Motherland

Winner of the top prize at CPH:DOX 2023, this monumental film from Belarus paints a dark and disturbing picture of the country's brutal military culture.

A ‘tradition’ of violent bullying of new conscripts creates generational trauma deeply embedded in the country’s present day culture.

Encompassing the personal and the political, filmmakers Alexander Mihalkovich and Hanna Badziaka capture a snapshot of a troubled, modern-day Belarus through the real-life experiences of mothers and new conscripts, overlaid with the raw voices of those who have gone before them, taken from their private letters home.