Disputed Territory, Memory and Sound in the Donbas Region.

Abstract

The article examines how the sound montage in Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbas (Dziga Vertov, 1931) produces a symbolic spatiality in which industrial noise functions as an architectural structure. The methodology is based on a film analysis focused on sound, montage, and its relationship with territory, drawing on theoretical approaches to the dialectic between presence and absence in the audiovisual experience. The results show that the film configures the Donbas as a sonic city of socialism, where collective labor is translated into rhythm and progress is articulated as an auditory experience. It concludes that this representation left a lasting imprint on the region’s memory, associated with stability, labor, and economic centrality. Since 2014, and with greater intensity following the 2022 invasion, this memory of the industrial past has been mobilized by separatist actors and Russian propaganda to reinforce narratives of belonging, historical continuity, and territorial legitimacy in the context of the conflict.