The documentary Mariinka, directed by Belgian filmmaker Pieter-Jan De Pue, will celebrate its world premiere as the opening film of the 23rd edition of CPH:DOX, running from March 11–22, 2026 in Copenhagen. Ahead of the festival, we unveil the film’s official poster, offering a first glimpse into De Pue’s decade-long cinematic chronicle of lives shaped by war in eastern Ukraine.
Shot on 16mm and nearly ten years in the making, Mariinka marks De Pue’s second feature documentary following The Land of the Enlightened. The film has also been selected for the festival’s main competition, DOX:AWARD, which highlights works distinguished by exceptional storytelling, innovative filmmaking, and strong cultural and social relevance.
Set in the frontline town of Mariinka in eastern Ukraine, the film traces the intertwined destinies of several young Ukrainians whose lives have been irrevocably shaped by more than a decade of conflict in the Donbas region. De Pue began filming long before Russia’s full-scale invasion brought the region to global attention, capturing a slow-burning war that gradually fractures families and communities.
The film follows a promising boxing talent who becomes a military paramedic, a young woman forced to smuggle goods across the frontline to survive, and two brothers who find themselves fighting on opposite sides of the conflict. Their youngest sibling, meanwhile, grows up far from the war with a foster family in the United States. Through letters, video calls and rare silent encounters, the film unfolds as a poignant meditation on belonging, national loyalty and the fragile bonds of family strained by political conflict.
The official synopsis:
Mariinka begins long before the world watched the full-scale invasion. In eastern Ukraine, the film traces several young Ukrainians whose lives have been forever shaped by more than ten years of war and conflict in the Donbas region. Amidst the war a promising boxing talent turns military paramedic, a girl is smuggling unexpected goods across the frontline to survive, and as in a Greek tragedy, two brothers now fight on opposite sides of the front line – against each other – while their youngest brother lives in safety far from the war with a foster family in the United States.
With its almost biblical undertones and striking visual approach, Mariinka captures both the gradual disappearance of a city and the endurance of those who once called it home. De Pue’s patient, immersive filmmaking transforms geopolitical conflict into an intimate human story, reflecting on the ways war reshapes identity, loyalty and the meaning of belonging.