The Long Breakup is a feature length documentary about Ukraine’s attempt to escape Russia’s embrace, leave its Soviet past behind and become a truly independent country. Katya Soldak, a Ukrainian-American filmmaker now living in Brooklyn, tells the story of her home country as it exits the USSR, works through two revolutions of its own, and endures a war with Russia--all through the eyes of her family in Kharkiv, a large Ukrainian city, only 18 miles away from the Russian border.

As her hometown faces the danger of being taken over by pro-Russian separatists, Katya, torn between Brooklyn and Ukraine, tries to understand how the city arrived to that point. Katya explores the story of her life in Soviet Ukraine and the first years of the country’s independence, before she moves to the USA and begins working as a journalist in New York. Staying connected with the home country, she finds herself immersed in Ukraine’s struggle.

Meanwhile, Katya’s family in Kharkiv is directly affected by Ukraine’s fight to break with Russia. As Ukrainians face Russian invasion, Katya’s mother, initially attached to her Russian roots, discovers tremendous love and support for Ukraine within herself; as do other previously ambiguous Ukrainians. In a deeply intimate way, the film depicts a family’s personal connection to significant and unprecedented historic events.