MARIINKA, a documentary by Belgian filmmaker Pieter-Jan De Pue (The Land of the Enlightened) that takes audiences inside young Ukrainian lives shaped by war, has won the audience award of the 23rd edition of the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival.
“Heartbreaking, eye-opening and visually poetic. These are just some of the words audiences have used to describe the film,” organizers said on Thursday in unveiling the winner.
“My crew and I are incredibly honored with this audience award,” said De Pue. “Not only for this award as a recognition in itself, but primarily for the fact that MARIINKA apparently managed to evoke emotions in the audience, which is perhaps the most important thing of all—and ultimately the reason why we all make films.”
MARIINKA had its world premiere during the CPH:DOX opening gala, where fest directors Niklas Engstrøm and Katrine Kiilgaard said: “MARIINKA is, above all, a film about what war does to people. To families. To relationships. To destinies that cross front lines and are never the same again. A film like this could not exist without a filmmaker with a truly unique perspective – and Pieter-Jan De Pue has that.”
The film, about a decade in the making, is a co-production between Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. It covers an extended period of time, beginning long before the world watched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which eventually led to Mariinka being destroyed, with no civilians living there anymore. The film follows several young Ukrainians whose lives have been forever shaped by more than 10 years of war and conflict in the Donbas region.
The Copenhagen audience award is presented in collaboration with DR, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. The honor comes with a prize of €10,000 ($11,538).
The other 2026 CPH:DOX winners, unveiled last week, include Whispers in May, Just Look Up, Amazomania, and The Secret Reading Club of Kabul.
