The world premiere of documentary Mariinka, directed by Belgian filmmaker Pieter-Jan De Pue (The Land of the Enlightened), will open the 23rd edition of CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, which takes place March 11–22 in the Danish capital.
Shot on 16mm and nine years in the making, Mariinka will screen in the festival’s main competition, DOX:AWARD.
“Mariinka begins long before the world watched the full-scale invasion. In eastern Ukraine, the film traces several young Ukrainians whose lives have been forever shaped by more than ten years of war and conflict in the Donbas region,” reads a synopsis for the doc. “Amidst the war, a promising boxing talent turns military paramedic, a girl is smuggling unexpected goods across the frontline to survive, and as in a Greek tragedy, two brothers now fight on opposite sides of the front line – against each other – while their youngest brother lives in safety far from the war with a foster family in the United States. Through letters, video calls, and silent meetings, a story unfolds about belonging, national loyalty and the fault lines where political conflicts can trump even the bonds of blood.”
Directed by De Pue and produced by him via his Savage Film and Bart Van Langendonck, in co-production with Christian Beetz via Beetz Brothers Film Production, Femke Wolting and Bruno Felix of Submarine, Vincent Metzinger, Emilie Blézat of Dark Riviera, Naoko Films, Shelter Prod, and ZDF in collaboration with ARTE, with the participation of RTBF Documentary Unit, VRT, VPRO, and SVT.
“Mariinka is a film that insists on our attention at a time when attention itself has become a scarce resource,” said Niklas Engstrøm, artistic director of CPH:DOX. “Pieter-Jan de Pue has spent nearly a decade staying with this story – not chasing the news cycle, but listening to lives shaped by a war that began long before it filled our headlines and continues as the world’s gaze threatens to drift elsewhere. The result is a remarkable cinematic achievement that refuses both distance and simplification, presenting the Russian invasion of Ukraine as lived reality, carried in bodies, relationships and impossible choices.”
He added: “Shaped through European co-production – and years of engagement with CPH:DOX’s industry platforms – the film reminds us why documentary cinema matters: not to offer easy answers, but to confront us with urgency, nuance and the complex human realities behind events often reduced to headlines.”
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