescue mission: to bring migrants to safety from drowning. The operation succeeds, but an uncertain future lies ahead.

GEN_

In a public hospital in Milan, the progressive Dr. Maurizio Bini gives advice to childless couples and transgender people. But his stubborn fight for his patients' rights faces political opposition.

2000 Meters to Andriivka

An Oscar-winning Ukrainian director's unflinching film from the frontline, where a small group of soldiers fight their way two kilometers through a harsh landscape to liberate a village in ruins.

Tata

The roles are reversed in a brave and unusual film about a courageous filmmaker's willingness to confront her father with the violence and trauma of the past.

Scars of a Putsch

A filmmaker unfolds the story behind the scars on her husband's body. The answer is the story of the 1980 military coup and Türkiye’s slide towards authoritarianism.

The Last Ambassador

What do you do as an ambassador for Afghanistan when the Taliban take power and you are a feminist? You fight back - at least if you're Manizha Bakhtari.

The Bibi Files

All the cards in the corruption case against Benjamin Netanyahu are laid out on the table in a film based on leaked footage and interviews from the Israeli Prime Minister's inner circle. A political docu-thriller of historical relevance.

Matabeleland

In the shadow of a forgotten massacre, an immigrant haunted by his father’s unburied spirit sets out to break a family curse, confronting both past horrors and his own troubled legacy.

The Shards

A personal story about death and love in the context of contemporary Russia of the last 2 years.

Moria Six

Six young refugees are convicted of the Moria camp fire in Lesbos after a questionable trial. A look at a justice system where justice itself is only one interest among many.

Predators

Vigilante justice, journalism and ethical gray zones were challenged in a controversial TV show that lured male pedophiles into the public spotlight. But did the show cast its own long shadows?

The End of the Internet

From a squat in Berlin through a futuristic Taiwan to the Brazilian rainforest. Around the world, hacktivists are fighting a shadow war for an internet beyond the influence of tech giants.

From Ground Zero – Untold Stories from Gaza

In the heart of Gaza, Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi brings together local filmmakers to document their own lives and stories.

Little Syria

An intimate look into the lives of a group of Syrian refugees in Berlin as they fight for justice for the victims of the Assad regime. When the regime suddenly topples, new questions arise.

Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989

Four decades of the long, painful conflict between Palestine and Israel, presented with sober clarity and exemplary overview by the director of 'Black Power Mixtape 1967-75'.

Azza

An existential road movie from Saudi Arabia where a brave woman is determined to create a life on her own terms. A close friendship with a filmmaker opens the door to new horizons.

The Lions By The River Tigris

Cultural heritage is the invisible casualty of any war. ISIS left Mosul in ruins after liberation. Today, a fisherman, a musician and a collector struggle to preserve what remains of the city's soul.

Mr. Nobody Against Putin

A brave and resilient primary school teacher secretly exposes Putin's aggressive militarisation of Russia's schools in one of the great documentary sensations of the year.

The Dialogue Police

Freedom of speech, democracy and the right to demonstrate. In Sweden, a special unit struggles to ensure everyone's right to speak their mind - and they are armed only with words. A captivating film from the frontline of democracy and dilemmas.

The Encampments

The occupation of Columbia University by pro-Palestinian students made waves around the world. A film about power and resistance in the 21st century.

Sudan, Remember Us

They are young Sudanese yearning for freedom. Their revolution is poetic, driven by the power of words. As it intertwines their stories, the film reassembles fragments of a revolution, a battle pitting the voices of youth against the military's might.

Death Without Mercy

An Oscar-nominated Syrian filmmaker uncovers the political and human aftermath of the devastating earthquake that struck Syria and Turkey two years ago.

9-Month Contract

Nine months of pregnancy for 14,000 dollars? A long friendship between director and protagonist evolves into a film about surrogate motherhood and dignity in an unregulated industry in Tbilisi.

Antidote

Whistleblower and Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev and his deadly fight against the Russian government. Premiering in a new version.

Flophouse America

A 12-year-old boy defies his parents' alcohol abuse and finds glimmers of hope in an unexpected tragedy, in a heartbreaking film from the desperate flip side of America.

