A New Voice in Documentary Film

We at CPH:DOX applaud the establishment of Berlin’s Dokumentale and are delighted to welcome a new non-fiction festival to the family. The more festivals that provide access to some of the world’s best documentaries, the better. Documentaries have the potential to not only illuminate and examine our complicated world but also to push for change, revealing the shadowy sides of society that we didn’t know existed and highlighting the people leading the way in exposing them. We are therefore thrilled that the Dokumentale has chosen a number of films that were also screened at this year’s CPH:DOX. We would like to draw special attention to And So It Begins, Black Box Diaries, and Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat. These three films not only reveal a world or a part of history that we may not be familiar with but also introduce human beings to us who are leading the way when it comes to both action and exposure. 

Contemporary as well as historical, the three films tell the stories of individuals who throw themselves right into the paths of history’s aggressive waves and break them— from American jazz musician Abbey Lincoln’s protests against the assassination of the Congo’s first democratically elected president in Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat to Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo’s fight against dictatorial President Duterte in And So it Begins, and last but not least Japanese journalist Shiori Itō, who becomes both a detective and the protagonist in her own story of overcoming sexual assault and confronting the head of Japan’s leading TV network as well as a deeply conservative system in Black Box Diaries. This film had its world premiere at CPH:DOX, winning the very first edition of the festival’s new Human:Rights Award competition. 

We look forward to exploring the Dokumentale’s programme together with other documentary film enthusiasts!