fiction feature film
Aurora and Darko are young and in love. They survived the war and are starting their life together. Yet, they don’t have enough money for their own place: he’s a musician, and she takes a veterinary internship. So, they move into a room at the house of Aurora’s grandfather. Grandad Anton is blind and needs care. In his 88 he’s been through the occupation of his village and lived to the victory of Ukraine. It’s easy to look after him, he eats twice a day and mostly bread. Still, Aurora is afraid that he is going to pass away soon. Gradually, death becomes the main theme of their lives and sets the record straight.
PROJECT TEAM
KATERYNA GORNOSTAI, scriptwriter
Director and screenwriter. Born in Lutsk. In 2010, she graduated as biologist. Later, she graduated from Kyiv-Mohyla Academy with a master’s degree in journalism. In 2012–2013, she studied at Marina Razbezhkina and Mikhail Ugarov’s School of Documentary Film and Theatre. She started her career as a documentary filmmaker. Subsequently, she shifted to fiction films and hybrid forms. In 2015, her short Away became the Best Film of the National Competition at Molodist KIFF. And in 2021, her feature debut Stop-Zemlia won a Berlinale Crystal Bear award, 3 awards, including Gran-Prix, at Odesa IFF, 5 awards at Kyiv Critics Week, and had success in Ukrainian box-office. The film was presented at more than 50 festivals around the world. Kateryna is also involved in educational projects, she teaches documentary filmmaking and film editing. She is based in Kyiv.
VIKA KHOMENKO, producer
She started her career as a film critic and researcher. She graduated from the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy with a master's degree in journalism. In 2015, she joined the team of Docudays UA IDHRFF as Head of the Industry Platform.
Her career as a producer began in 2016. Her shorts (Lilac, 2017, Crocodile, 2018) created together with director Kateryna Gornostai were presented at Cottbus IFF, GoShort ISFF, and other festivals. Debut fiction feature Stop-Zemlia received a Berlinale Crystal Bear award in 2021, participated in more than 50 festivals worldwide and was successful in Ukrainian box-office.
In 2019, together with producer Darya Bassel they started a film production company Moon Man. Among their works are independent documentaries, fiction films and international co-productions, such as A House Made of Splinters (dir. Simon Lereng Vilmont; Best Director award at Sundance), and Outside (dir. Olha Zhurba, premiered at CPH:DOX).
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