CPH:DOX has selected Pieter-Jan De Pue’s feature documentary MARIINKA as the opening film for its 23rd edition, running March 11–22, 2026 in Copenhagen. The title will receive its world premiere at the festival’s opening gala on March 10 at 19:00 in the concert hall of the Royal Danish Academy of Music, with De Pue and the film team expected to attend, alongside two principal protagonists.

Shot on 16mm and developed over nine years, MARIINKA follows De Pue’s 2016 debut feature The Land of the Enlightened. Set in eastern #Ukraine, the film begins well before Russia’s full-scale invasion and centers on young Ukrainians living through more than a decade of conflict in the #Donbas. Narratives include a boxing talent who becomes a military paramedic, a girl smuggling goods across the frontline to survive, and two brothers fighting on opposite sides while their youngest sibling lives with a foster family in the United States. Letters, video calls and intermittent meetings shape questions of belonging, loyalty and family ties under pressure.

The film will screen in CPH:DOX’s main competition, DOX:AWARD, the festival’s top-tier showcase for nonfiction features emphasizing storytelling, innovation and social relevance.

CPH:DOX programs around 200 films annually and reports attendance above 150,000, alongside more than 2,000 industry delegates, with a reputation for crossovers between documentary, journalism, science and the visual arts worldwide today.