CPH:DOX has unveiled its full 2026 programme, with the Copenhagen festival returning 11–22 March for its 23rd edition and presenting more than 200 new films alongside debates, live talks, concerts, exhibitions, and special events. The line-up as a wide-angle snapshot of a world in flux, balancing frontline political reporting with titles addressing AI disruption, Big Tech, freedom of expression, neurotechnology, and the accelerating climate crisis.
On the premieres front, CPH:DOX is touting 86 world premieres, 25 international premieres, and 10 European premieres, including 63 feature-length films. The film programme is organised around six competition strands judged by international juries, and the festival is adding a new critics’ prize in the form of a FIPRESCI Award.
The DOX:AWARD main competition includes world premieres such as Pieter-Jan De Pue’s opening film MARIINKA, Nathan Grossman’s Amazomania, and Dongnan Chen’s Whispers in May. The programme also highlights special premieres, including James Jones’ Fukushima, Omar Shargawi’s Palestinian Unwanted, Michael Loeken and Ulrike Franke’s Watching People Watching Birds, and Dan Vernon’s The Spy Next Door, plus anticipated international premieres, including Daniel Roher’s The AI Doc: How I Became an Apocaloptimist.
In parallel, the festival is leaning on talent and profile-driven events. Confirmed guests include HBO filmmaker John Wilson with his debut feature The History of Concrete, French actor-director Juliette Binoche presenting her directorial debut In-I In Motion, and Louis Theroux with The Settlers. Additional guests listed include Biljana Tutorov with To Hold A Mountain, Sara Dosa with Time and Water, Sébastien Lifshitz with A Very Good Boy, Bea Wangondu with Kikuyu Land, Maite Alberdi with A Child of my Own, and Alisa Kovalenko with Traces.
Two thematic anchors sit at the centre of the 2026 edition. The returning programme «RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW» examines human and civil rights, described as a 30-film slate mapped to the 30 human rights, extending into an exhibition at Kunsthal Charlottenborg and a debate-and-event platform. New this year is «BRAIN WAVES», a science-focused strand exploring the brain, consciousness, and the ways technology is reshaping human experience, with titles including Intelligence Rising, Conscious, Menopause Mystery, and the live-documentary performance Brains in the State of Suspension, alongside contributions from researchers including Professor Anil Seth and Dr Nicholas Wright.
Outside Copenhagen, the festival’s national initiative DOX:DANMARK expands to 61 municipalities and more than 400 screenings from 10–25 March, with many events accompanied by talks and community programming. The festival will also continue online via its PARA:DOX platform from 20 March–5 April, where a curated selection of titles will be available to rent, geo-blocked to Denmark.
Find more information on the complete 2026 CPH:DOX programme – HERE
