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“Motherland,” a Belarusian film challenging the country’s nationalist pressures, wins top prize at CPH:DOX; Check out the full list of winners

hometownA “dark and monumental” film about neo-nationalism in Belarus won the top prize at the prestigious CPH:DOX festival in Copenhagen tonight.

Belarusian directors Alexander Mihalkovich and Hanna Badziaka accepted the Dox:Award at a ceremony in the Charlottenborg art gallery in the Danish capital. judges praised hometown as “a cinematic and meaningful film that took its time to reveal the complexities of life within an oppressive and unjust system. It challenges the idea of ​​individual choices within an angular society. The film’s title is a way to restore strength to the women who are on the front lines of this struggle.” [See the full list of CPH:DOX winners below].

The world premiere of hometown at CPH:DOX comes at a particularly opportune time, just over a year after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, with significant help from the pro-Kremlin Belarusian government. Russian troops were trained in Belarus before the war and launched part of their attack from the country, which offers the closest land route to the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

The festival noted that the documentary offers a unique look into contemporary Belarus, “where corruption and a ruthless military culture drive young people to take sides. With excellent camera work and a deep knowledge of the culture, hometown is one of those rare films that manages to capture a turning point in the story while it is still unfolding. It is a film that reaches far beyond national borders and analyzes the post-Soviet situation from a rarely seen perspective: that of the youth.”

'Motherland' directors Alexander Mihalkovich and Hanna Badziaka receive the grand prize at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen during an awards ceremony on Friday 24 March 2023

In a statement shared with Deadline, the filmmakers said: “We were thrilled and excited to present the film at CPH:DOX and were so moved by the audience’s response. To feel that people are touching the layers and senses getting what we had in mind during filming and feeling the pace and atmosphere is something very valuable. And we are very honored that the film has the jury’s recognition: we are grateful for their high appreciation of the film, a film that became not only an artistic journey for us, but a life-changing experience in many ways.”

on the edge, a documentary film set in a psychiatric hospital in Paris, received a special mention in the Dox:Award category. The judges of this section included Gugi Gumilang, Mathilde Henrot, Ania Trzebiatowska, Salomé Jashi and Lea Glob (Globs-Film) Apollonia, Apollonia won the separate Politiken:DOX award on CPH:DOX on Friday night).

Reyhaneh Jabbari testifies in Seven Winters in Tehran

Win the prize in the F:act award category Seven winters in Tehran, a film by Steffi Niederzoll that examines the shocking case of a young Iranian woman, Reyhaneh Jabbari. Jabbari served seven years on death row after being arrested in 2007 for the murder of a man who tried to rape her in self-defense. Deadline spoke with Niederzoll in Berlin, where the documentary had its world premiere (read about it here).

The hostages received special mention in the F:act award competition. The Nordic:Dox award went on Mrs. Hansen and the Bad Companionsdirected by Jella Bethmann, with special mention lynx man.

Enter the queer artist Gena Marvin

queen, broadcast by Deadline at SXSW where the documentary had its world premiere, won the Next:Wave Award. The film, directed by Agniia Galdanova, revolves around a daring and innovative actress from Russia’s frozen interior. “Like a young David Bowie from another planet, the whole world is one giant catwalk for intrepid 21-year-old queer artist Gena,” write CPH:Dox programmers. “She grew up in the most remote regions of Russia, in a city built on an old Gulag camp. Today, she performs her radical performances in supermarkets, metro stations and in the middle of the streets of Moscow as an alternative protest against the treatment of LGBTQ+ people in Putin’s ultra-conservative Russia.”

Yihao in The Last Year of Darkness

A special mention in the Next:Wave category went The Last Year of Darkness, directed by Ben Mullinkosson (you can see an excerpt of the documentary in our post here). Judges in this section included Mario Valero, Ben Fowlie (founder of Camden International Film Festival and executive and artistic director of Points North Institute) and Cille Hannibal.

The New:Vision Award was claimed by An Asian ghost story, directed by Bo Wang. The judges awarded two special mentions in this category – one of which to The secret garden and another on Pacific club.

As already mentioned, the Politiken:DOX award went to Lea Glob Apollonia, Apollonia (He also won the grand prize at IDFA in November). A special mention was awarded The mountains by director Christian Einshøj.

CPH:DOX logo

All award-winning films will be screened in cinemas in Copenhagen on March 27 and 28, according to the festival. This is the 20the Anniversary for CPH:DOX, which has developed into one of the world’s leading pure documentary film festivals.

In addition to the above categories, awards were presented at the parallel CPH:DOX Forum event. CPH:DOX writes about these awards:

“Eurimages together with CPH:FORUM, CPH:DOX’s long-term funding and co-production event, presented the project with the EUR 20,000 Eurimages Co-Production Development Award. Only on earth by Robin Petré, produced by Hansen & Pedersen (Signe Skov Thomsen, Malene Flindt Pedersen, Denmark, Spain).

“The Eurimages Fund of the Council of Europe awarded the project a special Eurimages Co-Production Development Prize of €20,000 red zone by Iryna Tsilyk and the production company Moon Man (Darya Bassel, Ukraine). The award was given to show support and solidarity with the Ukrainian film industry.

“CPH:FORUM, Unifrance and TitraFilm also presented the Unifrance Doc Award for the best pitch produced by French majority or minority co-productions at this year’s CPH:FORUM. The price went up Cuba and Alaska by Yegor Troyanovsky, produced by 2Brave Productions (Olha Beskhmelnytsina, Ukraine) and TAG Film (Christian Popp, France).

CPH:DOX bay leaf image

Winners at the CPH:DOX 2023:
● Dox: Award: hometown by Alexander Mihalkovich & Hanna Badziaka (Sweden / Ukraine / Norway)
Special mention: on the edge by Nicolas Peduzzi (France)
● F:act Award: Seven winters in Tehran by Steffi Niederzoll (Germany/France)
Special mention: The hostages by Puk Damsgaard & Soren Klovborg (Denmark)
● Scandinavian:Dox Award: Mrs. Hansen and the Bad Companions by Jella Bethmann (Denmark)
Special mention: lynx man by Juha Suonpää (Finland)
● New: Vision Award: An Asian ghost story by Bo Wang (Netherlands / Hong Kong)
Special mention: The secret garden by Nour Ouayda (Lebanon)
Special mention: Pacific club by Valentin Noujaïm (France / Qatar)
● Next: Golf Award: queen by Agniia Galdanova (USA/France)
Special mention: The Last Year of Darkness by Benjamin Mullinkosson (China/USA)
● Policies:DOX price: Apollonia, Apollonia by Lea Glob (Denmark)
Special mention: The mountains by Christian Einshøj (Denmark)

Source: Deadline

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