13-26.11
2023
NORTHERN LIGHTS
MIND THE GAP
IX NORDIC-BALTIC
FILM FESTIVAL
NORTHERN LIGHTS
Over this gap, we can talk but drift apart so easily.
Over this gap, we can look into each other's eyes but with a screen between us.
Over this gap, we can cry but we can't heal our most painful wounds.
This gap, it forces us to feel what we've lost, not lived through, not yet fully reflected upon.
Over this gap, the time changes its course, time zones, languages, Latin and Cyrillic alphabets entangled.
Over this gap, we stop converting Belarusian rubles to euro and back.
Over this gap between us, there are criminal cases, paranoia and excessive caution.
We are divided into
those who left
and those
who stayed. Yet we're still, like before, one fearless nation.
Over this gap, the very word Minsk triggers nostalgia for some,
others get nostalgic about visas in a blue passport.

Anyways, over this gap, we try to stay alert
When crossing the border or posting on social media.
Over this gap, we can sympathize but we can't heal our most painful wounds.

Attention. Doors open. Mind the gap.
We consider every word we say, we try to be fair and less radical,
Mindful of the past and the future, of those who are close and those we've last seen long ago.
Albeit on a screen.
Over this gap, we're engulfed by doubts, drawn in by a whirlwind
of differences and comparisons, of clashing opinions.
We can't bridge this gap to hug, touch, feel togetherness.
This gap makes smells unavailable.
What it makes available is irritation, anger, envy.
In both directions,
here and there,
also at border checkpoints
such as Kotlovka, Kamenny Log and others.

Over this gap, we're looking for answers but questions are easier to come by.
Over this gap, we can't come to terms with this dull everyday life.
THE MANIFESTO
THE MANIFESTO
THE MANIFESTO
MIND THE GAP
MIND THE GAP
MIND THE GAP
Founder and director of the Northern Lights Film Festival
Volia Chajkouskaya
MIND THE GAP
More than ever, Belarusian cinema needs your support.
The Northern Lights Film Festival has remained one of the few film festivals that, despite the pandemic and repression, has not missed a single year and continues to run in the format of an international review, with a carefully curated program, retrospectives, its own manifesto, discussions, and guest stars.

We don't stop day after day, year after year—for nine years now. Because if we stop, it will be challenging to get back into the regular rhythm and impossible to start over from scratch.
We need your support to show incredible films from the Baltics and Scandinavia every year. To introduce Belarusians to Ukrainian cinema as part of the Ukraine Mon Amour program. To invite a top-notch international jury to watch the Belarusian competition, thereby expanding awareness of the very fact of the existence of Belarusian cinema.
We need your support to talk about Belarusian people through cinema, through the universe of the film festival and the networking opportunities it provides.
To bring Belarus closer to bright changes, to the values of freedom and equality, and to convey its story through the language of cinema and through the lips of renowned foreign directors whose films we feature on Northern Lights.
'NORTHERN LIGHTS FF 2023' CATALOG
NORTHERN LIGHTS IN YOUR INBOX
ORGANIZER
FINANCED BY
WITH THE SUPPORT OF
THE MAIN INFORMATION PARTNER
INFORMATION PARTNERS