The Irish Film and Television Academy has named Gar O’Rourke’s documentary Sanatorium as Ireland’s official entry for the 2026 Academy Awards in the Best International Feature Film category. The project, filmed in Ukraine, has already attracted global attention.
Gar O’Rourke, a Dublin-born filmmaker, has built a career directing documentaries, commercials, and branded content for companies such as Netflix, BBC Storyville, Paramount+, Sony, Canon, and Patagonia. His projects have screened at prestigious festivals around the world and have been acquired by leading broadcasters in both Europe and North America.
Sanatorium marks O’Rourke’s first full-length documentary. It had its world premiere in March 2025 at Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX festival, competing in the DOX:AWARD section. The film was produced by Venom Films, MET Films, and BBC Storyville — organizations with multiple BAFTA, Sundance, and Oscar accolades — and has already been picked up by BBC Storyville for its award-winning documentary series.
After Copenhagen, the documentary was also shown at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel festival in April 2025 and is scheduled to appear at several other prominent international festivals later this year.
The film explores life at Kuyalnik Sanatorium, a decaying Soviet-era health retreat on the outskirts of Odessa, where a small group of patients continues to seek healing through mud baths and electrotherapy, even as war rages nearby. Through intimate portraits, the documentary captures their personal quests for recovery, companionship, and happiness in an environment suspended between past and present.
