Eureka announce new acquisition, the Ukrainian Black Comedy DONBASS

Eureka have acquired all rights to DONBASS, a black comedy set in Ukraine’s Donbass region, following thirteen different episodes that are based on real events, with a background of conflict between the Ukrainian army and the Russian-backed separatist militia. DONBASS won the Cannes ‘Un Certain Regard’ Prize For Best Director at the 2018 festival and premiered in the UK as part of the London Film Festival 2018.

In the Donbass, a region of Eastern Ukraine, a hybrid war takes place, involving an open armed conflict alongside killings and robberies on a mass scale perpetrated by separatist gangs. In the Donbass, war is called peace, propaganda is uttered as truth and hatred is declared to be love. A journey through the Donbass unfolds as a chain of curious adventures, where the grotesque and drama are as intertwined as life and death. This is not a tale of one region, one country or one political system. It is about a world, lost in post-truth and fake identities. It is about each and every one of us.

It is expected that DONBASS will be receive a nationwide theatrical release in the first half of 2019, followed by a home video release later in the year, as part of the Montage Pictures range, Eureka’s home for ground-breaking and thought-provoking world cinema from new and upcoming directors.

“A scathing portrait of a society where human interaction has descended to a level of barbarity” – Variety

“Filled with the violence and Orwellian unreality ruling eastern Ukraine, Sergei Loznitsa’s feverish procession of scenes is handled with steely control ★★★★☆” – Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“The film’s displays of humour give away to harsher scenes of brutality and intense moments where rural calm is suddenly disrupted by mortar explosions and transformed landscapes dotted with corpses ★★★★☆” – Cine Vue