Supported by Goteborg Film Fund (Sweden) Ukrainian State Film Agency
When you hear Donbas, what’s the first thing that comes to you mind? I bet it’s war. I am here to challenge this vision.
Combining elements of documentary, narrative, and experimental approach, we will see Donbas not as a mere background but as a protagonist of the film.
Known for centuries as a Wild Field (similar to the American Wild West), Donbas always was a melting pot of nations, beliefs, and political views. Recently, it was perceived by many as a depressive region that bore fading signs of the former industrial glory.
This glory was shown almost 100 years ago in Dziga Vertov’s cinematic masterpiece under the same name, The Symphony of Donbas. My project is an artistic rethinking of Vertov’s classical movie.
According to the symphony structure, our story consists of 4 parts that we call “tales”. They highlight four main industries of Donbas: Tale of Chalk, Tale of Salt, Tale of Coal, and Tale of Metal. Every part is an immersive journey into the history and folklore of the respective industries.
During research stage, I had many fears since I’ve been forced out of my native Donetsk many years ago. I heard plenty of stories about how local people felt used by filmmakers. No one ever considered them, their land, and their culture beautiful and worth studying and admiring. And we were there for that reason. We did extensive research, unearthed fantastic folklore, got access to the most challenging and impressive locations.
And then we got caught by war during the final stages of the location scouting and had to flee. The financing that we received from the Ukrainian State Film Find was frozen. Every day, I am helplessly checking the news to learn that yet one more of our locations was either occupied or destroyed; we don’t know the fates of so many people that we met during our research. The tangible and intangible heritage of Donbas is being wiped off the earth at this very moment.
This project started as a big dream to use the power of cinema to change the negative image of Donbas and now it became a swan song of the region’s identity. We are looking for co-producers and for emergency funds that are willing to take the risk and help us to preserve what’s still left and start the principal shooting now – because I’m afraid, otherwise it can be too late.
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