Feature documentary, 2016
DIY Country
It started asRussia against Ukraine, East against West.
I foundBehind the geopolitics: the people building a breakaway country, and the Russians they hoped would save them.
Director, co-producer and cinematographer
- World premiere, Hot Docs, Toronto, 2016 (World Showcase)
- Taught on the Ukrainian studies course at Sciences Po
- Screened at the Danyliw Seminar, University of Ottawa, 2016, and for the Cambridge University Ukrainian Society
Behind the narrative of Russia against Ukraine and East against West, I immersed myself in why local people supported the insurgency. I followed them as they formed rival bands competing for power, and as ideologues and idealists tried to build a new civil society.
Over two years, from the barricades of spring 2014, the film follows the Donetsk People’s Republic from hopeful, naive beginnings to infighting, collapse and betrayal, as wider forces decided their future. Many of the people I filmed did not survive it.
“A must-see”
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