Five new films from CPH:DOX

Since its first edition in 2003, Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival has grown to become one of the largest documentary film festivals in Europe. In the past year, it was attended by almost 84 000 people. The winners of the main competition of CPH:DOX include directors such as Harmony Korine, Joshua Oppenheimer, Ben Rivers, Michelangelo Frammartino, Michael Glawogger, Werner Herzog and others.

This year’s edition, held from November 5 to 15, has presented over 200 documentaries including 60 world premieres, several competition sections, concerts, debates, parties, workshops, exhibitions and conferences. Together with the festival’s organizers, we have selected the following films from the prestigious programme for you to watch for free:

Does the internet also have anything that would resemble a soul? The French filmmaker Antoine Viviani brings the thought experiment to life in a visually breathtaking digital essay In Limbo where an ethereal subject – an electronic ghost – wakes up somewhere in the electronic labyrinth of information and charts a virtual world where digital librarians, Google CEOs and the founding fathers of the Internet themselves are lurking in the cables. In Limbo is a speculative and in every way singular exploration of a place that is often – and wrongly – considered as being without a physical existence.

Mark DeFriest is America's greatest escape artist. A man who – with many short interruptions! – has spent almost all his adult life in prison. The modern Houdini ended up in Florida's most heavily guarded prison after being accused of pretending to be mentally ill. The Mind of Mark DeFriest, a film by Gabriel London, is a look at a charismatic, intelligent and highly unusual man's inner life. You will learn more about the film here.

Farid Eslam's Yallah! Underground is an urban and style-conscious visit to the subcultural underground in a modern Middle East undergoing tremendous change. In the wake of the Arab Spring, a whole new generation of young artists made their breakthrough. Driven by a common desire for a free and peaceful future – and by the prospect of finally being able to express themselves freely. Rappers, graffiti artists, poets and filmmakers took part in the protests and the rush of freedom. Four years after the first popular uprising, the young artists are still facing a long and tough struggle. But this has not discouraged them – on the contrary. If you are yearning to hear some good news and cultural signs of life from a region that is often portrayed in uniquely pessimistic terms, Eslam's confident and fresh film is just the thing.

Human, the latest “portrait of the planet” by French photographer and filmmaker Yann Arthus-Bertrand, is screened in the TOP:DOX Hits section and is also available for you to watch for two days. The director has already fascinated audiences across the globe by his films Home and Planet Ocean. His latest film follows up his series Earth from Above as well as the above mentioned feature-length films; this time, however, Arthus-Bertrand focuses not on the landscape but on the inhabitants of our planet, on the differences and similarities of people and cultures. In extreme close-ups and astonishing long shots, he offers both a sociological study and a visual feast in a single film.