Marxist Millionaires and Fungal Realms: The Top Movies of CPH:DOX 2026

      A few weeks ago, I arrived in Copenhagen during the early evening for this year’s CPH:DOX, still feeling a bit disoriented after covering the Oscars the previous night. My intention for that night was to attend a screening of Stillz’s Barrio Triste—the latest film from Harmony Korine’s EDGLRD productions and, as my colleague C.J. Prince rightly noted in his excellent TIFF review, the most thrilling piece of cinema I've encountered all year. However, with some time to kill before that audio-visual dive, I opted to indulge in a comforting bowl of noodles.

      I had my sights set on a vibrant spot called Slurp, opened in 2017 by Philipp Ineiter, who is among a plethora of local restaurateurs with backgrounds at René Redzepi’s Noma before launching their own establishments in the city. In the weeks before my arrival, this culinary scene had been notably tarnished by serious allegations against Redzepi from former employees and interns, who courageously spoke out after years of silence about a spectrum of issues, including both verbal and physical abuse, as well as more alarming accusations of sexual misconduct. Their bravery is commendable.

      As I contemplated the potential ramifications of such revelations on a city now synonymous with its food culture—which plays a crucial role in both its tourism and self-identity—I was served a bowl of deep, savory broth with a heap of perfectly cooked ramen just beneath the surface. The enticing aromas brought to mind a documentary film I had watched the day before: Ian Purnell’s Arctic Link, a captivating exploration of undersea broadband cables (enough to wrap around the globe 32 times) and the efforts to connect a remote community in Alaska.

      Purnell’s documentary introduces viewers to this realm through a stylish visual montage, featuring images of ships, waves, and—shoutout to Slurp—dark waters and long tubes that resonate with my recent fascination for social-media accounts showcasing terrifying shells and overloaded container vessels. Among all the films in this year’s DOX: AWARD selection, it stood out as the best in competition, though the jury awarded the top prize to Dongnan Chen’s Whispers in May, a beautifully captured coming-of-age story set against the backdrop of the Liangshan Mountains in Eastern China, which skillfully blurs the lines between reality and fiction. The narrative follows three lively teenage girls in a small town who travel to the next village to buy a dress for a rite-of-passage ceremony. It may challenge conventional definitions of “hybrid non-fiction films”—which is precisely why festivals like CPH:DOX exist.

      This year's prizes also recognized Nolwenn Hervé’s The Cord—a vibrant look at a women’s health clinic in Venezuela and the dedicated individuals working there, serving as an unintentional time capsule of life before the illegal capture of President Maduro in January—and Nathan Grossman’s AMAZOMANIA, an intriguing revisionist historical piece that begins with footage from Swedish filmmaker Erling Söderström’s 1996 expedition to the remote Carubo tribe in the Amazon rainforest. The film then propels forward to the present, where Grossman meets with the director and persuades him to retrace the steps of his earlier film, both geographically and, as unfolding events reveal, in a way that leads to uncomfortable realizations about his proudest work. It’s a compelling narrative, echoing the early Herzog protagonists in Söderström’s Quixotic self-image, even if it doesn’t completely come together.

      A more focused and authoritative perspective on the ecological marvels of Central America is found in Otilia Portillo’s Daughters of the Forest – Mycelium Chronicles, a suitably surreal exploration (the sound design alone triggers memories of wilder nights) of the fungal kingdom that honors the wisdom passed down by older generations while equally valuing the scientific approaches of their younger counterparts, positioning them in dialogue with one another. Jeanie Finlay’s excellent All Rivers Spill Their Stories to the Sea examines a similarly critical ecosystem under threat (specifically, the local fishing industries in Northeast England), which, although geographically distant from the mushroom foragers in Portillo's film, holds existential weight for the community. Finlay’s heartfelt, almost Loachian exploration of its devastation after decades of Tory greed and short-sightedness adds to its impact.

      The festival's most sought-after ticket was for the European premiere of John Wilson’s The Story of Concrete, a film that encapsulates the cosmic concerns and quirky humor of Wilson's How to series into what is essentially a brilliant feature-length episode. It captivated the audience in the 650-seater Bremen theatre even before Wilson took the stage for an almost too-perfect Q&A with his spiritual predecessor Louis Theroux, who seamlessly transitioned from a presentation of The Settlers (his essential 2023 analysis of Israeli aggressions in the West Bank) immediately after.

      In terms of geopolitical documentaries, none were more captivating than Sinéad O’She