documentary project
At the beginning of the full-scale war in Ukraine, I felt that I could no longer make documentary films and went to the front as a volunteer. I wanted just to be a fighter, and live this experience without a camera, but the more I was in this space, the stronger the desire to preserve the memory of it became. I often filmed just some daily routine that seemed unimportant but later acquired a completely different value. Because, in fact, this world at the frontline is not about heroism and action, not about fearless warriors and fierce battles, it is about endless routine and waiting, about days and nights in the trenches, when you just intensely look into the space that surrounds you, at the horizon line of wheat fields, in trees, into the grass and leaves shaking from the wind. It is about listening to all possible sounds when everything around explodes, when everything around is silent. The Frontline project is a personal story and a video diary of frontline life observations, revealing a completely different, invisible side of war. In trenches and windbreaks, in abandoned houses and basements, the project reflects this life at the frontline through the moods and atmospheres, pauses and silence, anticipation and tension. It is an attempt to understand and convey this palette of states through long observation of the world through the camera, which is both the eyes of a fighter and a documentary filmmaker.
PROJECT TEAM
ALISA KOVALENKO, scriptwriter
Alisa Kovalenko is a Ukrainian director, a member of the European Film Academy. She graduated from Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Karyi Theatre, Cinema and Television University (Documentary Film Directing program) and Andrzej Wajda School in Warsaw. Her full-length documentaries Alice in Warland and Home Games have been screened at nearly 100 international film festivals and won 14 awards. In the summer of 2018, as the chief editor and co-director, she released a 10-episode documentary series about women's football in Ukraine, which was broadcasted on Current Time TV (Czech Republic) and UA: Pershyi (Ukraine).
Selected filmography:
2018 – Home Games, a full-length documentary film (Ukraine, France, Poland).
2015 – Alisa in Warland, a full-length documentary film (Poland).
VALERIY KALMYKOV, producer
In 2013, he founded the film company Truman Production in Odesa.
Member of the Ukrainian Film Academy
Filmography:
2022 – documentary series Roman's Talismans (Ukrainian: «Талісмани Романа»), director Danylo Sirykh
2023 – documentary film Expedition 49, director Alisa Kovalenko
2018 – Liza's Tale, directed by Alexander Zhovna
2018 – documentary film GogolDoc, director Alisa Pavlovska
2017 – 5 Therapy, directed by Alisa Pavlovska
2014 – My Mermaid, My Lorelei, directed by Nana Dzhordzhadze