CPH:FORUM has a natural emphasis on Scandinavia and Europe but is open to film projects from independent documentary filmmakers, fiction filmmakers, journalists, activists and visual artists worldwide, seeking financing and international market partners. Projects in any production phase are welcome, regardless of the financing in place. Both experienced and emerging filmmakers are welcome to apply. 

Eligible projects must be feature-length films or series (52+ minutes) but projects can also include additional formats like short films, non-linear pieces or installations, etc.

Selection criteria include artistic quality, unique content, subject relevance, international potential and financial feasibility. Projects that have not been presented at any other major international markets will be given priority.

Projects submitted to the CPH:DOX 2026 festival programme are not eligible for CPH:FORUM or CPH:ROUGHCUT.

CPH:FORUM will once again spotlight creative and innovative storytelling through a variety of prestigious awards:

• Eurimages New Lab Awards: Innovation Award & the Outreach Award (for the 2024-2026 cycle):
  The Innovation Award, recognizing innovative and experimental projects in development, this award includes a cash prize of €20,000. The Outreach Award, aimed at promoting public awareness of innovative projects at the end of production or in post-production, this award offers €30,000.
• Sandbox Films Science Pitch Prize Award: celebrating groundbreaking science storytelling, this prize includes a cash award of $25,000.
• The Rise and Shine Award: This award provides a cash prize of €3,000 to the project with the best international potential and no sales agent yet attached.

Project applications are only accepted via our online Visitor Page. The entry fee is 250 DKK (approx. 30 EUR) and must be paid by credit card to complete the submission. Fees are non-refundable, and only fully completed, paid submissions received before the deadline will be considered. Projects will not be evaluated before submission.

Fee waivers are available for productions coming from countries from the DAC list and European low-AV capacity countries from LCC 2 group (Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia). To request a waiver, email forum@cphdox.dk before submitting the project. Each production company may submit up to two projects with a fee waiver.

CHANGE applications are free of charge and submitted via a submission form provided by IMS and emailed before the deadline to the contact in the form. Deadline on August 11th, 2025. 

All submitted application materials for CPH:FORUM and CPH:ROUGHCUT must be in English and we encourage you to have the following ready before you begin the online application process:

CPH:FORUM

• Working Title
• Logline (max. 250 characters incl. spaces)
• Synopsis/treatment (max. 2500 characters incl. spaces)
• Format and anticipated running time
• Production status
• Expected release
• Financing scenario in EUR (total budget, confirmed amount, required amount)
• Confirmed financing (institution/company/source, name of responsible financier, amount in EUR)
• Main production company (company name, country, contact info, short presentation of max. 600 characters incl. spaces)
• Co-production company (if applicable, company name, country)
• Director(s) (name, contact info, picture, short biography (max. 400 characters incl. spaces, filmography of max 3 titles)
• Producer(s) (name, contact info, portrait picture, short biography (max. 400 characters incl. spaces, filmography of max 3 titles)
• Sales agent (if applicable, company)
• Trailer or teaser of max. 3 minutes long (link to online viewing with English subtitles). Make sure the video is accessible and rated.

For application assessment only (not for publication):

• Director’s statement (max. 2000 characters incl. spaces)
• Target audience and distribution strategy (max. 2000 characters incl. spaces)
• If applicable, at which other markets/workshops the project has been pitched before and year.
• Pitch category applied (FICTIONONFICTION, ART, F:ACT, CINEMA, SCIENCE)
• Indication of goals at CPH:FORUM (Financing, Co-producer, Sales Agent, Distribution)
• Budget and financing plan in EUR (uploaded as pdf)

