Donbass

In the Donbass, a region of Eastern Ukraine, a hybrid war takes place, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies on a mass scale perpetrated by separatist gangs. In the Donbass, war is called peace, propaganda is uttered as truth and hatred is declared to be love. Life suffused with fear and suspicion; what is real and what is fake news?

DONBASS, ultimately, is not a tale of one region, one country or one political system. It is about a world lost in post-truth and fake identities. It is about each and every one of us. Ukraine's official submission to the 91st Academy Awards.

"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." ~ Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

"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." ~ Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall

"A completely clear-eyed composite of hellish desperation... Donbass is Loznitsa's most masterful output to date." ~ Nicholas Bell, Ion Cinema

"A brilliant formalist, Loznitsa likes to turn his camera on crowds in motion, turning each sequence into a collective indictment." ~ Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

"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...."
Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily