Mariinka

This documentary, shot over ten years, follows five young Ukrainians whose lives are transformed by the ongoing war. Natasha dreams of becoming a professional boxer but becomes a war paramedic instead. Angela becomes an orphan at a young age and has to learn to survive the realities of war on her own. Four orphaned brothers are separated: Mark joins the Ukrainian army, while his brother Ruslan fights on the Russian side. Maksim is severely injured and bow lives a life in a wheelchair, while their youngest sibling Daniil is adopted by an American family and experiences the war in his homeland from afar.

By interweaving these interconnected lives, Belgian filmmaker Pieter-Jan De Pue creates a portrait of a generation whose most carefree years unfold during an intensely dark period in history. Mariinka is shot entirely on 16mm, capturing the beauty of the Ukrainian landscape alongside the horrors of war. After premiering at CPH:DOX, where it won the Audience Award, the film screened at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival, Movies That Matter and DOCVILLE, where it won Best Documentary.  Before the screening, Ukrainian film critic and programmer Liza Kolomiiets will introduce the film (in English). Together with two other films, Mariinka is part of the ‘Private-Public-Political’ programme at the Noordelijk Film Festival. This year, the programme sheds light on the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war and its impact on people’s lives in Ukraine, Russia and the wider region. ‘Private-Public-Political’ explores how geopolitical conflict shapes personal lives, relationships and everyday decisions, and how people’s lives have changed over the past ten years, and particularly since the full-scale invasion in 2022.

Mariinka is part of the program Private-Public-Political. With this label, the Noordelijk Film Festival sheds light on the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war and its impact on people’s lives in Ukraine, Russia and the wider region. Private-Public-Political explores how geopolitical conflict shapes personal lives, relationships and everyday decisions, and how people’s lives have changed over the past ten years, and particularly since the full-scale invasion in 2022.