Three Canadian feature documentaries are set to make their world premieres at this year’s Copenhagen International Documentary Festival (CPH:DOX).

Everest Dark (pictured), the first feature from B.C.-born unscripted TV veteran Jereme Watt (Highway Thru Hell) is one of the documentaries debuting at the Danish festival which runs from March 19 to 30.

Filmed between March and April 2021, Everest Dark is produced by Winnipeg’s Merit Motion Pictures, Montreal’s Intuitive Pictures, Watt’s Vancouver-based Killawatt Productions and Calgary’s Michael Bodnarchuk Productions with CBC’s Documentary Channel as the broadcast partner. The film follows a Sherpa mountaineer who leads a team on Mount Everest to remove the bodies of dead climbers and complete the Buddhist cycle of life. Bodnarchuk, Watt and Merit Jensen Carr are the film’s producers.

Everest Dark is financed by Telefilm Canada, Canada Media Fund, CBC’s Documentary Channel, Manitoba Film & Music, Rogers Documentary Fund, Autlook Filmsales, Northern Banner Releasing, a donation from the International Documentary Association and Manitoba and federal tax credits, a spokesperson for Merit Motion Pictures told Playback Daily. The film is screening outside of competition.

Toronto-based Northern Banner is the film’s Canadian distributor and Austria’s Autlook Filmsales is the international sales agent.

The second doc debuting in Copenhagen is The End of the Internet from Toronto-based Dylan Reibling. The film is also Reibling’s (Looking for Mike) first credit as a producer, he told Playback Daily.

The doc travels around the world through cities such as Berlin and Taiwan to explore how hacktivists are fighting a shadow war for an internet outside the influence of tech giants.

The End of the Internet is financed by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council with Telefilm Canada providing post-production support. It is competing for the F:act Award, which is dedicated to films that fall between the strict bounds of documentary filmmaking and investigative journalism.

The final Canadian feature to make its world premiere in Copenhagen is Agatha’s Almanac from Saskatoon-based artist Amalie Atkins who also produces. The documentary follows Atkins’ 90-year-old aunt Agatha as she goes about living self-sufficiently on her farm. It is competing for CPH:DOX’s main prize, the DOX:AWARD.

Additionally, the interactive exhibition Huk, The Jaguaress will be making its world premiere. It is directed by Bolivian-Australian artist and filmmaker Violeta Ayala. Ayala, Australia’s Daniel Fallshaw and Montreal’s Yasmeen Hitti produce. The exhibition uses AI to recreate an ancient jaguaress deity from the Amazon. It is funded by Screen NSW, MILA – Quebec AI Institute and Ayala and Fallshaw’s United Notions Film.

B.C.-based Jennifer Abbott’s short VR project The Forest that Breathes Us, which invites participants to experience the sensory lives of a Douglas fir tree, a coyote and a humpback whale, will also be among the Canadian entries having their world premieres. Abbott, Vancouver-based Jai Djwa and Peter Fisher are the producers.

Simon Ennis’ The Hobby: Tales from the Tabletop, produced by Vortex Media’s Justin Rebelo will be making its international premiere at the festival. It made its world premiere at Austin’s South by Southwest Festival in 2024.

The U.S.-Canada coproduction Men of War (NEON, DeerJen, Rakontur, Hyperobject Industries), directed by Jen Gatien and Billy Corben will be making its European premiere. The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

Other Canadian docs screening at the festival are Denis Coté’s Paul (Coop Vidéo de Montréal), Omar Majeed and Peter Mishara’s Disco’s Revenge (86 Media House, Elevation Pictures) and Danae Elon’s Rule of Stone (Entre deux mondes).

Image courtesy of Merit Motion Pictures