Ireland has submitted the Ukrainian-language film Sanatorium as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 98th annual Academy Awards.
Sanatorium was selected by IFTA’s 2025 Selection Committee, which includes Kirsten Sheridan (In America), Rich Peppiatt (Kneecap), Neasa Hardiman (Untamed), Louise Kiely (The Banshees of Inisherin), Aoife McArdle (Severance), Barry Ward (That They May Face The Rising Sun). IFTA Chief Executive Áine Moriarty is the board’s chair.
The film explores the Kuyalnik Sanatorium, a large 1970s building near Odesa in southern Ukraine, where a small group searches for love, healing and happiness, with mud treatments and Soviet-era therapies continuing despite a war close by. The biggest attraction is the mysterious black mud, said to cure infertility, physical disabilities, and various other ailments.
The film is directed by Gar O’Rourke and produced by Ken Wardrop and Andrew Freedman (His & Hers, Making the Grade), along with Samantha Corr. Sanatorium was co-produced by 2332 Films Ukraine and made with support from Screen Ireland, BBC Storyville, MetFilm Sales, France TV, and Creative Europe.
The film was edited by John Murphy with Denys Melnyk (Militantropos) as director of photography. Eclipse Pictures will release the film in Irish cinemas on Friday, 5th September.
Sanatorium had its World Premiere at CPH: DOX in Copenhagen. The film has subsequently gone on to screen at international festivals including Visions Du Reel in Switzerland, Edinburgh International Film Festival, DocuDays UA, Melbourne International Film Festival, and Galway Film Fleadh, where it won Best Irish Feature Documentary 2025.
