The Donetsk People's Republic (or the Curious Tale of the Handmade Country)

Directed by Antony Butts

This is an unfiltered, fly-on-the-wall account of how the Donetsk People’s Republic came into being, filmed with astonishing access inside the Donetsk Administration Building over a six-week period from May to April, and follows the fortunes of a handful of revolutionaries from lowly militia to government figures. It’s an often bizarre observational insight into the some of the dynamics inside the ‘birth of a country’ and why people joined the rebel groups. The people of the film refuse to conform to the stereotypes that the Russian, Western or Ukrainian media have put on them. Come and see how the war began.