Depth
The documentary film Depth is a story about the crew of a fishing trawler stationed in Mariupol. The men spend most of their lives locked up inside an iron vessel when they go into the open sea. That is when their vulnerabilities are revealed. Their days are filled with monotonous and hard work. This work sucks the life out of them and doesn’t allow them to leave the city, which is caught between the threat of war and environmental catastrophe.
Recovery
Amid ongoing Russian attacks, Ukrainians are already rebuilding their country. International conferences discuss reconstruction plans, but most solutions are stalled, waiting for improved security. On the ground, life persists: students attend classes in bombed-out schools, surgeries continue in makeshift hospitals, volunteers repair shattered homes.This documentary examines rebuilding efforts across multiple levels, raising critical questions: How can rebuilding proceed amid constant destruction? What compromises emerge between local needs and global frameworks? How does Ukraine balance modernization and cultural preservation in the midst of war?The film follows diverse characters representing key forces in reconstruction. An architect facilitates public hearings on urban planning policies, navigating the tensions between ambitious visions and immediate necessities. A foreign investor launches pilot projects to test rebuilding strategies under wartime conditions. A global architectural firm designs an eco-friendly, modern city to replace one devastated by war.Essential community buildings—schools, hospitals, libraries—take center stage. The documentary tracks their transformation, from ruin to restoration.We also observe the rebuilding process through the eyes of an investigative journalist, as some current construction projects are drawing attention for their high costs and feasibility concerns. Volunteer groups repair roofs, replace windows, and create winter shelters, ensuring people have a place to survive the winter. Independent initiatives document cultural heritage destruction, preserving history for future restoration.The film delves into the emotional lives of those rebuilding amidst chaos—working, studying, and raising families. For them, resistance means living their normal lives in their country. Ukraine's reconstruction becomes not just physical but symbolic—a chance to emerge stronger and modernized, while grappling with questions about its future.
This House is Undamaged
"This House is Undamaged" is a documentary that explores the complex transformation of Mariupol, a city in Ukraine that was extensively destroyed during the Russian invasion in 2022. The film explores reconstruction efforts under Russian control and highlights the strategic obliteration of war marks through rapid rebuilding.
One of the film's main narrative motifs is the deconstruction of media narratives about the reconstruction of Mariupol. Through a thorough examination of various media sources - from social media posts, amateur footage and propaganda videos to official reports and advertisements - the film seeks to reveal how the image of the city's "reconstruction" is carefully constructed and manipulated. By exposing the flaws and distortions in these depictions, the documentary critically analyses how the media plays a key role in shaping public perceptions of urban transformation, both locally and internationally.
The film unfolds not around a single character, but around the city itself. Mariupol is both the protagonist and the stage, a body whose scars, ruptures, and forced transformations are traced through found footage, propaganda clips, amateur videos, and fragments of memory. Its streets and buildings, its ruins and reconstructions, speak louder than any individual voice. But the city is not only seen — it is heard. Its soundscape becomes the deeper narrative, the pulse beneath the image.
The city is read as topography — a map in flux, marked by shifting borders of control, layers of rubble and scaffolding, zones of habitation and zones of abandonment. Satellite images dissolve into shaky phone recordings; promotional clips overlap with whispered testimonies. The city becomes a palimpsest, where destruction and construction exist side by side, each erasing and overwriting the other, yet never fully succeeding.
One of the film's main narrative motifs is the deconstruction of media narratives about the reconstruction of Mariupol. Through a thorough examination of various media sources - from social media posts, amateur footage and propaganda videos to official reports and advertisements - the film seeks to reveal how the image of the city's "reconstruction" is carefully constructed and manipulated. By exposing the flaws and distortions in these depictions, the documentary critically analyses how the media plays a key role in shaping public perceptions of urban transformation, both locally and internationally.
The film unfolds not around a single character, but around the city itself. Mariupol is both the protagonist and the stage, a body whose scars, ruptures, and forced transformations are traced through found footage, propaganda clips, amateur videos, and fragments of memory. Its streets and buildings, its ruins and reconstructions, speak louder than any individual voice. But the city is not only seen — it is heard. Its soundscape becomes the deeper narrative, the pulse beneath the image.
The city is read as topography — a map in flux, marked by shifting borders of control, layers of rubble and scaffolding, zones of habitation and zones of abandonment. Satellite images dissolve into shaky phone recordings; promotional clips overlap with whispered testimonies. The city becomes a palimpsest, where destruction and construction exist side by side, each erasing and overwriting the other, yet never fully succeeding.