Long before the Russian invasion in 2022, there was already war in the Ukrainian frontline town of Mariinka. Amidst the war, a promising boxing talent becomes a military paramedic, a girl smuggles unexpected goods across the front line to survive, and two brothers now fight on opposite sides of the front line—against each other—while their youngest brother lives safely far from the war with an adoptive family in the United States. For ten years, Pieter-Jan De Pue recorded the slow disappearance of a city, but also the fierce, tragic perseverance of those who once called it home.

Cineflagey by Cinematek & Kinograph, Film Fest Gent