The annual film festival The Santa Fe Film Festival took place in the city of Santa Fe, USA. It featured the Ukrainian documentary Mariupol Survivors (“Those who survived in Mariupol”), which included fragments of stories from the archive of the “Voices of the Peaceful” Museum of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation.
The authors of the tape have plans to shoot a series of projects about the cities of Ukraine during the war under the name “The War in Ukraine”.
Before the war, the film’s director, Maria Mykhno, worked as a director of the post-production department at top Ukrainian TV channels. Screenwriter, journalist, voiceover voice Anastasia Bazdyreva also worked as a presenter, actress and screenwriter on Ukrainian TV channels. Maria and Anastasia talked about the filming, the perception of the war in Ukraine by Americans, work with the archive of the “Voices of Peace” Museum of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation, and plans for future projects.
How did the idea come about, why did you decide to make the film?
After crossing the US border, it became clear how far the subject of the Russian war in Ukraine is from Americans. Americans did not know about the killing of civilians, especially children. We realized that something had to be done about it, and our weapon is audiovisual works. We decided to tell the story about Mariupol first, because the number of civilian casualties in this small resort town is very high. This is a huge disaster for Ukraine and for the rest of humanity. And one more proof of the criminal war of the Russian army against Ukraine.
How did you work on the tape?
They worked almost without sleep for 9 days. There were some difficulties with the shooting process, because the filming took place partly online. We did not have the opportunity to come to the development of locations, as well as to be present on the set. But we had a united and charged for success team. Each of us did the maximum that depended on him. For example, our cinematographer Denys Nilogov not only acted according to the storyboard prescribed by the director, but also oriented himself on the location and suggested how to improve the shot based on the location conditions. Anastasia expertly established contact with people from Mariupol who agreed to give an interview. And despite the fact that the recording was via video link, people were able to relax and openly tell their stories.
What was the most difficult?
Be on time. After all, we had only 9 days for production to submit the finished film to the festival. It is clear that we already had a written script in advance, and we had the contacts of some people who were ready to open their stories. But shooting and post-production had to fit into this short period. And we did it.
How difficult is it to record the stories of civilians about war?
Murders, especially mass ones, are not natural. It is difficult to ask about the death of loved ones, acquaintances and even strangers. The hardest part is that you will never understand the depth of these people’s pain because you have not been through it. Each story is unique and full of horrors that no human deserves. And here it is important to tell the people of Mariupol and all other victims of the war that we sympathize with all our hearts, that we are on their side, no matter what happens, no matter what decisions they have to make. And to repeat the obvious thing that the fault for everything lies with the Russians. And most importantly, before the interview, we always explained our main goal: to tell the world about the crimes of the Russian Federation, to do everything possible to stop the aggressor country.
Where did you look for the stories of the surviving Ukrainians from Mariupol?
The Rinat Akhmetov Foundation’s “Voices of the Peace” Museum helped demonstrate the scale of Russian terrorism in Ukraine and Mariupol. We had two main stories of surviving families in Mariupol, but there are thousands of such families. There is not a single person in this city who has not been affected by the war. Throughout the war, the museum collected and continues to collect these stories – and now we have the opportunity to let the world understand that these are not isolated cases, they are not exceptions to the rules, but mass terror and genocide of the Ukrainian people.
How did it happen that the film got to the prestigious festival in Santa Fe?
This is a double fortune. We found out about the festival when our film was in the script stage. But after we provided materials for the development of our project, the organizers of the Santa Fe Film Festival believed in us.
The stories that became part of the film Mariupol Survivors are included in the archive of the Museum “Voices of the Peaceful” of the Rinat Akhmetov Foundation. This is the world’s largest archive of stories of civilians of Ukraine who suffered from the war. The Museum’s archive already has more than 60,000 stories. Tell your story at https://civilvoicesmuseum.org or call the toll-free hotline at 0 (800) 509 001.