The international documentary film festival CPH:DOX 2026 was officially inaugurated on Tuesday evening with a ceremony at the Conservatory Concert Hall in Copenhagen and the world premiere of the highly anticipated documentary MARIINKA, a film that follows, over the course of ten years, the lives of young Ukrainians from the Donbas region before and after the Russian invasion. The opening took place simultaneously in the Danish capital and in numerous cinemas across the country through the DOX:DANMARK program, which livestreamed the event to local audiences.

The ceremony began with a performance by the Ukrainian Soul choir from the Goldschmidt Music Academy, followed by remarks from Denmark’s Minister of Culture, Jakob Engel-Schmidt. Afterwards, the evening’s hosts — festival managing director Katrine Kiilgaard and artistic director Niklas Engstrøm — took the stage and emphasized the role of the festival as a space to contextualize documentary cinema and encourage complex conversations about the contemporary world, particularly when audiences encounter new and challenging perspectives.

Following the screening of MARIINKA, the audience attended a conversation with the film’s Belgian director Pieter-Jan De Pue, Ukrainian line producer Anna Konik, and one of the documentary’s protagonists, Nataliia Borodynia. The discussion was moderated by Danish Ukraine correspondent Mathilde Kimer.

The festival will run until March 22, filling cinemas and cultural institutions across Copenhagen with more than 200 documentaries, alongside talks, debates and encounters between filmmakers, experts and audiences. At the same time, the DOX:DANMARK program will bring part of the festival’s programming to cities across the country until March 25.

In an international context marked by political tensions and debates surrounding censorship, technology and disinformation, the festival’s organizers stress the importance of maintaining open spaces for dialogue. In this regard, the professional section CPH:INDUSTRY — taking place from March 16 to 19 — will expand its program with the CPH:DOX Summit, a forum bringing together thinkers, politicians, researchers and documentary professionals to discuss the challenges of the future. This year’s edition, titled “Sovereignty: Rethink, Envision, Redefine,” will open with a keynote address by ARTE France president Bruno Patino. According to Mara Gourd-Mercado, head of industry and training at CPH:DOX, the participation of experts from different fields has added significant value to the event and reflects the growing international interest — including from the United States — in strengthening collaboration with Europe in the field of documentary filmmaking.