Burning Voice is a powerful new Danish documentary that shows how Danish-Iraqi activist Tamara Amer is always fighting against women’s oppression and negative social control in Iraq and other places. Anna Bruun Nørager directed the film for the first time. It will have its world premiere today, March 13, 2026, at the Human:Rights Competition at CPH:DOX.
The documentary follows Tamara Amer, a 35-year-old woman who started the Iraqi Women’s Rights online platform with more than 100,000 followers. She fights against violence against women, patriarchal systems, and flawed legal systems that keep women quiet. Tamara uses social media as a weapon for survival and global change while balancing being a mother, an activist, and personal threats. She shows how oppression affects people from Iraq to Denmark. Nørager’s lens shows how women all over the world pay a high price for speaking out. This is similar to recent tragedies like the murder of Iraqi feminist Yanar Mohammed.
Features of CPH:DOX 2026 Burning Voice and a variety of other documentaries are pushing the limits of the genre, as artistic director Niklas Engstrøm stresses the importance of pluralism and conversation. The festival nominated the movie for the HUMAN:RIGHTS award, which shows how important it is politically, especially since Iraq’s women’s rights are getting worse, like with the changes to the Personal Status Law in 2025. Tamara’s story is still relevant today, as femicide rates rise and calls for justice grow.
