Klondike

17 July 2014 stands as one of the blackest days in aviation history. That Thursday, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was shot out of the sky over eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists. None of the 298 occupants survived the crash. 17 July 2014 is also the day Klondike begins.

On the land near Irka and Tolik's farm lies a fragment of the shot-down plane. Moreover, a poorly aimed rocket from the separatists has punched a large hole in their house. Fleeing is obvious, but precisely because of the fateful events, the heavily pregnant Irka wants to stay in the house. Her easily inflamed husband, however, feels that a woman in her condition should leave the war zone as soon as possible.

Ukrainian director Maryna Er Gorbach, who wrote the screenplay herself, completed this critically acclaimed film in January 2022, just before the Russians invaded her country.