Dear friend,
Over the next ten days, thousands of film professionals flock to Copenhagen to participate in CPH:DOX. With courage, dedication, and artistic ambitions, CPH:DOX has expanded the notion of documentary cinema and claimed the spot as one of the world’s leading film festivals.
We recommend you to get lost in the program - it is a landscape of wildflowers with more than two hundred films. Because we feel privileged that the festival is taking place in our city, we asked our film friends to each contribute one recommendation. You’ll find them below in today’s Special Edition of Wildflowers Club.
A few of the recommendations have been translated from Danish to English by us, so we take full responsibility for any grammar or spelling mistakes.
With care,
Søren & Kristoffer
* RECOMMENDATIONS *
What: A House Made of Splinter
Why: “I’m anticipating watching Simon Lereng Wilmont’s latest documentary, A House Made of Splinters, about life in an orphanage in eastern Ukraine. While writing this, I’m sitting in Ukraine and closely following the war with Russia. Over the past years, I have been fascinated by the country and traveled around Kyiv and Odesa. I’ve only heard and read good things about this film, and considering the current circumstances, the film has become even more relevant for most people, especially those living in Europe.”
Who: Nagieb Khaja, film director and journalist. Watch Nagieb’s film Taliban Land at the festival.
What: The Earth is Blue as an Orange
Why: “Irina is an Ukrainian poet and filmmaker. She made this film in a war-torn eastern Ukraine, but she managed to fill it with poetry and hope. The film won in Sundance and was a favorite in festivals around the world. Ironically, it’s even more important now than it was at the time of its premiere.”
Who: Patricia Drati, film producer and DOX:AWARD Jury member.
What: A Thousand Fires
Why: “I’m really looking forward to A Thousand Fires by Saeed Taji Farouky. It seems beautifully and delicately crafted, and showing a generational divide around the material oil sounds like a genius starting point.”
Who: David Ụzọchukwu, photographer & film maker. See David’s installation Civil Dusk at the festival.
What: A House Made of Splinter
Why: “To me, A House Made of Splinters is pretty much everything I love about documentary. A camerawork so subtle, so delicately seeking out the little magical moments in a world that ought to be anything but magical: an orphanage in a warzone in eastern Ukraine.
The film is a testament to love, loyalty, fragility, strength. Its beating heart and amazing characters left me in a state of utter awe, with a lump in my throat, a great sense of hope for humanity and not least an unflinching belief in the transformative power of documentary cinema.”
Who: Mille Haynes, film producer.
What: Ascension
Why: “Ascension is a visually captivating abstraction about capitalism and humanity in modern China. I really recommend watching it.”
Who: Jonas Poher Rasmussen, film maker. Watch Jonas’ triple-Oscar nominated film Flee at the festival.
What: We Met in Virtual Reality
Why: “I recommend this film for its originality and for introducing a surprising escapist fantasy world, where the avatars are living in relationships full of hope, meaning, and love. In the light of the pandemic, and the ever-evolving scary world, this makes so much sense to me. The human instinct for turning new spaces into an opportunity to connect and communicate, in VR you can be anything you dream to be.”
Who: Kirstine Barfod, film producer.
What: Sans Soleil
Why: “The movie with possibly the best opening ever brought to life with a new score by experimental musicians: this is my CPH:DOX recommendation.”
Who: Sebastian Cordes, film director.
What: Into the Ice
Why: “I’m immediately drawn to three of the films in the Science Program. The Quintessence because astrophysics always adds perspective to our small, insignificant lives. After Nature because the biodiversity crisis is enormous, and this sounds like a film that opens a door for another type of nature. And of course, I’m not going to miss the opportunity of watching Lars Ostenfeld climb down a massive hole in the Greenland ice. If I could only pick one, I’d pick Into the Ice.”
Who: Phie Ambo, film director.
What: An Eternity of You and Me
Why: “A tragicomedy about what you do when you can’t have children. I’ve not watched it yet, but I am a big fan of the director.
Who: Frederik Sølberg, film director.
See you again on Monday with the usual edition.