Ukraine — 3 films
We created three short films profiling three separate artists / institutions based in Kyiv, Ukraine and the impact of war on them. The films were made with a direct grant from the British Council, in co-operation with Ukraine Fashion Week.
After a decade of working in Kyiv this project involves good friends from Ukraine and is very important to us.
Film 1 — Masha Batsii
Masha is a Ukrainian 3D artist, motion designer and a director based in Los Angeles. She has worked with world renowned fashion brands, leading music companies and top ranked art galleries.
Masha’s film communicates reflections and memories of her home in Ukraine and the emotions that surface as she ruminates on the current war there. Using unique 3D filters and motion graphics, this film treads a line between vivid melancholic day dreams and the playful masking of something hidden and out of reach. Her recollections from London emphasise a private isolation that comes with distance and detatchment and how this intensifies her feelings.
Film 2 — Yasia Khomenko
Yasia Khomenko is a designer and storyteller from Kyiv. Her now iconic brand RCR KHOMENKO was established in 2011. Yasia’s passion for trawling the Kyiv flea markets for scraps of fabric has been central in found- ing her no-wastage production policy. The reused fragments she collects form new creations, and with that take on new life and new stories.
Yasia’s film documents the impact of the war on her own creative practice. The film shows a series of sequences that move backwards in time showing before and after the invasion – and Yasia’s displacement from Ukraine to Poland. Throughout the film, we see how fragments of life are unstitched and torn apart by the war, and the effect this has on those left with the pieces.
Film 3 — K41
K41 was initially a nightclub in Podil, Kyiv. Housed in an old 19th Century Brewery, it has hosted numerous international DJ’s with a capacity of 15,000. Now the cultural institution operates a project with the aim to provide financial, humanitarian and logistical support to the musical and cultural community that has been facing life-threatening challenges since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The K41 film focuses on life before and after the Russian invasion. Using still CCTV camera footage of the bustling queue that once defined the K41 nightclub, slow pans and desktop simulation serve to highlight how rapidly life has changed. Captured in this seemingly innocuous still, things once taken for granted now seem like distant memories with the anonymised revellers unaware of what is to come. This film presents a timely reminder of the fragility of modern life and the communities and people affected.
The soundtrack was provided by Ukrainian producer John Object (Timur Dzhafarov) who at the time of publishing this film is fighting in the war.