Estonian premiere
Motherland
When young Nikita reports for compulsory military duty in 2020, he enters a generations-old tradition that hides a deadly secret in post-Soviet Belarus: dedovshchina, the practice of violent abuse and bullying that supposedly turns boys into men but which has instead created generational trauma deeply embedded in the country’s present-day culture and identity.
Svetlana lives with this traumatic reality every day – her son was found hanged on base two years earlier as a result of dedovshchina, and a veil of secrecy continues to conceal his murderers.
The stories of Nikita and Svetlana also frame the rage in the streets against the state-led violence, rooted in dedovshchina, that has become the very mechanism of fear the government uses to control its populace.
Alexander Mihalkovich is Belarusian-Ukrainian director and producer. He graduated with a PhD in Library Science and an MA in Film Directing at DocNomads international study program. His focus as a filmmaker is on long-term projects towards which he feels a close personal relationship. He produces documentaries with an experimental and creative background, beautiful cinematography, and a clear director’s vision. After creating several short documentary and experimental films, he made his debut feature film My Granny from Mars. It had a successful theatrical release in Ukraine and has been selected at numerous international film festival including DOK.fest München 2019, BelDocs Belgrade 2019, Sarajevo IFF DocuTalents Award 2018, Jihlava IDFF 2018, Eastern Neighbours Film Festeival 2019 (as the opening night film), among many others.
Hanna Badziaka is a filmmaker with a background in journalism. She graduated with a Master's degree in Philology from the Belarusian State University in 2010. She began her career as a video journalist for independent online media and later worked for the only independent TV channel in Belarus. As a journalist, she focused on social issues and everyday life topics. After gaining extensive experience in creating in-depth video reports, she became interested in documentary filmmaking. She then participated in creating several documentaries and worked as a director and scriptwriter for TV projects focused on short documentaries. Motherland, which she co-directs, is her feature documentary debut.
