When poet/filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk first visits the Trofymchuk-Gladky family home in Krasnohorivka, Ukraine, she is surprised by what she finds. While the outside world is made up of bombings and chaos, single mother Anna and her four children are managing to keep their home as a safe haven, full of life and full of light. Every member of the family has a passion for cinema, so it feels natural to shoot a film inspired by their own life during a time of war. The creative process raises the question of what kind of power the magical world of cinema might have during times of disaster, and how to picture war through the camera’s lens. For Anna and the children, transforming trauma into a work of art is the ultimate way to stay human.
“Iryna Tsilyk offers an intimate and surprisingly playful family’s eye view of life in the Ukraine warzone in her debut feature documentary” —Amber Wilkinson, ScreenDaily “A documentary in which the roles of filmmaker, viewer and subject are as inextricably fused as life and art.” —Guy Lodge, Variety “...an affectionate and politically impartial homage to subjects who are hungry for life and of unshakable optimism” —Teresa Vena, Cineuropa
