Collective Actions; Funding Wins

At CPH:DOX, there was, however, a promising and perhaps more viable structural collaboration that emerged. The Nordic countries’ five major public broadcasters (SVT, NRK, DR, Yle, and RÚV) and their national film institutes (Danish Film Institute, Swedish Film Institute, Norwegian Film Institute, Icelandic Film Centre, and Finnish Film Foundation) announced the creation of a new joint open call for the Nordisk Film & TV Fond in response to “increased competition from global platforms” and to “provide opportunities for faster financing.” 

“I think there is real power in joining forces,” says Chang, referring to the Nordisk partnership and what it signifies. “Netflix is international, so why we can’t we aggregate our viewing numbers; why we can’t we aggregate our money?”

In her new role as an advocate, Chang believes “as a collective, we have to fight back against all these issues,” she says.

Pointing to one recent success by the Documentary Film Council, Chang notes their help in lobbying the BFI’s Global Screen Fund to increase its budget from £7 million to over £18 million per year. “That’s the kind of change that we can do,” she says. “There is power in filmmakers having a voice, and we collectively have the clout and influence to have a say in how things are funded, whether it’s broadcasters or existing funds or raising the level of funding for documentary filmmakers.”

CPH:DOX also has its own role to play. As a crucial meeting point for the documentary industry, it has become a place where alliances—and even money—is exchanged for the types of creative documentaries that are at risk. Attending producers cited such potential significant new sources of money in the halls of CPH:DOX, including the presence of Harriet Gugenheim’s Placeholder Films and Alex Simon, Director of Storytelling Partnerships from the Emerson Collective, founded by Laurene Powell Jobs.

Additionally, a range of modest, but by no means insignificant monetary awards were given out for projects in development, such as €30,000 and €20,000, respectively, from Eurimages for new projects by doc auteurs Asmae El Moudir (The Mother of All Lies) and Véréna Paravel (Leviathan), as well as a US$25,000 prize from Sandbox Films for Nobody Compares director Karthryn Ferguson’s upcoming Matrescence. 

Filmmakers who didn’t win one of the monetary pitch prizes also cited a positive experience pitching. As an example, Finnish filmmaker Arthur Franck pitched his film The Helsinki Effect in 2024, which led to funding from Germany and Norway, and Oscar-nominated producer Rémi Grellety (I Am Not Your Negro) joining his subsequent project, Bromanski, which he pitched this year at the Forum and yielded promising meetings with Arte in France and Germany. “We also spoke with other pitch teams about co-production opportunities in Finland, and hopefully we can make that a reality with one of them,” Franck says. “The vibe amongst the filmmakers was good despite the uncertainty in the industry.”

For many of the producers, filmmakers, and commissioning editors attending CPH, there was the firm sense that all of the “middle powers” need to work together, “because we have to,” as Truyen said.

“We can’t just have this monolithic road we’re going down,” Mandy Chang tells Documentary. “There is power in diversity—a diversity of funders, a diversity of storytellers, and a diversity in the kinds of storytelling that we see at these festivals. This narrowing of subject matter isn’t a good thing, and it’s going to implode at some point,” she adds, referring to the narrowing of the types of nonfiction content being produced. “Everyone is bored with it. I’m bored with it. And I hear about it from filmmakers and audiences who don’t want to watch another true crime documentary.”