How do Ukrainians live with the war? What does normality mean, what purpose do plans for the future have when a missile could strike in the next moment? A personal essay by filmmaker and writer Iryna Tsilyk.
From: Euromaiden Press BY IRYNA TSILYK
Iryna Tsilyk, a Ukrainian writer and filmmaker, was the first Ukrainian to join the jury of the Golden Eye award at the Cannes Film Festival. Currently, the film director is working on the animated documentary Red Zone about the first months of the Russian invasion, which received a special development prize from Eurimages. This is a translation of her essay published in the Swiss newspaper Republik. We publish an English translation with permission.
“What do you think will happen next with the fate of Ukraine?” – a German film producer asks us during business negotiations and adds: “We need to think strategically.”
We talk in Amsterdam during the forum of the largest documentary film festival in the world in speed dating mode: I and my Ukrainian producer are sitting at one of the tables in the meeting room, and various potential partners, mainly producers from European and North American countries, join us in turns to get better acquainted with our project.
All these people are very different, so are their questions and remarks. One Swiss producer, for example, shared with us her observation that “there are so many wars to choose from, haha.” She was joking, I got it. We Ukrainians, as real connoisseurs of humor, and especially black humor during the war, do understand everything. And it’s true, there is a rich selection now. Here you go, a project about refugees and their injuries. Here’s one about rape as a type of war crime. On PTSD and rehabilitation of war veterans. On the thousands of kidnapped children, a manifestation of genocidal war. On the rehabilitation of former prisoners after torture. And so on and so forth. Which war do you prefer? Israeli-Palestinian? Or maybe Armenian-Azerbaijani? Should we still offer the Russian-Ukrainian one or is it no longer relevant enough?
Voice of Ukraine 