Mariinka
A moving documentary in which director Pieter-Jan de Pue followed several young residents of the town of Mariinka in eastern Ukraine for ten years.
The lives of the people of Mariinka have been shaped forever by more than ten years of war and conflict in the Donbas. Amidst that war, a promising boxing talent becomes a military nurse. A girl smuggles unusual goods past the front line in order to survive. And, as in a Greek tragedy, two brothers fight on opposite sides of the front while their youngest brother lives far from the war, safe with a foster family in the United States. Through letters, video calls and silent encounters, a story unfolds about community, national loyalty and the power of political conflicts to sever even blood ties.