“...despairing - sometimes in a blackly comic vein.”
It is July, 2014 and already the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine is a nightmare, where the heavily-pregnant Irka and her husband Tolik are caught between mercenaries, separatist militias, and Ukraine nationalists. While Tolik tries to be conciliatory to all sides, Irka is just plain pissed off at the militant posturing of the men around her. And then MH17 is shot down, taking the conflict to a new level of madness. Director Maryna Er Gorbach stages the action in intricate long takes that are reminiscent of Jancsó or Tarkovsky. It is volatile mixture that manages to be both formally compelling but unrelentingly intense. Dedicated to women who are living with war.
“plunges you into the midst of a nightmarish life, on the brink of utter and complete collapse, leaving you wrung and dry.” (Film Threat) “Personal and political turmoil face a serene camera in Klondike, a vision of the ongoing war in Donbass war that brooks no compromise” (Variety) “a matter-of-fact and angry film about a war seen from the inside.” (Cineuropa) Feature Film Competition sponsored by |