CPH:ROUGHCUT

• Working Title
• Logline (max. 250 characters incl. spaces)
• Synopsis/treatment (max. 2500 characters incl. spaces)
• Format and anticipated running time
• Production status
• Expected release
• Financing scenario in EUR (total budget, confirmed amount, required amount)
• Confirmed financing (institution/company/source, name of responsible financier, amount in EUR)
• Main production company (company name, country, contact info, short presentation of max. 600 characters incl. spaces)
• Co-production company (if applicable, company name, country)
• Director(s) (name, contact info, picture, short biography (max. 400 characters incl. spaces, filmography of max 3 titles)
• Producer(s) (name, contact info, portrait picture, short biography (max. 400 characters incl. spaces, filmography of max 3 titles)
• Sales agent (if applicable, company)
• Teaser and clip(s) or selected scenes of max. 15 minutes long (link to online viewing with English subtitles)

For application assessment only (not for publication):

• Director’s statement (max. 2000 characters incl. spaces)
• Target audience and distribution strategy (max. 2000 characters incl. spaces)
• If applicable, at which other markets/workshops the project has been pitched before and year
• Indication of goals at CPH:FORUM (Financing, Co-producer, Sales Agent, Distribution)
• Detailed budget and financing plan in EUR (uploaded as pdf)

Further information and documentation may be requested during the selection process. If selected, project teams will have the opportunity to update written materials and the visual material used for the pitch closer to the event.

Selected projects will be presented in the CPH:INDUSTRY catalogue with the information submitted in the application (unless otherwise stated above). The catalogue will be distributed to accredited professionals at CPH:DOX 2026. 

By providing these materials, you give CPH:DOX permission to use them on our website and for promotional purposes for CPH:FORUM. Please note, that the only following information is publicly available: project title, name of director(s), production country, logline and main still).  Synopsis/treatment, production status and financing scenario, and teaser/trailer will only be shared with selected financiers and industry representatives on a password protected site.

If selected projects have confidentiality or safety concerns, these can be discussed with the CPH:FORUM team upon selection (see below).

Around 30 projects will be selected for CPH:FORUM and 5 for CPH:ROUGHCUT. Notification about selection to CPH:FORUM and CPH:ROUGHCUT will be given by mid-January 2026. CHANGE selected teams will be notified in September 2025.

If selected, the director(s) and producer(s) of the project must register for accreditation and attend CPH:FORUM during CPH:DOX 2026 for the duration of CPH:FORUM in March (see next edition’s dates under “key dates”). Accreditation is free of charge for up to two team members pitching the project, with additional accreditations available for purchase for additional team members. 

After CPH:FORUM, participants must complete a questionnaire to help us evaluate the year’s edition, and credit) CPH:FORUM in the finalised film (see below under publications & data policy.

The selection committee’s decisions are final and feedback is not guaranteed for unsuccessful applications.

Pitching sessions are conducted in English and take place in March 2026. 

• CPH:FORUM projects will be presented Tuesday-Thursday, March 17-19th in the mornings. Each team will have 7 minutes to present their project, including a 3 minute teaser/trailer, followed by a short 7-minute, moderated discussion with a tailored panel of 3 financiers and industry representatives.
• CPH:ROUGHCUT projects will be presented Monday, March 16th in the afternoon. Each team will have 15 minutes to present their project, including 10-12 minutes of edited material (teaser and/or selected scenes), followed by a 5-minute Q&A with the moderator.
• CHANGE projects will be presented Monday, March 16th in the afternoon. Each team will have 7 minutes to present their project including a 3 minute teaser/trailer, followed by a 5-minute Q&A with the moderator.

All pitching sessions are followed by individual meetings or roundtables between financiers and industry representatives and pitch teams, scheduled for 20-30 minutes each. These are arranged in advance by the CPH:FORUM team based on meeting requests from both projects and the attending financiers and industry representatives.

The online meeting booking system will only be open to selected financiers and industry representatives and pitch teams . Requests can be submitted in early February for a limited period, with detailed guidelines provided to the selected teams and eligible participants via email in due time. 

The pre-arranged meeting schedules may change up to and during the event. CPH:FORUM aims to book as many relevant meetings as possible for all selected projects. A specific number or timing of meetings cannot be guaranteed, and they may occur before as well as after the pitch. Financiers and industry representatives with can ask for additional meetings on the spot during the event, which the CPH:FORUM staff will try their best to accommodate. 

