SANATORIUM

Special Features: East Coast Premiere | 2026 Oscar® Selection, Ireland | Q&A with director Gar O’Rourke and Professor Sky Sitney, Film and Media Studies Program, Georgetown University and Co-Founder & Festival Director, DC/DOX

On the outskirts of Odesa, Ukraine, stands the imposing Kuyalnik Sanatorium — a large, fading 1970s building that houses a health resort where thousands of Ukrainians, drawn by Soviet-era therapies, come for the chance to relax lakeside and immerse in the mysterious black mud — said to cure infertility, physical disabilities and various other ailments. Gar O’Rourke’s film takes place across a summer season at this unusual place, following the staff as they work hard to provide care, comfort and entertainment for visitors — even with the war nearby. For the guests, it is a time to seek healing, love, and renewal. Despite the airstrikes close by, there is something about the pastel-pink and lime-green halls of the sanatorium that keeps pulling people back. Maybe it is the hope of rejuvenation or maybe it is something hidden in the mud… DIR Gar O’Rourke; PROD Andrew Freedman, Ken Wardrop, Samantha Corr. France/Ireland/Ukraine, 2025, color, 90 min. In Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles. NOT RATED

Run Time: 90 Minutes

Opening Date: Sunday, March 01, 2026

Genre: Documentary

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