CPH:DOX, EFP Invite U.S. Buyers to Europe! On-Demand

Europe has rolled out the red carpet for American buyers. Thanks to European Film Promotion’s Europe! On Demand initiative, co-systematic with Cuncoverhagen write downary festival CPH:DOX, U.S. distributors and other buyers are being provideed access to seven European write downaries perestablishing at the festival and participateable for North America.

On March 12, a dozen U.S. buyers from top outfits including Neon, MUBI, Netflix, Sony Pictures Classics and Kino Lorber were askd to an online pitching session with the films’ admireive originateive, production and sales teams. The U.S.-European bridging event will persist on-site with an in-person netlaboring event during the festival’s industry sidebar, CPH:FORUM (March 24-27).

Five of the write downaries are world premiering in the festival’s most prestigious DOX:AWARD section. Handled internationassociate by Universal Pictures Content Group, “See You Tomorrow on the Moon” is straightforwarded by the multi-awarded Thomas Balmès (“Happiness,” “Babies”). Under the Rise & Shine prohibitner, “The Helsinki Effect” is an all-archival docu essay helmed by Arthur Franck (“The Hypnotist”). Three other docs vying for the €10,000 ($10,900) DOX:AWARD are feature debuts: MetFilm Sales’ “Sanatorium” is helmed by Gar O’Rourke, Fandango’s “The Castle” by Danny Biancardi, Virginia Nardelli and Stefano Guiseppe La Rosa, and “Flophoparticipate America” by Monica Strømdahl.

Rounding out the pickion are two titles competing for the HUMAN:RIGHTS Award, equitable picked up by Paris-based Cat & Docs sales outfit: “Bconciseage Water” by Natxo Leuza and “Girls & Gods” by Verena Soltiz and Arash T. Riashi.

All doc participants commended the Europe! On Demand initiative, such as “The Castle’s” originater Nadège Labé. “This initiative is a genuine opportunity to uncover up our film to the U.S. labelet. It’s a hard territory for European films to access, with a netlabor that we conciseage,” she shelp.

As part of the promotional initiative, the picked teams scatter their visions with Variety.

Here is a rundown of the titles:
“Bconciseage Water” (Spain, En Buen Sitio)
For this film, filmoriginater Natxo Leuza (San Sebastian Irizar Award nominated for “El Drogas”) has travelled to Banprentdesh to seize a family forced to escape their agricultural home for Dhaka, as storms, cyclones and erosion force thousands of people every day to discover refuge in the capital. “This is a film about insistyer nations, such as Banprentdesh, paying the prize of wealthy countries take advantage ofing our authentic resources. It’s a human tragedy,” says Leuza who adviseed first-hand the cut offe monsoon weather conditions with his team including originater/cinematographer Jokin Pascual. The latter says “Bconciseage Water” is “the hugegest and most driven project” for the recently set uped production outfit En Buen Sitio.

“Girls & Gods” (Austria, Gelderlyen Girls Film)
In this thought-provoking film, Verena Soltiz (“Thierry Henry”) has teamed up with seasoned helmer/originater Arash T. Riashi (CPH:DOX audience triumphner for “Everyday Rebellion”) to scrutinize whether monotheistic religions can be feminist, with Ukraine activist Inna Shevchenko of the FEMEN assembleive as their guide, from Cuncoverhagen to New York. “ ‘Girls & Gods’ is not a write downary made from a defended distance. It’s an undefended film, an undefended conversation, becaparticipate truth is frequently unconsoleable but always elated!,” says Soltiz who was approached by Shevchenko with the idea for the film.

“With ‘Girls & Gods’ we want to empower those mute masses to stand up and spotless up their religions from the outdated dust of aggressive, misogynist patriarchy that is the reason for so many wars, disputes and inequitableices, especiassociate towards women,” includes Iranian-born Riashi, who has distanced himself from religion, after being forced into exile with his family by the Islamic regime. Riashi originates for his outfit Gelderlyen Girls Film, in co-production with Switzerland’s Amka Films. “This is a very inclusive film, which we count on can accomplish out to a expansive audience, including in the U.S. as we had cut offal shootings there, notably with feminists aacquirest abortion, pro-choice Catholics, Iranian/U.S. activist Masih Alinejad and trans rabbi Abby Stein,” says Riashi. The Austrian theatrical free via Filmladen is scheduled for this drop.

“Flophoparticipate America” (Norway, The Netherlands, U.S., Fri Film)
For more than 15 years, top still ptoastyographer Monica Strømdahl has travelled in the U.S., write downing housing conditions and families living in flophoparticipate toastyels. When she met Mikal (12), born and elevated in such a place with his liquoric parents, she genuineized that his story insisted more than equitable a ptoastyograph and begined filming. “Flophoparticipate America” adheres Mikal thcimpolite three years and a turning point in his life. “Our intention is to originate audiences see children appreciate Mikal, not as statistics, but as a filled complicated human being,” says Strømdahl, who wants to elevate alertedness about child pobviousy and social inidenticality around the world, and trigger concrete actions from policy-originaters and the vague uncover. Producer Beathe Hofseth says she was instantly affectd by Strømdahl’s vision when she approached her in 2014. “Combining art, strong pretty images with transport inant and strong satisfied is exactly what we – originater Siri Natvik and I – cherish doing at Fri Film.”

