Mariinka

Set in the town of Mariinka in eastern Ukraine, the film follows several young Ukrainians whose lives have been permanently shaped by more than a decade of war and conflict in the Donbas region. It is a story about belonging, national loyalty, and the fault lines where political conflicts can even tear apart blood ties.

Amid the war, a promising young boxer becomes a military medic. A girl smuggles unexpected goods across the front line in order to survive. And, like a Greek tragedy, two brothers now find themselves fighting on opposite sides of the front — against each other — while their youngest brother lives safely far from the war with a foster family in the United States. Through letters, video calls, and silent encounters, a story unfolds about identity, national loyalty, and the divisions created by political conflicts that can even break family bonds.

Mariinka began long before the world witnessed the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, after which the city was completely destroyed by Russian forces. Shot on 16mm and created over a period of nine years, Mariinka is the second feature-length documentary by Pieter-Jan de Pue, following his acclaimed The Land of the Enlightened (2016).