CPH:DOX 24

Gröndahl’s feature documentary follows Finnish birth experts – midwife Kirsi and doula Anna-Riitta - who want to put an end to “obstetric violence” and enable people to give birth on their own terms. “I believe that if this was something people with testicles would experience, not with wombs, there would be more resources put into this, but it’s [seen as] a woman’s issue and so is [considered] not so important,” the director muses on the gender politics behind birth.

Italian director Leone Balduzzi discusses his debut feature Sting Like A Bee, about a group of teens growing up in the south of Italy. The project started life as a piece of branded content for Piaggio bikes. “Quite spontaneously, all the topics of the documentary – including sex, AIDS and homosexuality – emerged. These [topics] originated together [with the kids]. To some extent, it’s been like a social experiment,” the filmmaker tells BDE.

Sometimes docmakers struggle very hard to find their subjects. In the case of Lie To Me (international premiere March 18), the subject (Bjørn Bjercke, Bitcoin expert and whistleblower) came direct to the filmmakers, at which point they were immediately pulled into the “rabbit hole” of OneCoin, the fraudulent cryptocurrency presided over by the glamorous Bulgarian-born German swindler Ruja Ignatova, soon to be become one of the FBI’s “most wanted” felons…

A fast paced, yet carefully crafted portrait of a young boy trying to maintain his dreams on the streets of poverty-stricken Budapest, and of an unlikely friendship between a filmmaker and his protagonist. The film is a wonderful document about growing up in poor conditions. It could have been sensationalist, moralistic and voyeuristic, but the space he gives his characters allows you to see them in all their complexity and humanity.

A fascinating and astutely balanced appraisal of an escalating conflict between Indigenous pastoralist settlers and British-Kenyan ranchers, The Battle for Laikipia, by filmmakers Daphne Matziaraki and Peter Murimi, offers a nuanced look into the two factions involved, but offers no easy answers as cultural differences and climate change accentuate the disconnect between two divergent ways of life in Kenya.

The adventurous decision to make a film following the path of acclaimed Norwegian explorer Helge Ingstad’s 1937 expedition to Mexico in search of a lost Apache tribe gradually morphs into an examination of what is fact and what is fiction, and finally a timely reflection on concerns over cultural appropriation.

In Connie Field’s feature documentary, which world-premieres at CPH:DOX, three Hungarian women fight to expose the dismantling of democracy in Viktor Orbán’s Hungary. The director believes that her story can have strong resonance for US audiences. “Who I made it for was people like me, to scare them to death, so that in my country specifically, we will work like mad to make sure that Trump doesn’t get into the White House,” she tells BDE.

Swedish doc debutant Loran Batti talks to BDE about his deeply intimate debut G - 21 Scenes from Gottsunda, set in Uppsala’s notorious titular suburb. In the film, Batti grapples with the desire to move away, but is torn by loyalty to his childhood friends who lead a criminal life. “Speaking about the spiritual and the human aspect, it was so hard for me to keep distant from the film, the project, the place and the subject,” he tells BDE.

Trapped in the freezing forest between Belarus and Poland, 16-year-old Kurdish refugee Runa must assume all family responsibilities for her father and brothers after the death of their mother. In her new hybrid doc, Polish Agnieszka Zwiefka follows Runa as she tries to create a new life for her family in Poland, in the process telling a story both terrifying and inspirational. “This is actually our obligation as documentary filmmakers. Who would we be if we didn't react to such a humanitarian crisis at our doorstep,” Zwiefka underlines to BDE.

A beautiful delve into life and love, the wonderfully titled Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other gently and thoughtfully examines the ups and downs of a long relationship. The film is movingly profound in its simplicity as it tells the story of Maggie and Joel, aged 75 and 84, both very much aware they are in the twilight of their lives but still battling for their love.