A beautifully shot examination of the troubled life of a young welder in modern-day Belarus trying to unite her fractured family against all the odds, Welded Together plays out like a narrative drama, but with a greater sense of emotional resonance, and made with a real sense of heart and compassion.
Up front the film makes clear the backdrop under which it was made, with an on-screen statement that the film “was made by an independent Belarusian filmmaker without any state support” and that the film “demonstrates the resilience of independent filmmakers who live and create in Belarus despite the difficulties they encounter”.
It nails its artistic credentials right from the off, opening with a strikingly framed drone shot that follows the progress of a van belching smoke as it makes its way through the snowy Belarus wastes. Inside the truck, alongside a fellow worker, is Katya, a young woman in her early twenties, focussed on her career as a welder but also tortured by a troubled family life.
She goes to work on a collective farm, welding cattle pens, but back at her home and chatting with young female friends she admits she never smiles or laughs. She was six when her father died and her mother took to drink – she has found her mother again, but worries that they are strangers, but she still makes time to visit and spend time with her baby step-sister Amina.
In a bid to confront her fractured past and also protect her young sister, she decides to move to the City of Brest, and live again with her mother and step-sister, finding work locally and looking after Amina when she can. But the child plays amidst beer bottles and mess; her mother cries about wanting to be good but then also lapses into another drinking session – with the result that Katya talks to social services who bluntly tell her, however, that she would never get permission to take Amina away and adopt her.
In fact, Social Services talk about another family adopting Amina, with the social worker thinking this would be the best thing. “She’ll have a better life but you won’t be part of it,” she comments to a clearly emotional Katya.
To an extent this fiercely independent young welder has a sense of direction. Her co-workers appreciate her skills, and in one lovely sequence she is seen going to a welding trade fair where she tries on new helmets and uses new welding tools, and even competes in a young welders competition. But at the same time the business of trying to protect and care for young Amina is clearly exhausting her, and as their bond grows deeper, Katya is faced with a heart-wrenching dilemma that will not only determine her own future, but also give her sister a chance for a better life.
At times self-aware of its dramatic structure and arc, Welded Together is also a gently powerful story of survival, sacrifice and sisterhood. Beautifully shot by Pavel Romanenya, and made with a real sense of heart and compassion by director Anastasiya Miroshnichenko it astutely tackles responsibility, forgiveness, sisterhood and love all in the face of having to make tough decisions and emotionally brutal sacrifices.
France/Netherlands/Belgium, 2025, 96 mins
Dir: Anastasiya Miroshnichenko
Production: Little Big Story, Stenola Production, Witfilm
International sales: Lightdox
Producers: Valerie Montmartin, Raphael Pelissou, Iris Lammertsma, Babet Touw, Anton Iffland Stettner, Eva Kuperman
Cinematography: Pavel Romanenya
Editors: Kasia Boniecka, Stanislav Kalilaska
Music: Rui Reis Maia
