An expectant husband-and-wife’s lives are shattered when their home in Donbas is hit by a bomb in Maryna Er Gorbach’s powerful drama
Although this Ukrainian drama mostly unfolds in and around a small farmhouse on the Donbas steppes in 2014, it contains on a microcosmic scale all the fundamental components that have contributed to the conflict in the region. There’s the inherent tension between Ukrainians and Russians, symbolised in the marriage between Ukrainian wife Irka (Oxana Cherkashyna) and ethnically Russian husband Tolik (Sergiy Shadrin); the interventionist forces from Russia and Chechnya we see tramping through the area stirring up hatred and bloodshed; and the fatal blend of machismo, sheer fecklessness and trigger-happiness that causes stupid acts of destruction. In the space of a single opening shot that pans 360 degrees around one room, heavily pregnant Irka and Tolik go from being ordinary expectant parents, cheerfully bickering over where Irka’s hospital bag is,...
Although this Ukrainian drama mostly unfolds in and around a small farmhouse on the Donbas steppes in 2014, it contains on a microcosmic scale all the fundamental components that have contributed to the conflict in the region. There’s the inherent tension between Ukrainians and Russians, symbolised in the marriage between Ukrainian wife Irka (Oxana Cherkashyna) and ethnically Russian husband Tolik (Sergiy Shadrin); the interventionist forces from Russia and Chechnya we see tramping through the area stirring up hatred and bloodshed; and the fatal blend of machismo, sheer fecklessness and trigger-happiness that causes stupid acts of destruction. In the space of a single opening shot that pans 360 degrees around one room, heavily pregnant Irka and Tolik go from being ordinary expectant parents, cheerfully bickering over where Irka’s hospital bag is,...
- 10/3/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Festivals past are populating a busy specialty market this weekend with films from Sundance and Venice. Sony Pictures Classics is giving Randall Park’s Shortcomings a substantial 400+ screen release. See Deadline review. Mubi is out with Passages in New York and LA – both premiered to critical acclaim in Park City.
There’s been some drama around the latter after the MPA gave the Ira Sachs film an Nc-17 rating, which Mubi “officially rejected.” The distributor/streamer/producer said it “remains committed to releasing Passages nationwide in its original version as the filmmaker intended, with our full backing, unrated and uncut.” Rates a 94% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, Deadline review here.
Casey Affleck and Noah Jupe-starring Dreamin’ Wild from Roadside Attractions on 400 screens follows the life of singer-musician brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson. Deadline review. Magnolia’s A Compassionate Spy, coming in the wake of blockbuster Oppenheimer, is an espionage...
There’s been some drama around the latter after the MPA gave the Ira Sachs film an Nc-17 rating, which Mubi “officially rejected.” The distributor/streamer/producer said it “remains committed to releasing Passages nationwide in its original version as the filmmaker intended, with our full backing, unrated and uncut.” Rates a 94% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes, Deadline review here.
Casey Affleck and Noah Jupe-starring Dreamin’ Wild from Roadside Attractions on 400 screens follows the life of singer-musician brothers Donnie and Joe Emerson. Deadline review. Magnolia’s A Compassionate Spy, coming in the wake of blockbuster Oppenheimer, is an espionage...
- 8/4/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
The war in Ukraine has lasted for 18 months, with no signs of stopping. But for those living in parts of the country where the battles have been the fiercest, it’s been going on for much longer — more than 9 years, in fact, starting in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, with separatist forces taking over swaths of the Donbas region in the east.
Director Maryna Er Gorbach’s unsettling and aesthetically gripping fourth feature, Klondike, revisits that harrowing period in recent Ukrainian history from the viewpoint of an expectant couple, Irka (Oksana Cherkashyna) and Tolik (the late Sergiy Shadrin), living in the rural enclave of Hrabove as the nascent war surrounds them on all sides.
If the name Hrabove rings a bell, that’s because the village made world news in July 2014 when a Malaysian airliner tragically crashed there after being shot down by a Russian anti-aircraft missle. That disaster looms large over Klondike,...
