CPH:DOX 2024

Swiss documentary filmmaking in Copenhagen

12.03.2024

A total of seven documentaries will be screened at CPH:DOX (13-24 March), one of the world's largest documentary film festivals. Two films, IMMORTALS and E.1027 - EILEEN GRAY AND THE HOUSE BY THE SEA, will celebrate their world premiere in the international competition.

IMMORTALS by Maja Tschumi
IMMORTALS by Maja Tschumi
E.1027 – EILEEN GRAY AND THE HOUSE BY THE SEA by Beatrice Minger, Christoph Schaub
E.1027 – EILEEN GRAY AND THE HOUSE BY THE SEA by Beatrice Minger, Christoph Schaub

In the international DOX:AWARD competition, two Swiss documentaries will be shown among a total of just selected 12 films: IMMORTALS by Maja Tschumi was coproduced by the Swiss production company Filmgerberei and the Iraqi company Rola Productions. The film focuses on a feminist who disguises herself as a man in order to be able to move around Baghdad more freely, and a filmmaker who uses his camera as a weapon against the regime. An insight into the hopes and shattered dreams of a new generation in Iraq that knows nothing but war.

E.1027 - EILEEN GRAY AND THE HOUSE BY THE SEA is the first feature of director Beatrice Minger, codirected with Christoph Schaub (production: Das Kollektiv für audiovisuelle Werke, soap factory). The docu-fiction takes us into the world of Irish designer and architect Eileen Gray. Her first house, which she built on the Côte d'Azur in 1929, is an mordernist masterpiece. The film reconstructs the dramatic story of Gray and the house that Le Corbusier was able to convince the world he had built himself.

STRAY BODIES by Greek director Elina Psykou (Greece/Switzerland/Italy/Bulgaria) will have its international premiere in the FACT:AWARD competition. The film follows four people who, like thousands of others, travel across Europe to obtain their right to live and die - be it abortion, sperm donation, euthanasia or others - due to restrictive laws in their home countries.

Auteurs & Artists

REAS by Argentinian director Lola Arias (Argentina/Switzerland/Germany) premiered at the Berlinale. In this queer musical, former inmates of a Buenos Aires prison re-enact their own experiences. Mira Film Basel is the Swiss coproducer.

Peter Mettler's film diary WHILE THE GREEN GRASS GROWS is also based on personal memories and relationships. With his unique cinematic style, the director invites us on a meditative journey. The award-winning f Swiss-Canadian coproduction was produced by maximage. Both films are part of the Auteurs & Artists section, which provides a platform for new original works by artists and filmmakers.

THERE WAS NOTHING HERE BEFORE by Yvann Yagchi is screening in the URGENT MATTERS programme (production: maximage). The Swiss-Palestinian director visits his childhood friend in a West Bank settlement and tries to make a film about their relationship, overcoming political differences.

The French-Swiss coproduction GOD IS A WOMAN by Swiss-Panamanian director Andres Peyrot, is part of the HIGHLIGHTS section (Swiss coproducer: P.S. Productions).

CPH:FORUM

The film PODIUM (YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES) by director Rachel Leah Jones will be presented in the project selection of the coproduction and financing event CPH:FORUM. The Swiss coproduction company is Close Up Films, which also co-produced Jones' highly successful film ADVOCATE.

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