Donbass
In the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine, mid-2010s: a hybrid war takes place, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies on a mass scale perpetrated by Russian-separatist gangs. In the Donbass, war is called peace, propaganda is uttered as truth, and hatred is declared to be love. Life is suffused with fear and suspicion. What is real and what is fake news? Called "a darkly satirical omnibus of scathing vignettes" by the Washington Post, DONBASS serves as a crucial interpretation of the Russo-Ukrainian war, but the film is not, ultimately, a tale of one region or one conflict. It is about a world lost in post-truth and fake identities. It is about each and every one of us. "There is no other antiwar film quite like DONBASS" (Los Angeles Times).
"What library types will want to add Donbass which won the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes in 2018, to their collections? Academic libraries, indeed, but also public libraries that cultivate deep catalogs of nonfiction titles and/or international cinema. The initial rush on the part of many libraries to add content to displays relating to the war in Ukraine may have receded, but the ongoing level of interest in the region remains high, and Loznitsa’s latest contribution—equal parts drama, critique, and jaundiced satire—provides a valuable lens through which to examine it." - Video Librarian
Cast
- Tamara Yatsenko
- Irina Zayarmiuk
- Grigory Masliuk
DVD Features
Discs: 1
- "There’s no other antiwar film quite like “Donbass,” Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa’s brutally matter-of-fact, cynically comic string of vignettes depicting social destabilization in the titular war-ravaged region of eastern Ukraine. And yet, as the world grows ever more calloused toward propaganda-fueled division, official criminality and everyday armed conflict, we may need more films as bracing as “Donbass” to slap us straight about where this is leading us all."
- "With this compulsively mesmerising film, Loznitsa has tapped into his nation's beleaguered soul in a way that's immediately recognisable in the global post-truth era."
- "A completely clear-eyed composite of hellish desperation... Donbass is Loznitsa's most masterful output to date."
- "Critic's Pick! [T]he movie’s bitter achievement is in its granular, ground-level concreteness. It’s horrific, impossible, extreme — and also understated."
- "A brilliant formalist, Loznitsa likes to turn his camera on crowds in motion, turning each sequence into a collective indictment."
- "A sprawling black comedy with a vast ensemble cast, it evokes a chaotic state of social breakdown in the Donbass region of Ukraine, often with virtuoso brilliance...."
- "Donbass reveals how art can be an intimate, eye-opening counterpart to what we're seeing on the news. The mastery of tone and style explains why Loznitsa won the best director's prize for Donbass in the Cannes Festival's Un Certain Regard section."
- "Loznitsa’s satire is anchored by a host of superb actors, whose faces and body types are Eastern European counterparts to those in a Fellini film. "
Gallery
Awards & Recognition
Un Certain Regard - Directing Prize
Cannes Film Festival
Best Film
Ukrainian Film Academy Awards
Best Director
Ukrainian Film Academy Awards
Best Screenplay
Ukrainian Film Academy Awards
Karlovy Vary Film Festival
Busan Int'l. Film Festival
Toronto Int'l. Film Festival
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