All participants will also have access to a detailed online guestlist with contact information for accredited guests, providing them with the chance to arrange additional meetings on their own.

CPH:FORUM is primarily for producers and directors with selected projects, as well as a wide variety of financiers and industry representatives interested in active attendance. A limited number of seats are available to professionals who wish to attend the event as observers with priority given to producers.

Participants must be duly registered with the proper accreditation, based on an invitation or application via the online CPH:FORUM accreditation form. 

To secure a CPH:FORUM seat, the accreditation fee must be paid before the deadline, after which participation is binding. Paid fees will not be refunded. In case of failure to pay the accreditation fee by the deadline, the seat may be offered to another participant.

Read more about accreditations and how to apply here.

Submission of project: 250 DKK (approx. 30 EUR)

Accreditation is free of charge for two members of the creative team of the selected projects (director and producer). Accreditations for additional team members can be purchased and will be at full price. 

CPH:FORUM accreditation gives access to:

• Project presentations
• Tailored match-making (for selected projects)
• Industry networking events
• Access to CPH:MARKET 
• All regular festival screenings & seminars in Copenhagen
• CPH:CONFERENCE
• Festival Center & Guest Desk services
• Delegate bag
• CPH:INDUSTRY catalogue
• Profiles and contact information of accredited guests (online guest list)

Accreditation fees are exclusive of VAT (25%).

PUBLICATIONS

Selected projects will be presented in the CPH:INDUSTRY catalogue with the information submitted for the application (except items submitted for application assessment only as indicated above). The catalogue will be distributed to accredited professionals attending CPH:DOX 2026.

Selected projects will be presented on our website cphdox.dk. Please note, that the only following information is publicly available: project title, name of director(s), production country, logline and main still. On a password protected platform, selected selected financiers and industry representatives will have access to more detailed project descriptions including the synopsis/treatment, production status and financing scenario, and teaser/trailer. 

If selected, you will be asked to provide a final set of stills and texts. By providing these materials, you give CPH:DOX permission to use them at www.cphdox.dk and for promotional purposes for CPH:FORUM 2026. 

Selected teams will be presented in the CPH:INDUSTRY catalogue with their name, portrait picture, professional title, country, professional biography and contact email. They will also be presented in the online guestlist on CPH:DOX’s website, where a public available information includes name, portrait picture, professional title and country, while a password protected area in addition gives CPH:DOX accredited guests access to peoples’ professional profile and contact email (if agreed to). Directors of selected projects are offered to present a selected title among their previous work on Festival Scope.

DATA POLICY

By submitting a project, you accept our data policy in accordance with the GDPR. Moreover, during the events we document the process by taking photos or filming and we use this for promoting our events. Lastly, for fulfilling our reporting obligations to our funding partners, we report all the relevant information about the selected projects and teams that are treated as sensitive data and are not disclosed to the public. 

CREDITS

CPH:DOX requires the CPH:DOX logo to be included in the credits of the film, once finalised, with the following sentence mentioned in the credit list: “[TITLE] has been presented at CPH:FORUM of CPH:DOX – Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival [YEAR]”. 

Download the CPH:DOX logo here.

If you have any confidentiality or safety concerns related to your project, please indicate this in the application form by ticking the box related to confidentiality and providing a brief description.

If selected, the CPH:FORUM team will be available to discuss and accommodate confidentiality or safety concerns based on the needs of the individual projects and presenting team members.

Your application and participation implies unconditional acceptance of these rules and regulations.
The organisers reserve the right to change the rules and regulations or processes at any time and without notification.

Below you can find an estimated timeline of important deadlines after selection:

• Mid-January: Announcement of selected projects.
• End of January: Confirm the presenting team participating in Copenhagen. Submit written project information for catalogue and preliminary trailer for online pre-viewing by financiers.
• End of February: Deadline for meeting request.
• Early March: Send your final pitch trailer for project presentation.