Press releases

The Best Documentary in the Out-of-Competition program will present the documentary films that open up new, non-traditional approach to documentary cinema. Among them are the American-Polish movie Shoulder The Lion, the Portuguese film Suddenly My Thoughts Halt (“Para-me de repente o pensamento”) and the Danish-Polish film Something Better To Come that have picked up awards on almost all the continents of the world.

The Best Documentary program has become traditional for the Minsk International Film Festival Listapad. For several years the talented filmmakers have brought to Minsk the documentaries that have won critical acclaim. In Minsk they also enjoy great success.

Something Better to Come is a film by Oscar nominee Hanna Polak. The film follows 14 years in the life of a girl at Europe’s biggest landfill near Moscow. The protagonist grows up, tries to study and every day hopes for the better. Will her life change?.. The project got a special jury’s award at the festival in Amsterdam, Europe’s biggest documentary forum, and the Grand-Prix of the Russian Open Documentary Film Festival Artdocfest in Moscow. All in all, the film has received almost 20 awards. Something Better to Come continues its journey around festivals and will arrive in Minsk in November.

Portugal’s documentary films are a rare guest at the Minsk Film Festival. Jorge Pelicano’s Suddenly My Thoughts Halt (“Para-me de repente o pensamento”) tells the story of a life in a mental hospital. From the outside world comes an actor in search of his character for a theater play. He lives with the patients for some time to build up trust and to simply understand them better. Lucidity and madness live together in this space, and the life of the mental hospital turns into a mirror of modern society, but not its brutal site but kindness and tolerance that we have in our lives. Director Jorge Pelicano will come to Minsk to present his film.

Shoulder The Lion is a film exploring the feelings of loss and suffering experienced when one loses the ability to do something they love. “What I love most makes me suffer immense pain,” one of the characters says. A musician, a photographer, an athlete – each of them has his/her own story of survival, story of putting up with reality. The visual and auditory content of the film is unique and impressive. Directors Patryk and Erinnisse Rebisz use it to create the world of their characters. Shoulder The Lion was screened at Hot Docs, North America's largest festival of documentaries. It was also awarded prizes at the Krakow Film Festival, the Jameson Dublin International Film Festival, the Salem Film Fest, and the Trenton Film Festival.