Behind The Lens: 'BIRITA' Premieres In Competition At CPH:DOX 2026

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Photo Credit: Gwenael Helmsdal

A deeply personal story of art, memory, and family will make its world premiere at CPH:DOX 2026. BIRITA, an 89-minute feature documentary directed by Búi Dam, screens in competition under NORDIC:DOX and follows a Faroese theater family attempting something both radical and intimate: staging Shakespeare’s King Lear with a lead actress living with Alzheimer’s.

That actress is Birita Mohr—a celebrated force in Faroese theater for more than three decades. Now retired and diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Mohr is cast in the role of Lear by her son, who believes that although she can no longer speak, her connection to the stage endures. The production becomes more than a performance; it evolves into an examination of agency, dignity, and artistic identity at the edge of memory.

A Family, A Stage, A Reckoning

At the center of 'BIRITA' is the dynamic between three artists: Búi Dam, his mother Birita Mohr, and his father Egi Dam, a retired theater director navigating caregiving alongside the demands of production. As rehearsals unfold on the remote Faroe Islands archipelago, the film captures the tension between ambition and responsibility.

Búi must continually justify the premise of the project—to collaborators and to himself—while confronting ethical questions about consent and representation. Meanwhile, the family wrestles with the emotional weight of a disease that gradually erases language, even as it leaves behind flashes of presence and joy.

Rather than framing Alzheimer’s solely through decline, 'BIRITA' documents moments of surprising levity and connection. Mohr’s expressive presence, even without spoken dialogue, becomes the emotional core of the film.

Photo Credit: Outlier Projects

The Artist Behind the Camera

For Búi Dam, 'BIRITA' marks his feature-length directorial debut. Raised in a family of artists in the Faroe Islands, Dam studied directing at the Danish National School of Performing Arts and acting in London before building a multifaceted career as a jazz musician, composer, and theater-maker. A hand injury ended his career as a guitarist, prompting a shift into performance and eventually into directing and film.

His previous accolades include Best Short Film at the Geytin Film Awards (2020), Best Actor at the Winter Film Awards in New York (2021), and the M. A. Jacobsen Award for his play Castle of Joy (2022). With 'BIRITA,' Dam turns the lens inward—documenting not only a production but his own family’s confrontation with time and fragility.

Honoring a Cultural Figure

Birita Mohr, born in 1950, was a defining figure in Faroese theater, known for roles in Antigone, The Crucible, The Cherry Orchard, and numerous other productions. In 2023, she received the Faroese government’s Cultural Honorary Award for her lifelong contribution to the arts. Her film appearances include Atlantic Rhapsody and Bye Bye Bluebird, both directed by Katrin Ottarsdóttir.

'BIRITA' screens at CPH:DOX on:

• Sunday, March 15 at Dagmar 2 (16:15)

• Tuesday, March 17 at Dagmar 5 (14:15)

• Wednesday, March 18 at Emmauskirken (19:30)

Presented in Faroese and English with English subtitles, the documentary extends beyond theater. It becomes a meditation on what remains when memory fades—and whether art can momentarily bridge that divide.

Additional information and festival details are available via the CPH:DOX 2026 program.