The world premiere of Mariinka, the new feature-length documentary by acclaimed Belgian director Pieter-Jan De Pue, has been selected as the opening film of the 23rd CPH:DOX – Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, which will run from 11-22 March. The movie will screen at the festival’s opening gala on 10 March, in the concert hall of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, in the presence of the director, the film crew and two of the main protagonists.

Shot on 16 mm and developed over the course of nine years, Mariinka marks De Pue’s second documentary feature, following The Land of the Enlightened [+leggi anche:
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scheda film], which premiered in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 2016. The film will compete in CPH:DOX’s main competition, DOX:AWARD, dedicated to documentaries distinguished by their cinematic ambition, strong storytelling and social relevance.

Set in eastern Ukraine, Mariinka unfolds long before the full-scale Russian invasion captured global attention. The film follows several young Ukrainians whose lives have been irreversibly shaped by more than a decade of war in the Donbas region. A gifted boxing talent becomes a military paramedic, a girl smuggles unexpected goods across the frontline to survive, and echoing the structure of a Greek tragedy, two brothers find themselves fighting on opposite sides of the front, while their youngest sibling grows up in safety 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.

CPH:DOX artistic director Niklas Engstrøm commented: “Mariinka is a film that insists on capturing our attention at a time when attention itself has become a scarce resource. 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 which 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. 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 so often reduced to headlines.”

De Pue added: “I am very happy and honoured that the years-long journey of this movie has ultimately led to a world premiere as the opening film and a competition entry at the renowned CPH:DOX festival, which has always supported us during the development and rough-cut phase of the project.”

Mariinka was produced by Bart Van Langendonck and De Pue for Belgium’s Savage Film, in co-production with Christian Beetz for Beetz Brothers Film Production (Germany), Femke Wolting and Bruno Felix for Submarine (Netherlands), Vincent Metzinger and Emilie Blézat for Dark Riviera (Sweden), Naoko Films (Belgium), and Shelter Prod (Belgium), together with ZDF (Germany). It was made in collaboration with ARTE, and with the participation of RTBF Documentary Unit, VRT, VPRO and SVT. The film was supported by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund, the Belgian Federal Tax Shelter, the Netherlands Film Fund, the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Creative Europe – MEDIA, the King Baudouin Foundation and Eurimages, in collaboration with the Belgian Embassy in Ukraine.