CPH:DOX - Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival was founded in 2002 by Kim Foss and Andreas Steinmann on behalf of Natsværmerfonden, which also founded the now defunct
NatFilm Festival (1990 – 2008). Under the artistic direction of the festival’s first head of programme (and later festival director) Tine Fischer, the festival grew to become one of the leading documentary film festivals in Europe. Today, the festival ranks among the largest and most important documentary film festivals globally, with more than 150,000 admissions and more than 2,000 international industry guests in 2025. Following the 2015 edition of CPH:DOX, the festival announced that it would change its dates from November to March, and the first of the new spring editions of the festival was held from 16 to 26 March 2017, with the centrally located
Kunsthal Charlottenborg as the new festival centre. In response to the
COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 CPH:DOX held their festival virtually, using a Shift72
video-on-demand platform that was built and launched in just 24 hours. In February 2021 it was announced that the first festival director of CPH:DOX, Tine Fischer, would be stepping down from the CEO role after the 18th edition (21 April to 2 May 2021) to take up a position as director of the
National Film School of Denmark. Instead, the festival's Head of Programme, Niklas Engstrøm (who had been part of the festival team since the beginning in 2003) was appointed new Artistic Director in May 2021, and soon thereafter, Katrine Kiilgaard was appointed Managing Director. The 2025 event took place between 19 and 30 March, 2025. The 2026 edition will take place between 11 and 22 March, 2026. Past guest curators of film programmes have included artists and filmmakers such as
The xx;
Anohni;
Harmony Korine;
Animal Collective;
Nan Goldin;
Douglas Gordon;
Ben Rivers with
Ben Russell;
Ai Weiwei;
The Yes Men;
Olafur Eliasson; and
Naomi Klein with
Avi Lewis. == Description and governance ==