Writing Hawa

Three generations of Afghan women dream of freedom and change. A daughter's cinematic and personal letter to her mother takes a tragic turn when the Taliban returns.

A Sisters’ Tale

An Iranian housewife dreams of becoming a singer, but her husband and the regime say no. But it takes more than that to stop her in a genuine festival hit, filmed over seven years by her own sister.

The Helsinki Effect

Hundreds of hours of archival footage from a historic Cold War summit is rolled out with ironic wit and a sharp political eye for the human drama on the grand, diplomatic stage.

Hacking Hate

Undercover in the far-right online communities in the Nordics with a fearless female journalist. A riveting story with more than a few twists along the way, at a moment when there is both power and money in spreading hate.

Googoosh – Made of Fire

Hope never fades in the resistance story about Iran's greatest pop icon: The incomparable singer and activist Googoosh, who makes an unexpected comeback after 20 years under house arrest.

Award and exhibition

HUMAN:RIGHTS AWARD

Award for courageous filmmakers in defence and support of human rights.

Opening: New exhibition ‘Being Safe is Scary’ at Kunsthal Charlottenborg

Join us when Kunsthal Charlottenborg opens the doors to two new exhibitions this spring on Thursday, March 20. The exhibitions open in collaboration with one of the world's largest documentary film festivals, CPH:DOX, which again has its festival center at Kunsthal Charlottenborg.

Events in the programme

‘Rule of Stone’ + Talk: Eyal Weizman – architecture & power

Meet architect Eyal Weizman in a conversation with Lotte Folke Kaarsholm about the aesthetic, ideological, and politically strategic role of architecture in the conflict between Israel and Palestine.

Meet activist Inna Shevchenko (FEMEN) in conversation with the directors after the film

The iconic leader of the feminist collective FEMEN, Ukrainian Inna Shevchenko and the filmmakers join the world premiere of 'Girls & Gods' for a conversation about the (mis)relationship between feminism and religion.

‘Antidote’ + Talk w. Christo Grozev

The acclaimed Bellingcat-journalist Christo Grozev sheds light on the film's themes and the critical work of uncovering the truth in an age of misinformation and war propaganda. Presented in collaboration with Dagbladet Information.

Talk: European premiere and talk with Mstyslav Chernov and Raney Aronson-Rath

After the film, we invite you to join a Q&A with the Oscar-winning director Mstyslav Chernov ('20 Days in Mariupol') and film producer Raney Aronson-Rath, moderated by Jakob Sheikh (Danish Institute of Human Rights).

‘Mr. Nobody Against Putin’ with panel debate

After the screening of the film, we invite you to a panel discussion about the current situation in Russia, the opposition’s struggle, and the costs associated with activism in the country.

‘The Tender Revolution’ + Debate: Is it time for a care revolution?

After the screening of 'The Tender Revolution', you can experience poet Caspar Eric ('Nye balancer') in conversation with Emil Søbjerg Falster, ph.d., post.doc. at Bevica Fonden and Aalborg Universitet, and Olvia Dahl, PhD student at the Institute of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen, about care and the fight for a world where care is both obligatory, prioritized and valued.

Mathilde Walter Clark introduces ‘Animality’

At this screening of Ai Weiwei's new documentary 'Animality', the film will be introduced by a conversation between author Mathilde Walter Clark and journalist and author Mikkel Frey Damgaard.

‘The End of The Internet’: Where do we go after Meta?

After the film screening, we will dive into the future of the internet with panelists Nicole Jonassen (Softer) and researcher Katrine K. Pedersen.

The Helsinki Effect – Worldpremiere

Experience the world premiere of 'The Helsinki Effect'. In the summer of 1975, world leaders from East and West met in Helsinki to discuss security and cooperation during the Cold War. A political chess game with world peace at stake, and a historic event that still resonates today.

Similarities between ‘The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy’ and ‘The Black Swan’

After the screening of 'The Gardener, the Buddhist & the Spy', we invite the film's director on stage for a conversation with journalist Peter Vesterlund, who is part of the team behind TV 2's smash hit 'The Black Swan'.

Sponsors of the Right Here, Right Now Programme