Klondike

The film screening will be followed by a discussion with director Maryna Er Gorbach moderated by Petra Meterc. 

July 2014. Expectant parents Irka and Tolik live in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, disputed territory in the early days of the Donbas war. Their nervous anticipation of their first child’s birth is violently disrupted as the vicinal crash of flight MH17 elevates the forbidding tension enveloping their village. The looming wreckage of the downed airliner and an incoming parade of mourners emphasise the surreal trauma of the moment. 

As Tolik’s separatist friends expect him to join their efforts, Irka’s brother is enraged by suspicions that the couple has betrayed Ukraine. Irka refuses to be evacuated even as the village gets captured by armed forces, and she tries to make peace between her husband and brother by asking them to repair their bombed house. 

Directed by: Maryna Er Gorbach; producers: Svyatoslav Bulakovskiy, Mehmet Bahadir Er, Maryna Er Gorbach; composer: Zviad Mgbry; cinematographer: Svyatoslav Bulakovskiy; editor: Maryna Er Gorbach; casting: Tetyana Symon; coproduction: City of Women, Kinodvor. With the support of Creative Europe (BEPART), Ministry for Public Administration.