Director Maryna Er Gorbach’s unsettling and aesthetically gripping fourth feature, Klondike, revisits that harrowing period in recent Ukrainian history from the viewpoint of an expectant couple, Irka (Oksana Cherkashyna) and Tolik (the late Sergiy Shadrin), living in the rural enclave of Hrabove as the nascent war surrounds them on all sides.
If the name Hrabove rings a bell, that’s because the village made world news in July 2014 when a Malaysian airliner tragically crashed there after being shot down by a Russian anti-aircraft missle. That disaster looms large over Klondike,...
- 8/4/2023
- by Jordan Mintzer
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If nothing else, Ukrainian director Maryna Er Gorbach’s first solo-helmed feature Klondike can be credited with uncanny timing. A vivid look at an ordinary farming family in the occupied Donbas region of Ukraine, who just happen to have a full wall of their home destroyed by an errant missile, its European premiere at the 2022 Berlinale was followed only days later by Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country, which of course continues unabated. It would be one of the last Ukrainian features to conclude production before the war broke out, a prophetic missive from a country that has stunned the world with its resilience in the face of crisis.
Er Gorbach, who’s based in Istanbul and previously co-directed several features with her spouse Mehmet Bahadir Er, reveals herself as a filmmaker able to conjure an imposing sense of scale, and creditably evoke with massive props (and some post-production...
Er Gorbach, who’s based in Istanbul and previously co-directed several features with her spouse Mehmet Bahadir Er, reveals herself as a filmmaker able to conjure an imposing sense of scale, and creditably evoke with massive props (and some post-production...
- 8/3/2023
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
Sometimes a single image can be strong enough to support the weight of an entire film, even a film as heavy as Maryna Er Gorbach’s horrifyingly domestic anti-war drama “Klondike,” which fixes its gaze upon a feisty pair of Ukrainian farmers who live along the Russian border. It does so by blowing a giant hole into the side of Tolik (Serhill Shadrin) and Irka’s (Okshana Cherkashyna) house in the opening scene, as an errant mortar shell — misfired by the Kremlin-friendly separatists next door in the middle of the night — obliterates the outer wall of the married couple’s living room as they argue over whether or not to flee Hrabove and raise their unborn child somewhere else.
The exasperated husband wants to avoid conflict at any cost, while his very pregnant wife refuses to abandon their home just because the impotent local men are determined to play war...
The exasperated husband wants to avoid conflict at any cost, while his very pregnant wife refuses to abandon their home just because the impotent local men are determined to play war...
- 8/2/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
"Did you see who shot down the plane?" Goldwyn Films has revealed an official US trailer for an acclaimed Ukrainian film titled Klondike, from filmmaker Maryna Er Gorbach. This premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival just weeks before Russia attacked Ukraine in the war that started last year. It's actually set in 2014 in another part of Ukraine, called the Donetsk Region, where the Donbas war was already underway. The story of a Ukrainian family living on the border of Russia & Ukraine during the start of the Donbas war. Irka refuses to leave her house even as the village gets captured by armed forces. Shortly after they will be at the center of the air crash catastrophe on July 17, 2014 - Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 is shot down by Russian forces. This film really stunned me, it's incredible, a powerful story told with such grace with outstanding cinematography. Starring Oksana Cherkashyna, Sergey Shadrin,...
- 6/20/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
One of the most acclaimed titles from last year’s Sundance Fim Festival, where it picked up the top directing awards in its World Cinema Dramatic section, Maryna Er Gorbach’s Klondike premiered just weeks before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Set in 2014, Ukraine’s Oscar entry for International Feature follows a pair of expectant parents living in eastern Ukraine near the start of the Donbas war. After an international air-crash catastrophe elevates the tension enveloping them, pregnant Irka (Oksana Cherkashyna) refuses to be evacuated and leave her home, even as their village is captured by armed forces. Ahead of an August 4 theatrical release from Samuel Goldwyn Films, we’re pleased to exclusively premiere the U.S. trailer and poster.
Here’s the synopsis: “July 2014. Expectant parents Irka and Tolik live in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, disputed territory in the early days of the Donbas war.
Here’s the synopsis: “July 2014. Expectant parents Irka and Tolik live in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine near the Russian border, disputed territory in the early days of the Donbas war.
