Romanian filmmaker Radu Ciorniciuc presented his new investigative documentary project, Director’s Cut (WT), at CPH:DOX Forum 2026, offering a behind-the-scenes look at humanitarian aid operations in times of war and the murky intersection between crisis response, political influence and media narratives.
The 90-minute documentary, currently in development and targeting a January 2028 release, is produced by Ciorniciuc Films in collaboration with partners in Denmark and Ukraine, with Wingman Media and Moon Man attached as co-production partners. The project has already secured development support from HBO Europe, while the team is seeking additional financing to reach its €1.11 million total budget.
The project grew out of what initially seemed like a straightforward commission. Ciorniciuc explains that the film began when he volunteered at Romania’s border during the early phase of Russia’s full-scale invasion and was offered an assignment to produce a promotional film for a humanitarian aid operation.
“At first it felt like more than a job opportunity. It was a way to contribute to a good cause,” the filmmaker writes in his director’s statement.
But as the work progressed, problems began to emerge in the system that was being celebrated as a model of international solidarity. “Off camera, inconsistencies appeared: shipments with no destination, ledgers that wouldn’t reconcile, an American-style PR machine replacing accountability,” he recalls.
The project soon evolved from a commissioned film into a far more complex investigation. According to Ciorniciuc, the deeper he looked into the operations behind the humanitarian supply chain, the clearer it became that the system was vulnerable to political manipulation and corruption. “Slowly, I understood that goodwill here is laundered into power, control and profit,” he writes.
With the help of hidden cameras, the filmmaker began documenting how the aid ecosystem functioned behind the scenes, capturing footage that revealed what he describes as a “Western-run machine where aid becomes currency”.
“I became a character in my own film,” he says. “No longer making a promo, but documenting an ecosystem of speculative humanitarianism.”
The investigation, however, comes with serious risks. As the film progressed, the project reportedly attracted the attention of powerful actors connected to the very system it was scrutinising. “Crises attract predators,” Ciorniciuc states. “Suddenly the same Westerners who commissioned the film became its enemies.”
The director now finds himself navigating the ethical and personal consequences of releasing sensitive material gathered during the investigation. “Now I sit with hard drives of explosive footage and my daughter’s drawings, forced to choose: publish and risk my family, stay silent and become complicit, or reinvent how to tell the truth without destroying the people inside it.”
Ciorniciuc is best known internationally for his Sundance-premiering documentary Acasă, My Home, which won the Special Jury Award for Cinematography at Sundance 2020 and later received a European Film Award nomination. His latest feature documentary TATA premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2024.
The production team behind Director’s Cut includes Tereza Šimíková as producer and Ukrainian producers Oleksandra Kravchenko and Darya Bassel as co-producers.
Šimíková brings extensive industry experience, having worked in senior roles within the European documentary ecosystem, including leading industry roles at CPH:DOX and a decade of experience as International Programme Consultant at Chicken&Egg Films, a global non-fiction fund.
Kyiv-based producer Oleksandra Kravchenko, partner at Moon Man, is an alumna of EURODOC and Emerging Producers, and a board member of the Documentary Association of Ukraine. Her recent credits include My Dear Theoand One Day I Wish to See You Happy.
Meanwhile Darya Bassel, a EURODOC, Ex Oriente and EAVE graduate, has produced several high-profile documentaries and fiction features including Butterfly Vision (Un Certain Regard 2022) and Songs of Slow Burning Earth (Venice 2024).
Through its Romanian production company Ciorniciuc Films, the team aims to develop director-driven documentary projects that combine investigative journalism with cinematic storytelling. The company states that its work focuses on “rigorous storytelling, ethical standards and measurable impact worldwide.”
“The project’s audiovisual approach is embedded in the imperative to anonymise the story and all protagonists. We plan to work with illustrators that will create original characters, as well as with the VFX artists to alter the environments of the original footage. It is our aim that the visual style of the film will be elevated, while securing the identities of people involved,” adds Kravchenko.
With Director’s Cut, Ciorniciuc appears to be pushing that approach further, transforming a real-world investigation into a political thriller-like documentary about power, corruption and the hidden economies of war-time aid. As the helmer ultimately notes in his statement: “Silence is its own form of collaboration.”
