THE RETURN OF IVAN

A documentary about the fluid identities of people and the shifting geographic landscapes they inhabit. Ivan, a Ukrainian poet and writer of Greek descent, strives to piece together fragments of his memory amid the ruins of war as his hometown is devastated by bombings.

Ivan hails from Urzuf, a coastal town near Mariupol in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine. This area was one of the first to come under intense assault by the Russian military, enduring the initial attacks of the conflict. In the following months, Urzuf and Mariupol became central to the war's operations, subjected to relentless Russian bombardments, leading to devastating human losses and widespread destruction.