Mariinka
Opening Film
Competition
Mariinka
A Film by Pieter-Jan De Pue
2026 - Belgium/Netherlands/Germany/Sweden - Documentary - 94 min.
Languages: English , Ukrainian , Russian
In Eastern Ukraine, childhood neighbors find their lives violently derailed by a shifting frontline. Natasha, a promising boxing talent, becomes a military paramedic. Angela, who lost her parents at a young age, survives by moving goods to both sides of the front. Caught in a modern Greek tragedy, brothers Mark and Ruslan now fight on opposite sides – against each other. In the safety of his adoptive family in the United States, their youngest brother Daniil follows the war from afar.
Filmed over a decade on 16mm, MARIINKA begins long before the world watched the full-scale invasion. It is the highly anticipated second feature by Pieter-Jan De Pue, following his Sundance award-winning debut, THE LAND OF THE ENLIGHTENED.
In Collection:
Opening Film
Competition
More Films
The Ornithologist
A film by João Pedro Rodrigues
2016 - France/Brazil/Portugal - Drama - 1:2.387 - 118 min.
As he treks through the north of Portugal in search of rare birds, Fernando is swept away by the river rapids. Rescued by a couple of Chinese pilgrims, he tries to find his way back home through the eerie, dark forests, where uncanny encounters put him to the test. He soon becomes a different man, inspired, perhaps even enlightened…
Tiger Stripes
A film by Amanda Nell Eu
2023 - Malaysia/Taiwan/Singapore/France/Germany/Netherlands/Indonesia/Qatar - Fantasy - 1.85 - 95 min.
The first amongst her friends to hit puberty, Zaffan, 12, discovers a terrifying secret about her body. Ostracized by her community, Zaffan fights back, learning that to be free she must embrace the body she feared, emerging as a proud, strong woman.
Dog
A film by Samuel Benchetrit
2017 - France - Drama - 1.85 - 87 min.
Jacques Blanchot just lost everything: his wife, his son, his house, his work. Abandoned by all, he gets picked up by a zealous pet shop owner who, unable to see him as a friend, offers to train him as his dog.
Losing foot with reality, rejected by his peers, Jacques Blanchot discovers the challenges and perks of this new life.
Adapted from his own novel, Samuel Benchétrit tells us the fall of an individual with humor and self-mockery.