Donbass

The Donbass in Eastern Ukraine. Since 2014, a bloody conflict between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russian separatists has been raging here. In 13 kaleidoscopic, absurd vignettes, director Sergei Loznitsa shows a country torn between informal power structures, corruption and fake news. A group of actors stages a TV report about a fake enemy attack; in revenge for an alleged character assassination, a politician dumps faeces over the head of a chief editor; a man leads through a widely ramified bunker complex where dozens of people seek refuge from fire. Seizures, control harassment and corporal punishment are the order of the day. The cold horror of fear, violence and hysteria takes hold of more and more areas of life and takes on more and more grotesque traits ... "Donbass" opened the section "Un Certain Regard" in Cannes in 2018 and was celebrated by the international press as a masterpiece. Sergei Loznitsa received the Section Prize for Best Director for his media-critical and highly political farce.