Mariinka - Pieter-Jan De Pue

After The Land of the Enlightened (2016), Pieter-Jan De Pue travelled to eastern Ukraine with Mariinka. Shot over ten years, the film follows young Ukrainians from the frontline town of Mariinka, whose lives and families have been shaped by more than a decade of war in the Donbas region.

In the midst of war, a promising boxer becomes a military paramedic, a girl smuggles goods across the front line to survive, and, as in a Greek tragedy, two brothers now fight each other on opposite sides of the battle line, while their youngest brother grows up safely, far from the war, with an adoptive family in the United States. Through letters, video calls and silent encounters, Mariinka tells a story of family, national loyalty and the fracture where political conflicts can even override blood ties.

Produced by Bart Van Langendonck (Savage Film) and Pieter-Jan De Pue, in co-production with Submarine (NL), Beetz Brothers Film Production (DE), Dark Riviera (SE) and Naoko Films (BE), the films also collaborated with broadcasters ZDF, ARTE, VRT, RTBF, VPRO and SVT.

Pieter-Jan de Pue is a photographer and film director from Belgium. He studied at the visual arts school RITCS. His first film documentary, The Land of the Enlightened, won a World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Best Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival in 2016.

The film will be followed by a discussion with the director, moderated by Karl van den Broeck. Karl has been a journalist since the age of 20. He spent 18 years at De Morgen, then five years as editor-in-chief at Knack, and has been freelancing since 2011. Since 2014, he has been coordinating a debate platform at Bozar.