Alina Gorlova‘s documentary THIS RAIN WILL NEVER STOP follows the daily life of young Andriy Suleyman in 2018. Andriy is the son of a Kurdish massage therapist from northern Syria and a Ukrainian mother. The nuclear family fled from Syria to Luhansk and its surroundings, where the war immediately caught up with them. Like his brother in Syria, Andriy‘s father mostly treats disabled veterans. Andriy studies and works as a volunteer for the Red Cross, which provides the village regions with modern wood-fired ovens, but also administers first aid at the Russian border. There are lines of old Ukrainians there, probably in order to receive pensions on the Russian side with their Russian passports which the government in Kyiv isn‘t giving people in Donbas anymore. There are propaganda signs on the walls: “those who apply for a Russian passport are supporting invaders.“

Gorlova‘s film withholds information from the audience. There are barely any indications about the places, times, or people. Some images only make sense after panning shots. This is meant to build inner tension, but also to focus the gaze on images that Gorlova keeps staging. When sunlight beams into a factory hall, it initially looks conventionally beautiful and a bit kitschy until you realize that tanks are being manufactured here. Images of barren mountains set to the droning rumbles of post industrial synth build a metaphorical framework. The fate of a family, scenes from rural Donbas, Andriy‘s highly emotional reaction when visiting relatives in an Iraqi camp: that all would‘ve also been moving without the aestheticizing constructs.

Tom Dorow (INDIEKINO MAGAZIN)

Translation: Elinor Lewy