Synopsis
Directors: Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev
Producers: Aniela Sidorska, Paula Dupré Pesmen, Camilla Mazzaferro, Olivia Ahnemann
United States, Ukraine, Australia, 88 min, 2024
Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, this powerful and affecting portrait of a group of citizen fighters in Ukraine reflects a more sensitive side of the conflict. In between waging war to defend their homeland, Slava Leontyev and Anya Stasenko are skilled ceramic artists, molding and painting precious porcelain figurines of folkloric creatures. Meanwhile, their closest friend Andrey, a former painter, has struggled to create his art; instead, he’s struggling to keep his family safe. Their cameras show their love for each other, for the sun-drenched countryside and bucolic forests of their homeland, and their art—at the same time training, preparing, and enduring the brutality of battle. With beautiful touches of animation, a soulful soundtrack of Ukrainian dirges, and a sense of hope, humor, and humanity, Porcelain War is a “poignant” (Variety) “combination of whimsy and devastation” (Wall Street Journal) about the power of art and the will to survive.
SPOTLIGHT ON UKRAINE: SPECIAL SCREENING AND DISCUSSION
Screening with short film Mariupol: A Hundred Nights (dir. Sofiia Melnyk)
