{"id":36852,"date":"2026-03-10T12:16:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/36852\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T12:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T12:16:10","slug":"palestinian-documentary-ai-truth-copenhagen-cphindustry-goes-bold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/36852\/","title":{"rendered":"Palestinian Documentary, AI, Truth: Copenhagen CPH:Industry Goes Bold"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tCPH:INDUSTRY, the industry strand<\/a> of CPH:DOX<\/a>, the\u00a0Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival<\/a>,\u00a0is back with a jam-packed program across its CPH:DOX SUMMIT and CPH:CONFERENCE events.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe state of truth, the impact of AI, and the fight to create safe havens for independent voices are among the hot-button issues in focus at this year\u2019s 18th edition. Featured speakers include John Wilson<\/a> of HBO fame (How to With John Wilson), Irish doc maker Sin\u00e9ad O\u2019Shea<\/a> (All About the Money), Poh Si Teng (American Doctor<\/a>) and Kenya-based Bea Wangondu<\/a> (Kikuyu Land).<\/p>\n

\n\tIn unveiling the program, Mara Gourd-Mercado, head of industry & training at CPH:DOX, emphasized the goal of creating \u201ca hub for bold conversations,\u201d adding: \u201cWe see the CPH:CONFERENCE and CPH:DOX SUMMIT as a moment to come together and reflect on the deep changes and challenges we need to tackle head-on as an industry.\u201d Attendance trends are strong \u2014 the fest is expecting roughly 2,000 accredited guests, on par with last year.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt will surprise no one that AI is a recurring theme. \u201cWhen we look at AI, we say this is here, and it\u2019s not going away, so we need to adapt,\u201d says Gourd-Mercado. \u201cWe need to take the bull by the horns and consider how we can actually use this tool to our advantage. How can documentary navigate this huge shift in our industry?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe approach is deliberately multifaceted. On the practical side, a speculative workshop will prototype a DOX:AI platform built for and by the documentary community. \u201cIt\u2019s about shifting the narrative,\u201d Gourd-Mercado explains. \u201cAI is a tool like any other tool, but how can we take that tool and adapt it to our needs?\u201d A separate conference thread examines AI\u2019s effect on truth and perception. \u201cWhat is AI doing to our perception of truth, and the importance of truth in what we do and what importance will the coming generations give to it?\u201d she asks. \u201cWe\u2019re looking at AI on many different levels to build a comprehensive portrait, so that we, as a community and as an industry, can navigate this shift and not be left behind, or not be passively affected by AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe program also tackles how filmmakers can \u201cbypass algorithms and resist censorship\u201d \u2014 a concern shaped by conversations with peers from Georgia, Hungary and Iran. \u201cThe question is: How do you get to your audience?\u201d says Gourd-Mercado. That thread connects to a broader focus on safe havens for independent voices. \u201cWe look at how you can build spaces where it is safe to watch a documentary about your country when you are in a country or a region where it is not safe to watch documentaries,\u201d she says. \u201cHow do you build spaces where films and independent media can reach an audience?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne session, produced in collaboration with the Palestinian Film Institute, will see members of a Palestinian delegation discuss how \u201cdiverse cinematic approaches to historic Palestine can heal trauma and act as cultural resistance against erasure.\u201d Gourd-Mercado describes it as an exploration of the future of storytelling for Palestinian filmmakers \u2014 those based in Gaza, those in the diaspora, those born elsewhere but shaped by their identity. \u201cWe were also talking about what type of documentary is needed to tell their stories and to renew the vocabulary and the cinematographic language around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJohn Wilson will be a featured speaker at <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of HBO Max<\/p>\n

\n\tHer team\u2019s idea was to look at it in different ways. \u201cOne is a very concrete way. For example, we have a speculative workshop to build a DOX:AI for and by the documentary community,\u201d she says. \u201cWe launched with a newsletter asking our community for input on this platform. What do you think is important for an AI that would serve the doc community? It\u2019s about shifting the narrative. AI is a tool like any other tool, but how can we take that tool and adapt it to our needs? The idea is to fiddle with a prototype and see what that looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Copenhagen industry program also wants to help filmmakers \u201cbypass algorithms and resist censorship,\u201d Gourd-Mercado said in unveiling this year\u2019s lineup. \u201cThis stems from a lot of conversations we have had, including with our peers from countries like Georgia, Hungary and Iran, about government control and different stakeholders\u2019 control over algorithms. The question is: How do you get to your audience?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat corresponds with Copenhagen\u2019s focus on safe havens for independent voices. \u201cWe look at how you can build spaces where it is safe to watch a documentary about your country when you are in a country or a region where it is not safe to watch documentaries,\u201d says Gourd-Mercado. \u201cHow do you build spaces where films and independent media can reach an audience?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne Copenhagen industry event this year, entitled \u201cUpdated Reflections on Contemporary Palestinian Documentary Filmmaking,\u201d will also see members of the Palestinian delegation discuss \u201chow diverse cinematic approaches to historic Palestine can heal trauma and act as cultural resistance against erasure.\u201d Explains Gourd-Mercado: \u201cIt\u2019s a collaboration with the Palestinian Film Institute to showcase the know-how, the depth and the different types of Palestinian documentary filmmaking. The idea was: What is the future of storytelling for Palestinian filmmakers, with all the different elements that influence that? Part of them are based in Gaza at the moment, and you also have the diaspora, displaced filmmakers, you have people who were born in other countries, but are Palestinians. So we wanted to explore how that shapes the view of the world, and how that shapes documentary.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOpening up debates and new perspectives, and challenging dominant perspectives, is close to the heart of CPH:DOX and its Industry programmers. One session that is sure to do that this year is one exploring \u201cnarrative positionality.\u201d Notes the industry events website: \u201cFrom objectifying gazes, to reductive tropes, racist imagery, transphobic narratives, stigmatization and the hypersexualization of women\u2019s, queer and racialized bodies, image-making powered by creatives from dominant groups, from the global north, colonial perspectives and by cisgender men, has had a complex relationship not only with onscreen subjects, but also with cultural workers and audiences who handle, curate, receive and consume those images.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tGourd-Mercado points out that the session is closely related to one about \u201cnarrative sovereignty.\u201d \u201cAbout narrative sovereignty, we talk a lot in the context of storytelling by Indigenous filmmakers and stories that are based in Indigenous communities,\u201d she tells THR. \u201cHow can such sovereignty be achieved in documentaries? And narrative positionality is something that\u2019s super-important for European filmmakers, because a lot of them go outside of Europe to film, whether it is different communities, different countries, different people. So, it\u2019s really important to ask yourself: What is my positionality here? And how am I transforming the space? How is it different for me to come into this space and film these people, and how am I impacting the people who are being filmed?\u201d<\/p>\n

Concludes Gourd-Mercado: \u201cLike with all the other topics, that conversation is something that\u2019s really important. And so we want to provide a platform to debate these issues.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CPH:INDUSTRY, the industry strand of CPH:DOX, the\u00a0Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival,\u00a0is back with a jam-packed program across its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[108,8200,762,12743],"class_list":{"0":"post-36852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-copenhagen","8":"tag-copenhagen","9":"tag-cphdox","10":"tag-international","11":"tag-john-wilson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116204836331568058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}