We Live Here delves into the present-day reality of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site—known during the Soviet era as the Polygon—and the enduring devastation it has wrought on those who still live there. Director Zhanana Kurmasheva centers the story on Bolatbek, an elderly man who has spent his entire life in a village just 30 kilometers from the Polygon. While the tragedy of the Polygon has been chronicled before, often in government-backed, TV-style documentaries, Kurmasheva’s work approaches the subject differently, elevating it to a kind of myth—a legacy that strangely defines who Kazakhs are. We Live Here is steeped in a sense of foreboding. We Live Here premiered at CPH:DOX. Ahead of the film’s North American Premiere at Hot Docs, Documentary spoke to Kurmasheva about what makes residents stay in such a contaminated area, the genius loci of the steppe, and the interplay of beauty and violence embedded within it.
Science Docs
Documentary is happy to debut the poster and a clip from Eleanor Mortimer’s first feature, How Deep Is Your Love. The film premieres on Friday at True
Lisa Jackson is an Anishinaabe documentary maker working across multiple genres—film, XR, and installations—to share Indigenous stories and knowledge. Her most recent work, Wilfred Buck’s Star Stories, is a dome presentation bringing to life four star stories, gathered and told by renowned Cree astronomer, star knowledge expert, and author Wilfred Buck. It also features excerpts from her 2024 documentary Wilfred Buck, which explored the astronomer’s life, work, and philosophy. Documentary talked to Jackson about creating for different genres, reciprocity, and using technology in the context of sharing Indigenous knowledge. Star Stories, created in collaboration with the Macronautes, premieres at the 2025 Berlinale in the Forum Expanded section.
In her more than two dozen films, Deborah Stratman has explored various ways in which history, science, ideas, locations, and psyches (both individual
The New Virtual Normal: Covering a Film Festival During COVID-19 Covering CPH:DOX—the first spring fest to respond to COVID-19 by moving entirely
One of the many highlights of the always impressive CPH:DOX is its annual CPH:CONFERENCE, five days of jam-packed industry events with each full day
Recognizing that the world is in a perilous state—and that they are in a position to do something about it—three major environmental film festivals
On July 20, 2019 at 2:56 p.m. UTC, it will be 50 years to the minute from when a human being stepped onto the moon for the first time. NASA’s
“Eagle, Houston. You are go for landing, over.” With this command, issued by Mission Control Center on July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronauts were
Robert Kenner's stylish new documentary, Merchants of Doubt, is many things: an exposé of climate change debunkers; a clinical analysis of how