Under The Volcano

On the final day of a family holiday in Tenerife, a Ukrainian father, his new wife, and two children are jolted from their sunlit bubble by the devastating news that Russia has invaded their homeland. As flights are grounded and uncertainty sets in, Roman—a father and husband caught between the past and present—must navigate the emotional fault lines of a newly blended family in exile.

Tensions simmer between his teenage daughter Sofia, young son Fedir, and his second wife Nastya. What begins as a frustrating disruption soon transforms into a reckoning with belonging, identity, and helplessness, as the family faces an unfolding war from a paradise they can no longer enjoy.

Following his acclaimed debut Bread and Salt (Winner – Venice Orizzonti Special Jury Prize), Damian Kocur returns with a deeply personal and piercing portrait of a family in psychological freefall. With naturalistic performances and immersive direction, Under the Volcano explores the private costs of public crises—the fractures that form not in armies, but in hotel rooms, breakfast tables, and unspoken moments of grief.

A resonant, quietly powerful film about displacement, duty, and the invisible weight of trauma.