Sanatorium

Only the brave now visit Odessa in southern Ukraine. The seaside city is often bombed in air raids and is dangerously close to the nearby frontline. Despite all these obstacles, the legendary Kuyalnik clinical sanatorium is open to guests and patients seeking various medical treatments. Before the pandemic, thousands of Ukrainians visited the sanatorium, but now only the most optimistic cannot resist revisiting the spa resort's thermal black mud baths near the salt lake. Disorders of the nervous system, gynaecological diseases, chronic pain and other pathologies are cured here during stays in the large, old hotel. 

Irish director Gar O’Rourke spent a summer season at the Kuyalnik resort, sensitively documenting the unique healing procedures and warm, comfortable care provided to a select group of individuals affected by the ongoing war, offering them a temporary refuge through activities such as fun games, karaoke, and film screenings in a 1000-seat cinema.