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This week we do not look at techniques for telling stories. This week I will not give you ideas on how you can be bolder with your video marketing. This week we stand behind our fellow filmmakers in Ukraine who are facing difficulties of which we could never imagine. This week we lift them up. This week we say: we hear you, we see you.
Kohannia
Ukrainian animator Mykyta Lyskov’s award winning 2019 short Kohannia showcases absurd storytelling, with a piece made whole heartedly and pointedly for Ukrainian people. Kohannia, which roughly translates to Deep Love, jumps from one surreal situation to another. His use of sound and music is raw, haunting and at times . This is piece is as thought-provoking as it is unnerving, which I feel is clearly Lyskov’s intention. (Just to add Lyskov is also currently running a submission for animators to create a 10s clip of the assassination of Putin. Do with that what you will.)
Klondike
Moving onto a very different piece, we have Maryna Er Gorbach’s Sundance-winning Klondike (2022), a fictional story set in 2014 in a border town of Russia and Ukraine during the start of the war. Klondike is a story of resistance, a showing of resilience and an exposition on the human spirit amidst great catastrophe. This piece is a fearless telling of truth.
The Earth is Blue as an Orange
Next Iryna Tsilyk’s documentary The Earth is Blue as an Orange (2020) holds war under the microscope. We sit within the 4 walls of a family home and watch the day-to-day trauma, brought on by shelling and invading armies. As I watched I sat and looked up at my own lounge room wall and came to the harrowing understanding of the presumption I have of peace in my city. The presumption that as I watch my TV, as I eat my breakfast, as I fall asleep that wall will remain in tact and as a result I will remain safe. An incredible piece. Thank you Iryna for letting us in.
The Rain Will Never Stop
Our final Ukainian film today in the spotlight is Alina Gorlova’s documentary The Rain Will Never Stop (2020). Shot in sombre but dynamic black and white, its colourless cinematography heightens the straight talking sentiments or war, fear, choice and loss. The film follows 20 year old Andriy Suleyman as he tries to secure a sustainable future while navigating the human toll of armed conflict. The Rain Will Never Stop is cinematically striking in absolutely every way. We can learn so much from each other if we just open our eyes, our ears and our hearts. Thank you to this weeks amazing filmmakers for your stories and I pray you soon find peace.