The film PORCELAIN WAR (2024), opening in New York City today (November 22nd, 2024), won the 2024 Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize, among numerous other plaudits. And I asked the directors -- Slava Leontyev and Brendan Bellomo -- whether the awards matter to them, and in one of the many heart-aching answers in this interview, Slava responded: I am here instead of my friends. Sharing this film is the main mission in my life.

The film offers hope in a sea of hopelessness against Russian aggression, and its extraordinary depiction of Ukrainian characters, images, and music is like no other documentary you'll see this year. Go watch it in a theater -- it has a rolling release for the rest of the year, and expect to see it praised by critics and awards shows over the next few months.

In this episode, we talk about:

• whether Russian apologists attend their screenings;
• how they met and got involved in filmmaking -- Brendan had no idea Slava served in the Ukrainian Special Forces;
• what people should expect to see when they go see PORCELAIN WAR in a theater -- "you won't see this on the news";
• their framing of the characters in the documentary and the aiming for "emotional truth" -- it was about "de-labeling" people;
• if there's more stories out there like the one in PORCELAIN WAR;
• what stories look like in the first hybrid battlefield + information war and how Slava made it with a focus for the Western audience;
• how Ukrainians saw the film as inspirational and as a "historic responsibility";
• the importance of sound and music as part of the film -- "if there's no image on the screen, you should be able to understand the story" -- and how lovely the work of DakhaBrakha is;
• how Slava destroyed sound equipment with his AK (really);
• what kind of advice the filmmakers would give documentary filmmakers -- "you are waking up in the very best day to become a filmmaker, which is today";
• the release strategy of showcasing the film in theaters and the competition of documentaries on streamers;
• the deep focus and "tunnel vision" going forward on sharing this film.

Indie Film Highlight: MARIUPOL. A HUNDRED NIGHTS (2023) dir. by Sofiia Melnyk

Links:

PORCELAIN WAR (2024) Website

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