ОСТАННІЙ ПРОМЕТЕЙ ДОНБАСУ

"They 'freed' us from our houses": With bitter irony, one of the workers stands before the rubble of his destroyed home. Even in this moment of THE LAST PROMETHEUS OF DONBASS it becomes clear that behind the rhetoric of the Russian invasion and its promises of liberation there lies nothing but suffering, loss, and destruction.

Where stood the heavy industry of Donbas, once celebrated as the pride of the Soviet Union, ruins now bear witness to destruction and uprooting. Archival footage from the 1930s contrasts with the present: back then, it was reconstruction; today, it is systematic annihilation by those who see themselves as the heirs of this era. It feels as if history were repeating itself, only with the compass points reversed: In 1941, the plant was evacuated east to escape the Nazis, and rebuilt in 1943. Fast forward to 2024 and a westward evacuation is underway in response to Russian attacks.

In THE LAST PROMETHEUS OF DONBASS, Anton Shtuka brings us close to the people who remain despite the danger, and whose resilience forms the true foundation of the film. The result is a powerful testimony of courage and loss, of home, and of a persistence in carrying a light in the darkness, one that must not be extinguished.

Text: Julia Schneider

SA 08.11. I 20:45 I WELTSPIEGEL SAAL 3 I original version with English and German subtitles

SO 09.11. I 13:30 I WELTSPIEGEL GROSSER SAAL I original version with English and German subtitles