Riga Diary 2

Guard dog or lap dog? Seems to be a very actual and relevant question that journalists in Belarus (and other countries as well) have to ask themselves. In the country of Lukashenko no criticism of the President and his regime will be tolerated, for which reason many journalists have been and are beaten up – or simply disappear.

As a world premiere in a full cinema hall, at the ”Is it Easy to be Different?” festival that runs parallel to the Baltic Sea Forum, this is what is the theme of the film ”Journalists” by Aleh Dashkevich (director) and Volha Nikalaichyk (producer). It follows some journalists, interviews them or their relatives, some of the journalists now live abroad, and brings images from demonstrations where journalists and cameramen are beaten up. Plus some of the well known sequences with the President himself. As a creative documentary ”Journalists” will not be prized but as another strong documentation of the appalling political situation in Belarus, it will travel the world to festivals and hopefully also to tv channels. And thus spread the message.

If anyone wants the film, feel free to contact the director at

adkpradukcyja@gmail.com  

Photo: Mr. Lukashenko.

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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