From 'Doctor Strange'. Photo Credit: Film Frame ©2016 Marvel.

Even if the 8th edition of CPH PIX - Denmark's prime audience film festival - is set to kick off in US blockbuster style with the gala premiere of 'Doctor Strange', the full festival programme features a strong European presence, much like the Marvel film's main cast of Benedict Cumberbatch, Tilda Swinton and Mads Mikkelsen.

With a record 226 feature films, the 14-day showcase is significantly larger than in previous years, not least because of the 46 features included in the festival's school- and family programme BUSTER. These films screen in the daytime while the remaining 180 films for the adult and young adult audience screen in the evenings between October 27th and November 9th in all major cinemas across Copenhagen.

AWARDS
Each year CPH PIX bestow awards upon the best films in four different categories: the 'New Talent Grand PIX' our main award bestowed upon a promising debutant, the 'Politiken Audience Award' which will support a film's distribution, Nordisk Film Fonden's 'Best Childrens' Film' and 'Best Childrens' Short Film'.

The filmmakers competing for the talent award include Elite Zexer ('Sand Storm'), Karl Lemieux ('Shambles'), Julia Ducournau ('Raw'), Ronny Trocker ('The Eremits'), The Daniels ('Swiss Army Man') and Dane Ali Abbasi ('Shelley'). The films aiming for the audience award and support for Danish distribution include festival darlings like 'The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki', 'The Wailing', 'Heartstone' and 'The Giant' as well as the Danish entry Christian Tafdrup's 'Parents' (for a full list see below).

ESTABLISHED SIGNATURES
Among the special presentations are Amat Escalante's Danish co-production 'The Untamed' and 'David Lynch: The Art Life', which will be presented by director Jon Nguyen and the Danish team behind the film. A full Terence Davies retrospective runs both before and after the festival and include 'A Quiet Passion'. This year's other big retrospective focuses on legendary rocker Neil Young, who has produced and directed films under the alias Bernard Shakey since 1974. It will be the first of its kind in Europe.
The 'Masters of Cinema' section include the latest films from Lav Diaz ('The Woman Who Left') and Jim Jarmusch ('Paterson') but is dominated by European masters like Bertrand Bonello ('Nocturama') and Andrea Arnold ('American Honey') as well as films from the family section like Michel Gondry's 'Microbe & Gasoline' and Jean-Jacques Annaud's 'Wolf Totem', which will screen in IMAX.
This year's 'Spot On' directors are Tim Sutton (US) and Siu Pham (Vietnam), both of whom will present their three films including their latest: 'Dark Knight' and 'On The Endless Road' respectively.

12 NEW DANISH FILMS
The number of local films have been growing each year but in 2016 the local crop is bigger than ever before with 12 feature films from local and mostly first-time filmmakers, including two actors turned filmmakers - Ulrich Thomsen and Christian Tafdrup. Their films, 'In Embryo' and 'Parents' are along with Puk Grasten's '37' and Ali Abbasi's 'Shelley' among the few that have already had their international premiere. The remaining eight films will be making their world premieres at the festival, and the majority are debut features. Three of them also screen in the school programme, namely Morten BH's 'Anti', Frederik Barington's 'When the Sun Shines' and Mads Erichsen's 'Where the Windmills Are'.

From 'In Embryo'. Ulrich Thomsen as Peter.

THE SOUND OF FILM
As per usual the CPH PIX programme also features cinematic music experiences from a Live Foley event to the trademark silent movie concert. This year's silent classic is 'Menschen Am Sonntag' which will be screened with a live performance from the Icelandic orchestra Múm. A new soundtrack will also accompany the animated classic 'Fantastic Planet' when the trio B/B/S performs live at a screening at the Planetarium. Andrew Hung (Fuck Buttons), who created his very first score for Jim Hoskings' 'The Greasy Strangler', will perform live after the screening of the film. Two concerts without films from major composers include Jean-Michel Jarre and Jóhann Jóhannsson.

MASTERS, TALKS AND GUESTS
Three very different masters of their craft headline this year's 'PIX Talks' section - Amat Escalante, James Schamus and Terence Davies. In addition to these master classes, the festival also features industry talks which focus more on the creative aspects and processes within arthouse cinema - all with guests and cases from the official PIX programme. All talks are open to the public:

'PIX Sessions - 5 New Nordic Films' is the festival's work-in-progress session held on the day of the Nordic Council Film Prize, including among others Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson's 'Under the Tree', Dome Karukoski's 'Tom of Finland', and Hlynur Pálmason's 'Winter Brothers'.