- 6/20/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to Ukrainian director Maryna Er Gorbach’s harrowing anti-war drama “Klondike,” a powerful and timely portrait of the horrors of warfare that the company will release in theaters and on digital platforms later this year.
Submitted as Ukraine’s official entry in the best international feature film race for the 95th Academy Awards, “Klondike” had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, where it was the first Ukrainian feature ever selected for the World Dramatic Competition and took home directing honors for Er Gorbach. The film is also playing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in the Special Screenings section.
“Klondike” tells the story of a Ukrainian family living on a small farmstead on the Ukraine-Russia border around the 2014 outbreak of the Donbass war. Largely told from the viewpoint of the pregnant Irka (Oxana Cherkashyna), the film begins on the...
Submitted as Ukraine’s official entry in the best international feature film race for the 95th Academy Awards, “Klondike” had its world premiere at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, where it was the first Ukrainian feature ever selected for the World Dramatic Competition and took home directing honors for Er Gorbach. The film is also playing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in the Special Screenings section.
“Klondike” tells the story of a Ukrainian family living on a small farmstead on the Ukraine-Russia border around the 2014 outbreak of the Donbass war. Largely told from the viewpoint of the pregnant Irka (Oxana Cherkashyna), the film begins on the...
- 1/26/2023
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
A camera pans slowly around a modestly comfortable living room. Here is the kitchen corner, with its microwave, coffee machine and jars of newly preserved tomatoes. Here are the inherited cabinets, one full of the best china, one full of books. And now, here is a wall that doesn’t exist any more. Torn plaster and broken wood frames a vast portal to the rolling steppes. There is a single road across those grasslands. It leads to Russia.
Dateline July 17, 2014 in the Donbas region of Ukraine, where local separatists are working with the Russian army and assorted mercenaries to stage an insurrection. Small farmers Tolik (Serhill Shadrin) and Irka (Okshana Cherkashyna) were bombed a couple of days ago. Irka is heavily pregnant and nesting with the driven instinct of a she-bear. Lying in bed, they try to make light of their situation. When this is over, says Irka, we’ll...
Dateline July 17, 2014 in the Donbas region of Ukraine, where local separatists are working with the Russian army and assorted mercenaries to stage an insurrection. Small farmers Tolik (Serhill Shadrin) and Irka (Okshana Cherkashyna) were bombed a couple of days ago. Irka is heavily pregnant and nesting with the driven instinct of a she-bear. Lying in bed, they try to make light of their situation. When this is over, says Irka, we’ll...
- 12/15/2022
- by Stephanie Bunbury
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
By Nov. 18, when a Dutch court found three men, two of them Russian and one Ukrainian, guilty of murder in absentia for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the event had almost vanished from public memory. The court found that on July 17, 2014, a Russian-made missile supplied from Russia and fired by an armed group under Russian control in eastern Ukraine brought down the civilian flight, killing all 298 people on board, including 80 children.
Maryna Er Gorbach hadn’t forgotten. July 17, 2014, was Er Gorbach’s 33rd birthday, and the fateful day when the passenger airline was shot down over the occupied Donbas region is the starting point for her latest film, Klondike, Ukraine’s contender for the 2022 best international feature film Oscar.
“We all remember what happened on Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia started its full-scale war on Ukraine, but who talks about the Malaysian Air catastrophe?” says Er Gorbach.
By Nov. 18, when a Dutch court found three men, two of them Russian and one Ukrainian, guilty of murder in absentia for shooting down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, the event had almost vanished from public memory. The court found that on July 17, 2014, a Russian-made missile supplied from Russia and fired by an armed group under Russian control in eastern Ukraine brought down the civilian flight, killing all 298 people on board, including 80 children.
Maryna Er Gorbach hadn’t forgotten. July 17, 2014, was Er Gorbach’s 33rd birthday, and the fateful day when the passenger airline was shot down over the occupied Donbas region is the starting point for her latest film, Klondike, Ukraine’s contender for the 2022 best international feature film Oscar.
“We all remember what happened on Feb. 24, 2022, when Russia started its full-scale war on Ukraine, but who talks about the Malaysian Air catastrophe?” says Er Gorbach.
- 12/14/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.