"Motherland" achieved main prize at Copenhagen

March 26, 2023

Film "Motherland" from belarusian authors Alexander Mihalkovich & Hanna Badziaka got the main prize on one of the biggest film festivals in the world - CPH:DOX in Denmark. Movie tells about the events of 2020, and covers a wide range of events and cultural phenomena of that period: a rigid military structure and its culture of violence, rave parties, mass protests against the re-election of Alexander Lukashenko, etc. The description of the site describes the film this way: "With eminent camerawork and an intimate knowledge of the culture, ‘Motherland’ is one of those rare films that manages to encapsulate a crucial point in history while it is still unfolding".

The jury justified their choice of the winning film as follows:

"This was such a cinematic and meaningful film that took its time unfolding the complexity of living within an oppressive and unjust system. It poses questions about the idea of an individual choice within a cornered society. The title of the film is a way to give back the power to the women who are at the forefront of this fight".

CPH:DOX is a Copenhagen international doc film festival, which was founded on 2003. Festival programme often goes beyond the traditional framework and offers new perspectives at the intersection of cinema and media art. Due to that within the festival framework you can see both popular international directors and a new talents, as well as a lot of experimental movies.