“How are you?”. It seems like the easiest question to start a conversation – almost a neutral, semi-automatic question – but if you’re asking it to two people living in Kiev, it has a different tone and the answer won’t just be “fine”. He answers me like this film and television producer Anna Eliseeva: “Emotions are mixed. Every day is different. At least this winter has been calmer than the last, thanks to better air defenses. We have electricity, we have light, everything is open, cinemas, restaurants, schools… If there were no alarm sirens, everything would be normal.“.
Two years ago, on February 24, 2022, normality suddenly came to an end. During the first month of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they thought only of survival. Then the desire to tell stories returned: “At the production company [Film UA] “We chatted to talk about everything and nothing, and there we started sharing human cases that came to us,” he explains. screenwriter and showrunner Anastasiia Lodkina. “For example, we talked about the history of a zoo in the Kiev region [el XII Months] where they were left without electricity and food, and where less than ten people had to keep two hundred animals safe. They were normal people who unintentionally became heroes. We had to tell such stories as soon as the occupation of Kiev was over“.
They finally filmed it in the spring of 2023 ‘Ukraine: the rest’ (Movistar Plus+, Saturday 24th)It’s an anthology series of very real fictions about “the Ukrainian people, their hopes, what drove them to resist in those first months when no one believed we could resist,” says Lodkina.
variable blur
Inspired by the story of a friend from Lodkina, ‘Family’ is an extremely devastating comedy that is both bitter and sweet. The family who insists on not leaving their home despite bomb threats. As the action progresses, we learn more about the characters and their less-than-obvious bonds. There are also stories about famous transvestite Verka Serduchka and her inspiring daily live broadcast (“Star of the City”); one a seven-year-old boy whose mother, a surgeon at a children’s hospital, had difficulty explaining the occupation to him (“Mothers”), or A homeless man determined to join a local advocacy group (‘Homeless’).
Moves between tone of voice funny and tragic, raw and inspiring. First of all, we wanted to avoid monochrome drama. According to Anastasiia, Ukraine’s superpower is humor. “When the war started we were devastated and lost faith in humanity, but within two weeks social networks were flooded with ‘memes’. This gave us light and filled us with hope.”
Making a movie with difficulties
When choosing directors (preferably also screenwriters), they researched writers they admired as well as close friends. Some are just starting out and others already know different types of success; Artem Lytvinenko (“At the Zoo”) is the creator of “The Sniffer,” a series that takes viewers through Eastern Europe. Pavlo Ostrikov (‘Homeless’) won awards at the Locarno and Odessa festivals with his short films.
Filming took six weeks, which seemed like a long time. Eliseeva remembers this They couldn’t do many things, like “shooting at night, shooting from drones, or shooting without an air raid shelter nearby.”; They spent a day filming at one of the latter. They briefly considered filming in Moldova, but it just wouldn’t be the same. “We talked about it, but Anastasiia believed that it was very important to shoot in Kiev, in that zoo, in those very streets where everything happened.” And if night scenes were needed, they could always be accomplished in post-production.
For our interviewees, it is very important that this series be watched throughout Europe. “We want to show that At the cultural and ideological level we are much closer to you than Russia” says Lodkina. “We are here and we want to be part of the family. We understand the cost of this war in Europe and all the economic difficulties, but in our country the situation is a matter of life and death. People are dying because of this. Friends and family.” Anna adds: “There is a danger that after two years people will normalize war. We must stop this and believe in justice, love and family.”.