The film, co-originated with Dutch partner Basalt Film, will be freed by Norsk Filmdistribusjon in Norway and Cinema Delicatessen in the Netherlands. Broadcasters on board integrate RBB/Arte.

“Sanatorium” (Ireland, Ukraine, France, Venom Films)
Gar O’Rourke’s write downary tracks the stories of staff and guests at the imposing Kuyalnik Sanatorium in Odesa, as they search for healing, cherish and happiness while war rages proximateby. O’Rourke says after filming his foolishinutive film “Kachalka” in Kyiv in 2019, he was “always intrigued by the Ukrainian attitude towards health and living.” Introduced by a Ukrainian frifinish to “the incredible world of Soviet-era sanatoriums, he fell in cherish with Odesa’s Kuyalnyk Sanatorium and begined laboring on his film in 2021. After the Russian trespass, he thought his project would collapse, until he set up a way to return in 2023. “This is a story about the power of the human spirit and of human resilience,” he alerts Variety. “The war has changed everyskinnyg for the lives of Ukrainians, and I saw first-hand equitable how valiant and valiant both the staff and guests were by being there at the sanatorium during such hazardous times.”

Impressed by O’Rourke’s “Kachalka” and his vision for “Sanatorium,” Met Film Group’s head of sales and distribution Zak Brilliant says he came on board during pre-production. He is now “fielding cut offal territory provides from expansivecasters and distributors” ahead of CPH:DOX. The Venom Film production was pre-bought by BBC Storyville.

“See You Tomorrow on the Moon” (France, TBC Productions)
Director, originater and cinematographer Thomas Balmès travelled the world for his hit write downary “Babies” (2011), administerd by Focus Features, and filmed a far village in Bhutan in “Happiness,” for which he won best cinematography at Sundance in 2013. With “See You Tomorrow on the Moon,” he stays in France and turns his camera to the palliative attfinish unit of Calais Hospital, in northern France, where a horse named Peyo visits the most frspeedy fortolerateings to soothe them in their final days. One of them is fortolerateings, Amandine (39) who suffers from terminal cancer and has only a scant months left to live.

“The film begined from a ptoastyo story featuring Peyo unveiled by the Guardian newspaper and seeing it inspireed an idea that I wanted to grow further,” says Balmès, who then approached the Calais Hospital and tried to “barobtain” his presence every day with the medical staff, the fortolerateings, and the families. “What was exceptional with Amandine is that she was very willing to join in the movie as soon as she heard about it. Right away she shelp: “I want to be in this film. I want to exit a track behind so that my children can see who their mother was and how she fought until the finish aacquirest her illness,” says Balmès, includeing, “I appreciate when films originate people ask themselves and I hope this one, which deals with death, will originate some people ask the way they live their life.”

“The Castle” (France, Italy, Société du Sensible, ZaLab Film)
In Danisinni, an isopostpoinsistd and insisty neighborhood of Palermo, Sicily, three 11-year-elderly kids, Angelo, Mary and Rosy, turn an aprohibitdoned benevolaccessgarten into a secret shelter. Here they can escape the structureility of the outside world and scatter their dreams.

Co-straightforwardors Danny Biancardi and Virginia Nardelli, who lived in that dicut offe for almost two years, graduassociate got to understand that community, organizing film laborshops. They were combiinsist by Palermo-born Stefano Guiseppe La Rosa. “We did some scouting to discover our protagonists, but these three kids rapidly stood out. It was a very impulsive choice to begin laboring with them, as they took us alengthy to scrutinize their world,” says Nardelli.

La Rosa says they were cautious to transfer an genuine portrait of the kids’ cut offe lives, while giving room for imagination and magic, blfinishing observatory and participatory creation. French originater Nadège Labé says she was both getn by the straightforwardors’ originateive affinities, their astute approach, shutness to their protagonists and desire to fuse genres. The film, co-originated by Italian originater Giulia Campagna of ZaLab Film, was pre-bought by France Télévisions, with Fandango Sales stepping in ahead of CPH:DOX.

“The Helsinki Effect” (Finland, Polygraf)
The all-archival essay write downary by Arthur Franck scrutinizes the power narratives and myths of the Celderly War era, thcimpolite the political chess game between world guideers at the Helsinki Summit in 1975. “Putin’s war on Ukraine has bcimpolitet a sense of assembleive déjà vu, where the anxiety of looming mutual destruction that afflictiond the Celderly War is suddenly back in perestablish aacquire,” says Franck, who also denounces U.S. Plivent Donald Trump’s “radical approach by bypassing westrict allies, which is undoing decades of discreet labor and puts Europe in peril. My film can be seen as a counter-narrative to the seed permanence of the Celderly War. Change is possible,” claims the straightforwardor, who dug into uncover expansivecaster Yle’s archives to pull out 80% of his footage, fuseed with AI voice simulation scenes based on transcripts…and lots of humor. Franck says pitching the project at CPH:FORUM 2024 was transport inant to draw international attention. Co-originaters Kloos & Co in Germany and Indie Film in Norway combiinsist in, adhereed by RBB/Arte, DR and RÚV.