'Courage & Co-production' invites Danish producers on stage to discuss the artistic courage they find in international directors with cases 'Godless' (Bulgaria), 'The Giant' (Sweden), 'Quit Staring at My Plate' (Croatia), Amat Escalante's 'The Untamed' (Mexico), and work-in-progress on 'Under the Tree' (Iceland).

'Genre Came Sneaking' explores how genre film codes make their way into international arthouse cinema with cases 'Raw', 'The Greasy Strangler', 'Lace Crater', 'Nina Forever' and 'Shelley'.

'Surviving Low Budget' - on how to make a sustainable and creative model for working with low-budget films. With Andy Starke (UK), Grímar Jónsson (IS) and Lina Flint (DK).

'Searching a New Reality' showcases 2 projects which are being developed visually under New Danish Screen.

Other confirmed guests include Mads Mikkelsen ('Doctor Strange'), Ulrich Thomsen ('In Embryo'), Pernilla August ('A Serious Game'), and Philippe Grandrieux ('Despite the Night').

NEW TALENT GRAND PIX - COMPETITION
The festival's main prize, the New Talent Grand PIX, is for first-time filmmakers only. 10 debutants, 10 talents PIX believe in, will be competing for the 10.000 Euro cash prize, handed out by an international jury. The nominated films are:
'Aloys', Dir: Tobias Nölle
'El Futuro Perfecto', Dir: Nele Wohlatz
'Godless', Dir: Ralitza Petrova
'Raw', Dir: Julia Ducournau
'Sand Storm', Dir: Elite Zexer
'Shambles', Dir: Karl Lemieux
'Shelley', Dir: Ali Abbasi
'Swiss Army Man', Dir: Daniel Scheinert, Daniel Kwan
'The Eremits', Dir: Ronny Trocker
'The Last Family', Dir: Jan P. Matuszynski

THE POLITIKEN AUDIENCE AWARD
The audience vote among the 12 nominated films, and the winning film will receive distribution support through major Danish newspaper Politiken. The nominated films are:
'24 Weeks', Dir: Anne Zohra Berrached
'Clair Obscur', Dir: Yesim Ustaoglu
'Creative Control', Dir: Benjamin Dickinson
'Parents', Dir: Christian Tafdrup
'Heartstone', Dir: Gudmundur A. Gudmundsson
'In the Last Days of the City', Dir: Tamer El Said
'Operation Avalanche', Dir: Matt Johnson
'Pericle the Black', Dir: Stefano Mordini
'The 9th Life of Louis Drax', Dir: Alexandre Aja
'The Giant', Dir: Johannes Nyholm
'The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki', Dir: Juho Kuosmanen
'The Wailing', Dir: Na Hong-jin

NORDISK FILM FONDEN'S BEST CHILDREN'S FILM
'6A', Dir: Peter Modestij
'Enclave', Dir: Goran Radovanovic
'Girl Asleep', Dir: Rosemary Myers
'The Girl, the Mother and the Demons', Dir: Suzanne Osten
'Girls Lost', Dir: Alexandra-Therese Keining
'Little Men', Dir: Ira Sachs
'Long Way North', Dir: Rémi Chayé
'Microbe & Gasoline', Dir: Michel Gondry
'Mune', Dir: Alexandre Heboyan, Benoît Philippon
'My Life as a Courgette', Dir: Claude Barras

NEW DANISH TALENTS
'37', Dir: Puk Grasten
'Afskåret', Dir: Anders Fløe
'Anti', Dir: Morten BH
'Bakerman', Dir: David Noel Bourke
'Copenhague - A Love Story', Dir: Philippe Lesage
'The Lost Ones', Dir: Dariusz Steiness
'In Embryo', Dir: Ulrich Thomsen
'Needle Boy', Dir: Alexander Bak Sagmo
'When the Sun Shines', Dir: Frederik Barington
'Where the Windmills Are', Dir: Mads Erichsen
'Lovers', Dir: Niels Holstein Kaa

CPH PIX October 27 - November 9 2016

CPH PIX is the biggest annual feature film festival in Denmark. PIX shows the most significant, surprising and entertaining films from all over the world. With a special focus on upcoming filmmakers, every year a promising director is awarded the New Talent Grand PIX for their debut feature film, which consists of a 10,000 Euro cash prize.