The winners of the 17th edition of the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival - CPH:DOX were announced on Friday evening. Originally set to unspool from 18-29 March in Copenhagen, in light of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the festival cancelled all on-site events and moved its activities online instead, including the awards ceremony.

The Danish production Songs of Repression [+lire aussi :
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interview : Estephan Wagner et Mariann…
fiche film], co-directed by Marianne Hougen-Moraga and Estephan Wagner, picked up the festival’s main prize, the DOX:Award. The film explores a closed-off German community in Chile with a dark past. The jury consisted of Brenda Coughlin, of the Sundance Institute (USA); DOK Leipzig director Christoph Terhechte (Germany); and filmmakers Alexander Nanau (Romania) and Pernille Rose Grønkjær (Denmark). Songs of Repression also received the newly established Politiken:Danish:Dox Award from the jury of film critics from daily paper Politiken.

The F:act Award, dedicated to films lying somewhere between documentary filmmaking, investigative journalism and activism, went to the German entry We Hold the Line [+lire aussi :
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In the New:Vision section, consisting of cinematic experiments in the borderland between documentary and artistic reflection, the British short film South by Morgan Quaintance won the main prize from the jury, consisting of British artist Ben Rivers, curator at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art Marid Laurberg, and Danish artist and film director Tinne Zenner. They also gave out a Special Mention to Mother's Tongue, another short directed by Wingyee Wu and Lap-See Lam, from Sweden.

Being Eriko [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] by Finnish director Lotta Petronella, about a Baltic island where women who were considered social outcasts were, for centuries, forcibly placed in a closed-off institution. The jury consisted of Sarajevo Film Festival programmer Elma Tataragić, Morocco’s FIDADOC festival director Hicham Falah and Danish filmmaker Sun Hee Engelstoft.

In the Next:Wave competition for young artists and filmmakers, Mayor by US filmmaker David Osit won the main prize, while French-American director Lisa Rovner's Sisters with Transistors [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], about female composers of analogue electronic music, narrated by Laurie Anderson, received a Special Mention. The jury consisted of IndieLisboa programmer and consultant for documentaries at the Berlinale Ana David, British film critic and curator Sophie Brown, and Danish director Kaspar Astrup Schröder.

The accolades in each category came with €5,000 in cash, except for the Next:Wave Award, which was worth €2,500. In addition, the Eurimages Co-production Development Award for the best pitch went to Danish filmmaker Frederik Sølberg’s Hana Korea.

Here is the full list of CPH:DOX 2020 award winners:

DOX:Award
Songs of Repression [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Estephan Wagner et Mariann…
fiche film] - Marianne Hougen-Moraga, Estephan Wagner (Denmark)

F:act Award
We Hold the Line [+lire aussi :
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Special Mention
The Social Dilemma - Jeff Orlowski (USA)

New:Vision Award
South - Morgan Quaintance (UK) (short film)
Special Mention
Mother’s Tongue - Wingyee Wu, Lap-See Lam (Sweden) (short film)

Nordic:Dox Award
Being Eriko [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] - Jannik Splidsboel (Denmark)
Special Mention
Själö - Island of Souls [+lire aussi :
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bande-annonce
fiche film] - Lotta Petronella (Finland)

Next:Wave Award
Mayor - David Osit (USA)
Special Mention
Sisters with Transistors [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] - Lisa Rovner (France)

Politiken:Danish:Dox Award
Songs of Repression - Marianne Hougen-Moraga, Estephan Wagner

Eurimages Co-production Development Award
Hana Korea - Frederik Sølberg (Denmark)