CPH:LAB, the talent development and training programme run by CPH:DOX, has selected nine international immersive documentary projects for its 2026/2027 line-up. The selected teams enter an intensive development phase over the coming months, culminating in prototype presentations at CPH:DOX 2027, which runs in Copenhagen from 10 to 21 March.
Active since 2009, the programme works toward new visions of what a documentary can be in the digital age, using interactive and immersive technologies to spotlight social problems through the artistic view of their creators.
Training combines onsite and online workshops with mentoring sessions running from September 2026 to February 2027, with the first residential workshop taking place in Copenhagen this October. Core teams work alongside Head of Studies Mark Atkin and five international mentors drawn from different creative industries. Vassiliki Khonsari, producer and cofounder of iNK Stories, returns to the programme, joined by artistic director and creative producer Annette Mees and by Lawrence Bennett, experience designer at No Ghost. Copenhagen Contemporary curator Siri Buric and editor and producer Joe Bini both collaborate with the LAB for the first time this edition.
Beyond creative mentorship, the programme builds knowledge and literacy in AI tools and their ethical use. It also supports green production practices aimed at reducing the environmental footprint of immersive filmmaking. Accessibility is embedded as a core design principle rather than an afterthought, while teams are guided toward an impact strategy so the resulting work can reach audiences well past the festival window.
Atkin framed the cohort against a wider media climate. «At a time when ‘truth’ is a contested concept and fakery infects our feeds, the role artists have to play in creating documentaries feels more urgent than ever before,» he said. Teams of artists from the Philippines, Ukraine and India take part for the first time in this edition.
The selected projects are Echoes From Inside (Germany) by Leniko Sennoma; Once Upon A Time There Were Forests (Denmark) by Maria Kristensen and Vibeke Bryld; Primordial Portal (Philippines/United States) by Inshallah Montero, Datu Arayan Lantong, Ryan Barton and Otto Hernandez; Room of Incidents (Ukraine) by Kateryna Krokha; The Flamboyants (France/Chile) by Billie Sorribes, Selva Gonzalez and Marie Point; The river where you set your foot just now is gone (Greece) by Alexandra Niaka and Fanis Sakkelariou; This Pleasant Lady (United Kingdom/Italy) by Victoria Mapplebeck, Sandra Gaudenzi, Jamie Perera and Michelle Feuerlicht; Weathering Forms (France/Norway) by Chloe Reymond, Torben Snekkestad and Perrine Feminier; and Jayalakshmi – One Body, Many Worlds (India) by Avinash Kumar, Jayalakshmi Eshwar and Sri Rama Murty Mallishetty. Full project descriptions are available via CPH:DOX.
