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-organized with Copenhagen documentary festival CPH:DOX, U.S. distributors and other buyers are being offered access to seven European documentaries playing at the festival and available 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 invited to an online pitching session with the films’ respective artistic, production and sales teams. The U.S.-European bridging event will continue on-site with an in-person networking event during the festival’s industry sidebar, CPH:FORUM (March 24-27).

Five of the documentaries are world premiering in the festival’s most prestigious DOX:AWARD section. Handled internationally by Universal Pictures Content Group, “See You Tomorrow on the Moon” is directed by the multi-awarded Thomas Balmès (“Happiness,” “Babies”). Under the Rise & Shine banner, “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 “Flophouse America” by Monica Strømdahl.

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

All doc participants applauded the Europe! On Demand initiative, such as “The Castle’s” producer Nadège Labé. “This initiative is a real opportunity to open up our film to the U.S. market. It’s a tough territory for European films to access, with a network that we lack,” she said.

As part of the promotional initiative, the selected teams share their visions with Variety.

Here is a rundown of the titles:
“Black Water” (Spain, En Buen Sitio)
For this film, filmmaker Natxo Leuza (San Sebastian Irizar Award nominated for “El Drogas”) has travelled to Bangladesh to capture a family forced to flee their rural home for Dhaka, as storms, cyclones and erosion force thousands of people every day to find refuge in the capital. “This is a film about poorer nations, such as Bangladesh, paying the prize of rich countries exploiting our natural resources. It’s a human tragedy,” says Leuza who experienced first-hand the harsh monsoon weather conditions with his team including producer/cinematographer Jokin Pascual. The latter says “Black Water” is “the biggest and most ambitious project” for the recently founded production outfit En Buen Sitio.

“Girls & Gods” (Austria, Golden Girls Film)
In this thought-provoking film, Verena Soltiz (“Thierry Henry”) has teamed up with seasoned helmer/producer Arash T. Riashi (CPH:DOX audience winner for “Everyday Rebellion”) to explore whether monotheistic religions can be feminist, with Ukraine activist Inna Shevchenko of the FEMEN collective as their guide, from Copenhagen to New York. “ ‘Girls & Gods’ is not a documentary made from a safe distance. It’s an unsafe film, an unsafe conversation, because truth is often uncomfortable but always joyful!,” says Soltiz who was approached by Shevchenko with the idea for the film.

“With ‘Girls & Gods’ we want to empower those silent masses to stand up and clean up their religions from the ancient dust of violent, misogynist patriarchy that is the reason for so many wars, conflicts and injustices, especially towards women,” adds Iranian-born Riashi, who has distanced himself from religion, after being forced into exile with his family by the Islamic regime. Riashi produces for his outfit Golden Girls Film, in co-production with Switzerland’s Amka Films. “This is a very inclusive film, which we believe can reach out to a wide audience, including in the U.S. as we had several shootings there, notably with feminists against abortion, pro-choice Catholics, Iranian/U.S. activist Masih Alinejad and trans rabbi Abby Stein,” says Riashi. The Austrian theatrical release via Filmladen is scheduled for this fall.

“Flophouse America” (Norway, The Netherlands, U.S., Fri Film)
For more than 15 years, top still photographer Monica Strømdahl has travelled in the U.S., documenting housing conditions and families living in flophouse hotels. When she met Mikal (12), born and raised in such a place with his alcoholic parents, she realized that his story needed more than just a photograph and started filming. “Flophouse America” follows Mikal through three years and a turning point in his life. “Our intention is to make audiences see children like Mikal, not as statistics, but as a full complex human being,” says Strømdahl, who wants to raise awareness about child poverty and social inequality around the world, and trigger concrete actions from policy-makers and the general public. Producer Beathe Hofseth says she was instantly convinced by Strømdahl’s vision when she approached her in 2014. “Combining art, strong beautiful images with important and powerful content is exactly what we – producer Siri Natvik and I – love doing at Fri Film.”

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

“Sanatorium” (Ireland, Ukraine, France, Venom Films)
Gar O’Rourke’s documentary tracks the stories of staff and guests at the imposing Kuyalnik Sanatorium in Odesa, as they search for healing, love and happiness while war rages nearby. O’Rourke says after filming his short film “Kachalka” in Kyiv in 2019, he was “always fascinated by the Ukrainian attitude towards health and living.” Introduced by a Ukrainian friend to “the incredible world of Soviet-era sanatoriums, he fell in love with Odesa’s Kuyalnyk Sanatorium and started working on his film in 2021. After the Russian invasion, he thought his project would collapse, until he found a way to return in 2023. “This is a story about the power of the human spirit and of human resilience,” he tells Variety. “The war has changed everything for the lives of Ukrainians, and I saw first-hand just how courageous and brave both the staff and guests were by being there at the sanatorium during such dangerous 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 several territory offers from broadcasters 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, producer and cinematographer Thomas Balmès travelled the world for his hit documentary “Babies” (2011), handled by Focus Features, and filmed a remote 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 care unit of Calais Hospital, in northern France, where a horse named Peyo visits the most fragile patients to soothe them in their final days. One of them is patients, Amandine (39) who suffers from terminal cancer and has only a few months left to live.

“The film started from a photo story featuring Peyo published by the Guardian newspaper and seeing it sparked an idea that I wanted to develop further,” says Balmès, who then approached the Calais Hospital and tried to “negotiate” his presence every day with the medical staff, the patients, and the families. “What was exceptional with Amandine is that she was very willing to participate in the movie as soon as she heard about it. Right away she said: “I want to be in this film. I want to leave a trace behind so that my children can see who their mother was and how she fought until the end against her illness,” says Balmès, adding, “I like when films make people question themselves and I hope this one, which deals with death, will make some people question the way they live their life.”

“The Castle” (France, Italy, Société du Sensible, ZaLab Film)
In Danisinni, an isolated and poor neighborhood of Palermo, Sicily, three 11-year-old kids, Angelo, Mary and Rosy, turn an abandoned kindergarten into a secret shelter. Here they can escape the violence of the outside world and share their dreams.

Co-directors Danny Biancardi and Virginia Nardelli, who lived in that district for almost two years, gradually got to know that community, organizing film workshops. They were joined by Palermo-born Stefano Guiseppe La Rosa. “We did some scouting to find our protagonists, but these three kids quickly stood out. It was a very spontaneous choice to start working with them, as they took us along to explore their world,” says Nardelli.

La Rosa says they were careful to deliver an authentic portrait of the kids’ harsh lives, while giving room for imagination and magic, blending observatory and participatory creation. French producer Nadège Labé says she was both taken by the directors’ artistic affinities, their intuitive approach, closeness to their protagonists and desire to mix genres. The film, co-produced by Italian producer 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 documentary by Arthur Franck explores the power narratives and myths of the Cold War era, through the political chess game between world leaders at the Helsinki Summit in 1975. “Putin’s war on Ukraine has brought a sense of collective déjà vu, where the anxiety of looming mutual destruction that plagued the Cold War is suddenly back in play again,” says Franck, who also denounces U.S. President Donald Trump’s “radical approach by bypassing western allies, which is undoing decades of diplomatic work and puts Europe in peril. My film can be seen as a counter-narrative to the perceived permanence of the Cold War. Change is possible,” claims the director, who dug into public broadcaster Yle’s archives to extract 80% of his footage, mixed with AI voice simulation scenes based on transcripts…and lots of humor. Franck says pitching the project at CPH:FORUM 2024 was crucial to attract international attention. Co-producers Kloos & Co in Germany and Indie Film in Norway joined in, followed by RBB/Arte, DR and RÚV.