Motherland
As young Nikita apprehensively begins his compulsory military service, and Svetlana travels the country looking for justice for her dead son, activists take to the streets to protest dedovshchina: the violent, state-led hazing tradition meant to turn Belarusian boys into soldiers, and which perpetuates the very mechanisms of fear and control the government uses on its populace.
Alexander Mihalkovich is Belarusian-Ukrainian director and producer. He graduated with a PhD in library science, and holds an MA in film directing from DocNomads. He focuses on long-term projects with which he feels a close personal relationship. He produces experimental and creative documentaries with 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 for numerous international film festivals (DOK.fest München 2019, Beldocs Belgrade 2019, Sarajevo IFF DocuTalents Award 2018, Jihlava IDFF 2018, Eastern Neighbours Film Festival 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 topics related to everyday life. 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.
