In 2015, thirty-something French Bonnel accompanies a Ukrainian acquaintance to eastern separatist Ukraine and discovers the violent reality of a civil war. There, she captures the terrible images of a murderous conflict and a humanitarian disaster, as the Ukraine army tries to regain control over the Moscow-backed separatist territories. Bonnel travelled there three times between 2015 and 2016 – three two-week stays to gain the trust of the local population and film their daily lives.This is a unique firsthand footage from the war-torn ground, at a time few in the west knew or cared of the situation in Donbas(s).
Donbass was screened at Itinérances – Ales Film Festival and Amnesty’s human rights festival Au cinéma pour les droits humain.
Born in southeastern France in 1978. Anne-Laure Bonnel studied production and film direction at Sorbonne University. She taught Audio/Video design and production for 15 years (University of Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne) and worked in TV production, before breaking out as a war documentary filmmaker with Donbass, followed by Silence in Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020, and Donbass, huit ans après in 2022. She’s currently editing her latest footage from the region, where she travelled for the fifth time in November last year.