EXCLUSIVE: Films Boutique has boarded international sales for Pieter-Jan De Pue’s Ukraine documentary Mariinka, which has just been selected as the opening film of the 23rd edition of CPH: DOX (March 11-22).
Shot on 16mm and nine years in the making, Mariinka is the second feature documentary by Belgian filmmaker and photographer de Pue following the highly praised The Land Of The Enlightened, which played at Sundance in 2016.
Mariinka, which will screen in the festival’s main DOX:AWARD competition, begins long before Russia’s full-scale invasion. In eastern Ukraine, the film follows the lives of several young Ukrainians whose lives have been shaped by more than t0 years of war and conflict in the Donbas region.They include a promising boxing talent turned military paramedic, a woman smuggling unexpected goods across the frontline to survive, and two brothers who decided to fight on opposite sides of the front line – against each other – while their youngest brother lives in safety far from the war in the US with a foster family.
“Pieter-Jan de Pue has spent nearly a decade staying with this story, not chasing the news cycle, but listening to lives shaped by a war that began long before it filled our headlines and continues as the world’s gaze threatens to drift elsewhere,” said Niklas Engstrøm, artistic director of CPH:DOX. ”The result is a remarkable cinematic achievement that refuses both distance and simplification, presenting the Russian invasion of Ukraine as lived reality, carried in bodies, relationships and impossible choices.”
Dalton Distribution will release the film in Belgium this spring, and Periscoop in the Netherlands.
“I am very happy and honored the years-long journey of this film has ultimately led to a world premiere as the opening film and competition entry at the renowned CPH:DOX festival, which has always supported us during the development and rough cut phase of the project,” said De Pue.
Christophe Simon, CEO Films Boutique, said: “Shot in 16mm, this film moves beyond characters and headlines, beyond place and politics. It is a story of brotherhood and division, fate and dreams and people fighting for what they believe is right. Mariinka emerges as a paradise lost, becoming a reflection on the human condition, rendered with raw beauty.
The film is produced by Bart Van Langendonck and De Pue’s Savage Film, with Christian Beetz of Beetz Brothers Film Production, Femke Wolting and Bruno Felix of Submarine, Vincent Metzinger, Emilie Blézat of Dark Riviera, Naoko Films, Shelter Productions, and ZDF, in collaboration with ARTE, with the participation of RTBF Documentary Unit, VRT, VPRO, and SVT.
It is supported by the Flanders Audiovisual Fund (VAF), the Belgian Federal Tax Shelter, the Netherlands Film Fund, the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, the Creative Europe MEDIA Programme, the King Baudouin Foundation, and Eurimages, in collaboration with the Belgian Embassy in Ukraine.
No comments yet