Lena Karbe's 'Inner Emigrants' Sells to Germany

Mar 9, 2026 12:45pm PT Lena Karbe’s ‘Inner Emigrants’ Sells to Germany Ahead of World Premiere at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (EXCLUSIVE) By Leo Barraclough Plus Icon Leo Barraclough International Features Editor LeoBarraclough Latest ‘Christiania’ Filmmaker on the Anarchic Commune That Battled With Drug Pushers, Biker Gangs and an Alcoholic Bear (EXCLUSIVE) 9 hours ago CPH:DOX Chiefs Discuss Festival’s Role as Denmark Approaches Elections: The Aim Is ‘to Be an Open Platform for the Democratic Dialogue’ 13 hours ago Banijay Boss Hails ‘Monumental Week’ Following All3Media Merger as Results Reveal Revenue Up 3.4% to Almost €4.9 Billion 4 days ago See All Courtesy of Karbe Film Mindjazz Pictures has acquired the distribution rights in Germany to Lena Karbe’s “Inner Emigrants,” ahead of its world premiere on Monday at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival. The theatrical release in Germany will kick off May 14. Karbe spent nearly four years traveling undercover to Moscow to chronicle the experiences of three psychologists maintaining an anonymous crisis hotline at the start of the Ukraine war, while at the same time struggling to reconcile their totalitarian regime’s strict demands with their own beliefs. Related Stories Jill Scott Announces 'To Whom This May Concern' World Tour Dates Born and raised in Russia herself, Karbe (now a German citizen) wanted to explore why Russia’s silent majority was staying silent as the war on Ukraine took hold. “Are they complicit, or — as many Russians say — ‘neutral’?,” asks Karbe. Popular on Variety The director says “Inner Emigrants” is “a cautionary tale.” “What we see in Russia today is that silence allows the totalitarian regime to grow stronger,” she says. “It shows how quickly civil liberties can be dismantled and repression can become normalized, as the majority chooses to turn inward rather than to resist openly.” Mindjazz Pictures managing director Holger Recktenwald says the film “offers a rare and intimate insight into the psychological inner world of a society living under massive propaganda and state repression since the invasion of Ukraine.” It asks the question “what silence, conformism and ‘inner emigration’ mean in a totalitarian system,” Recktenwald adds. It was a film of “strong relevance for German audiences: it sheds light on the mechanisms of authoritarian systems, highlights the psychological strain in the context of war and propaganda, and at the same time opens up a respectful space for debate about responsibility, complicity, resistance, and empathy — without relativizing or blurring perpetrator-victim structures.” “Inner Emigrants” is produced by Karbe Film and Macalube Films, in co-production with See-Through Films, in co-production with Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, and Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, with the support of Filmfernsehfonds Bayern, Centre National Du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée, FFA Filmförderungsanstalt, La Région Île-Defrance and Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF). It is the second feature documentary from Karbe. Her first film, “Black Mambas” (2022), world premiered at CPH:DOX, where it won the F:ACT Award. Jump to Comments What’s Coming to Netflix in March 2026 ‘Bridgerton’ Season 4 Boss on Benedict and Sophie’s Happy Ending, That Post-Credits Scene, New Whistledown Mystery and Why She Won’t Recast Daphne and Simon ‘Bridgerton’ Season 4 Hits 28 Million Views After Part 2 Drops ‘Bridgerton’ Stars Hannah Dodd, Masali Baduza and Victor Alli on Francesca’s Unlikely Romance and That Shocking Death Nicola Coughlan Says Drunk ‘Bridgerton’ Fan Went Up to Her in a Bathroom and ‘Started Talking About My Body’ and ‘I Wanted to Die. I Hate This So Much’ Katie Leung ‘Would Not Want to Go Back’ to Her Time Shooting ‘Harry Potter’ Movies: ‘I Was So Easily Influenced’ JavaScript is required to load the comments. Loading comments...