Motherland, a “darkish and monumental” movie about neo-nationalism in Belarus, earned the highest prize tonight on the prestigious CPH:DOX pageant in Copenhagen.
Belorussian administrators Alexander Mihalkovich and Hanna Badziaka accepted the Dox:Award honor at a ceremony on the Kunsthal Charlottenborg within the Danish capital. Jurors praised Motherland as “a cinematic and significant movie that took its time unfolding the complexity of residing inside an oppressive and unjust system. It poses questions in regards to the thought of a person selection inside a cornered society. The title of the movie is a option to give again the ability to the ladies who’re on the forefront of this combat.” [See the full list of CPH:DOX winners below].
‘Motherland’
Courtesy of CPH:DOX
The world premiere of Motherland at CPH:DOX comes at a very well timed second, simply over a yr after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine with key help from the Kremlin-allied Belorussian authorities. Russian forces skilled in Belarus upfront of the warfare and sprang a part of their assault from the nation, which provides the closest land path to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
The pageant famous the documentary provides a novel perception into up to date Belarus, “the place corruption and a brutal army tradition push younger individuals to decide on sides. With eminent camerawork and an intimate data of the tradition, Motherland is a type of uncommon movies that manages to encapsulate a vital level in historical past whereas it’s nonetheless unfolding. It’s a movie that reaches far past the nation’s borders and analyses the post-Soviet situation from a perspective hardly ever seen: that of the younger individuals.”
‘Motherland’ administrators Alexander Mihalkovich and Hanna Badziaka earn the highest prize at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen in an awards ceremony on Friday, March 24, 2023
Courtesy of Emil Agerskov/CPH:DOX
In an announcement shared with Deadline, the filmmakers stated, “We have been completely happy and excited to premiere the movie at CPH:DOX and have been so moved by the viewers’s response. The sensation that individuals get the layers and senses we have been serious about whereas making the movie, and really feel its tempo and environment, is one thing actually useful. And it’s extraordinarily honorable for us that the movie has the jury’s recognition: We’re grateful for his or her excessive analysis of the movie, a movie that has develop into not solely a creative journey for us, however a life-changing expertise in lots of features.”
On the Edge, a documentary set in a psychiatric hospital in Paris, earned a Particular Point out within the Dox:Award class. Jurors for that part included Gugi Gumilang, Mathilde Henrot, Ania Trzebiatowska, Salomé Jashi, and Lea Glob (Glob’s movie Apolonia, Apolonia received the separate Politiken:DOX Award at CPH:DOX Friday night time).
Reyhaneh Jabbari testifies in ‘Seven Winters in Tehran’
© Made in Germany
Claiming the prize within the F:act Award class was Seven Winters in Tehran, a movie by Steffi Niederzoll that examines the surprising case of a younger Irananian lady, Reyhaneh Jabbari. Jabbari spent seven years on demise row after her arrest in 2007 for killing a person in self-defense who had tried to rape her. Deadline spoke with Niederzoll in Berlin the place the documentary held its world premiere (examine that right here).
The Hostage Takers earned a Particular Point out within the F:act Award competitors. The Nordic:Dox Award went to Mrs. Hansen & the Unhealthy Companions, directed by Jella Bethmann, with a Particular Point out there going to Lynx Man.
Queer artist Gena Marvin in ‘Queendom’
Galdanova Movies
Queendom, which Deadline lined at SXSW the place the documentary made its world premiere, received the Subsequent:Wave Award. The movie directed by Agniia Galdanova facilities on a daring and progressive performer from Russia’s frozen hinterlands. “Like a younger David Bowie from one other planet, the entire world is one large catwalk for intrepid 21-year-old queer artist Gena,” CPH:Dox programmers write. “She grew up within the far reaches of Russia, in a city constructed on high of an outdated gulag camp. Immediately, she levels her radical performances in supermarkets, metro stations and in the midst of Moscow streets in an alternate protest in opposition to the way in which LGBTQ+ individuals are handled in Putin’s extraordinarily conservative Russia.”
Yihao in ‘The Final Yr of Darkness’
Wavelength/Kindred Spirit
A Particular Point out within the Subsequent:Wave class went to The Final Yr of Darkness, directed by Ben Mullinkosson (you possibly can see a clip from the documentary in our put up right here). Jurors in that part included Mario Valero, Ben Fowlie (founding father of the Camden Worldwide Movie Pageant and government and inventive director of the Factors North Institute), and Cille Hannibal.
The New:Imaginative and prescient Award was claimed by An Asian Ghost Story, directed by Bo Wang. Jurors awarded two particular mentions in that class – one going to The Secret Backyard and one other to Pacific Membership.
As famous above, the Politiken:DOX Award went to Lea Glob’s Apolonia, Apolonia (it additionally received the highest prize at IDFA in November). A Particular Point out was awarded to The Mountains from director Christian Einshøj.
CPH:DOX
All of the award-winning movies shall be screened in cinemas in Copenhagen on March 27 and 28, the pageant famous. That is the 20th anniversary for CPH:DOX, which has develop into one of many world’s main all-documentary festivals.
Along with the classes above, awards have been introduced within the parallel CPH:DOX Discussion board occasion. Relating to these prizes, CPH:DOX writes:
“Eurimages along with CPH:DOX’ long-standing financing and co-production occasion CPH:FORUM… awarded the Eurimages Co-Manufacturing Improvement Award of 20,000 Euro to the venture Solely on Earth by Robin Petré, produced by Hansen & Pedersen (Signe Skov Thomsen, Malene Flindt Pedersen, Denmark, Spain).
“The Council of Europe’s Eurimages Fund handed out a Particular Eurimages Co-production Improvement Award of 20,000 Euro to the venture Pink Zone by Iryna Tsilyk and the manufacturing firm Moon Man (Darya Bassel, Ukraine). The award was handed out to precise the assist of and solidarity with the Ukrainian movie trade.
“CPH:FORUM, Unifrance and TitraFilm additionally handed out the Unifrance Doc Award for one of the best French majority or minority co-produced pitch of this yr’s CPH:FORUM. The prize went to Cuba & Alaska by Yegor Troyanovsky , produced by 2Brave Productions (Olha Beskhmelnytsina, Ukraine) and TAG Movie (Christian Popp, France).”
Courtesy of CPH:DOX
Award winners at CPH:DOX 2023:
● Dox:Award: Motherland by Alexander Mihalkovich & Hanna Badziaka (Sweden / Ukraine / Norway)
Particular Point out: On the Edge by Nicolas Peduzzi (France)
● F:act Award: Seven Winters in Tehran by Steffi Niederzoll (Germany / France)
Particular Point out: The Hostage Takers by Puk Damsgaard & Søren Klovborg (Denmark)
● Nordic:Dox Award: Mrs. Hansen and the Unhealthy Companions by Jella Bethmann (Denmark)
Particular Point out: Lynx Man by Juha Suonpää (Finland)
● New:Imaginative and prescient Award: An Asian Ghost Story by Bo Wang (Netherlands / Hong Kong)
Particular Point out: The Secret Backyard by Nour Ouayda (Libanon)
Particular Point out: Pacific Membership by Valentin Noujaïm (France / Qatar)
● Subsequent:Wave Award: Queendom by Agniia Galdanova (USA / France)
Particular Point out: The Final Yr of Darkness by Benjamin Mullinkosson (China / USA)
● Politiken:DOX Award: Apolonia, Apolonia by Lea Glob (Denmark)
Particular Point out: The Mountains by Christian Einshøj (Denmark)
