15.04.2023 at 15:00
Narva Art Residency, Joala 18, Narva
Discussion and coffee break after the screening
Together with Narva Meediaklubi MTÜ, Ukrainian Community in Estonia and Narva city
Entrance free of charge
The film’s director Yelizaveta Tatarinova said that the idea for the film arose when her foreign colleagues asked if what Ukraine experienced in 2013-2014, starting with the Maidan events, followed by the tragic events: “I realised that it was important for me to find my own answer”. “In 2013, Ukraine was faced with a global choice: we stay as a country with our own identity or we fall into the ‘brotherly embrace’ of the ‘Russian world’. And after five years we decided to investigate how people live at home and there, beyond the empire,” said the director. The film crew compared life of common people in Ukraine and “over there”: “And every time we returned home, we realised that, thank God, this comparison is still in our favour”, – said Elisabeth Tatarinova.
To realize the idea, the authors of the film managed to visit and, most importantly, to film life stories in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, Transnistria and Russia. Practically everywhere, this was not easy. For example, in unrecognised Transnistria, the film crew left the car only in specific, secured places. But even this caution did not guarantee to avoid problems with the security services, including deportation and confiscation of the material. Many episodes cameraman-director Viktor Levchuk had to film practically in hidden camera mode.