The 22nd edition of CPH:DOX has concluded after running from 19-30 March. This year’s international competition featured 71 films across six categories, including 56 world, 12 international and three European premieres. The festival’s top award, accompanied by a prize of €10,000, was presented to Always by Deming Chen, a poetic and visually enchanting film about a Chinese boy who discovers the power of poetry in a remote mountain village.

The jury – comprising Danish producer Rikke Tambo Andersen, Danish filmmaker Max Kestner, US writer and editor Nicolas Rapold, Italian director Adele Tulli, and head of Film Programmes at Sheffield DocFest Raul Niño Zambrano – stated about the winner: “There’s a huge difference between nothing and small things. But life is, in fact, made up of many, often unnoticed, small things. We need the sensibilities of artists to show us the greatness of the little things. This exquisitely shot chronicle of a rural farming family is alive with compassion and poetry.” The jury also gave a Special Mention to Flophouse America [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Monica Strømdahl
fiche film] by Monica Strømdahl, for “its vision of living as a work in progress, squeezed by circumstances”.

2000 Meters to Andriivka [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] by Mstyslav Chernov emerged as the winner of the F:ACT AWARD, which is accompanied by €5,000. The jury – film directors Alexis Bloom, Mikala Krogh and Steffi Niederzoll – stated, “It’s a masterpiece in filmmaking: a haunting, multi-layered portrayal of war comparable to All Quiet on the Western Front. But this is not World War I; it’s today. The meaningless of war, and also its unsettling poetry, is on full display here.” The jury also singled out The Perfect Neighbor by Geeta Gandbhir with a Special Mention, as it is “a devastating film about gun violence, but it’s also a film about families, about everyday life and about the connections between us”.

Meanwhile, the HUMAN:RIGHTS AWARD, also accompanied by a €5,000 prize, went to 9-Month Contract by Ketevan Vashagashvili because it “portrays the relationship between a mother and her daughter with radical intimacy and outstanding tenderness. Through its visual poetry, the film balances delicately between the harshness of their situation and the humanity of Zhana and her intense love for her daughter,” as writer-director Mohamed Saïd Ouma, One World Film Festival programmer Tomáš Poštulka and film director Birgitte Stærmose stated. They also handed a Special Mention to The Encampments by Michael T Workman and Kei Pritsker, which is “a hopeful and inspiring film that immerses you in the activism of students in times of conflict and oppression”.

The NORDIC:DOX AWARD was bestowed upon Walls – Akinni Inuk by Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg and Sofie Rørdam. The jury – comprising Butheina Kazim, Dario Oliveira and Roja Pakari – commented: “Fresh like a gust of Nordic wind, the film and its healing powers left us breathing hope and gentle triumph. A reminder of [the value of] putting cameras in the right hands, demonstrating the difference between observational documentary and representational storytelling.” The jury’s Special Mention went The Nicest Men on Earth by Josefine Exner and Sebastian Gerdes because “some of the hardest questions can sometimes be answered with the simplest of ideas and a whole lotta style”.

Here is the complete list of award winners at CPH:DOX 2025:

DOX:AWARD
Always - Deming Chen (USA/France/China)
Special Mention
Flophouse America [+lire aussi :
critique
interview : Monica Strømdahl
fiche film] - Monica Strømdahl (Norway/Netherlands/USA)

F:ACT AWARD
2000 Meters to Andriivka [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] - Mstyslav Chernov (Ukraine)
Special Mention
The Perfect Neighbor - Geeta Gandbhir (USA)

HUMAN:RIGHTS AWARD
9-Month Contract - Ketevan Vashagashvili (Georgia/Bulgaria/Germany)
Special Mention
The Encampments - Michael T Workman, Kei Pritsker (USA)

NORDIC:DOX AWARD
Walls – Akinni Inuk - Nina Paninnguaq Skydsbjerg, Sofie Rørdam (Greenland)
Special Mention
The Nicest Men on Earth - Josefine Exner, Sebastian Gerdes (Denmark)

NEXT:WAVE AWARD
Abode of Dawn - Kristina Shtubert (Germany)
Special Mention
Who Witnessed the Temples Fall - Lucia Selva (Spain)

NEW:VISION AWARD
Ramallah, Palestine, December 2018 - Juliette Le Monnyer (Belgium)
Special Mention
Scrap - Noémie Lobry (France)

INTER:ACTIVE AWARD
Constantinopoliad - Sister Sylvester, Nadah El Shazly (UK)
Special Mention
The Garden Says… - Uri Kranot, Michelle Kranot, Sara Topsøe Jensen, Sarah John, Marieke Breyne (Denmark)