War Songs

Three stories of interconnection and internegation between creativity and work in modern Ukraine.

In the spring of 2022, the Ukrainian city of Mariupol was surrounded by Russian troops. They were using the weapons of mass destruction against the civilian population every day. In mid-March volunteers started evacuating people from Mariupol to Zaporizhzhia. They gathered after each trip to exchange the information, support each other, and talk about their traumatic experiences.

Ajahi is the poorest district of Mariupol. An ideal place for meditations on poverty; a place where you won't see anything that is supposed to be shown; place, to share the void with a friend.

Far right radicalism cannot be innate, it is always a result of socio-economic frustrations. We asked our friends to try on the uniform of the National Corps and think about the far right political identity from inside.

A music film about Taras Fedirko, William Nought, heart, feet, skirt, and bagels. Impro vs impro, superimpo vs superimpo, oh-my-god vs aliens' idioms, sound propagating happiness vs a soldering iron in a demagog's arse.

Mockumentary on the post-industrial future of Mariupol. The authors imagine what the city would be like with the developed culture of the Azov Greeks, the ethnic population of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. The plot develops in 2068 in Mariupol, where a musician from Rotterdam arrives. They participates in an art residency organized by a local institution such as the Center for Industrial Heritage (CIS).

The film is based on Riasni Drova’s interpretation of John Jacob Niles’ Child Ballad #95.

The film consists of 14 fragments, which focus on intersections of dramatic events in the history of Ukraine in 2014-2016, and specifically in the history of the city of Mariupol, and personal experiences of the filmmaker. The beginning. Water. Music. Jokes. Monuments. Events. Buenos Aires. A tree. Talking to God. Film. A trap for nearly everyone. Walls of Joy. All I think is fire. The end.

Life of Mariupol vandals in 29 arborglyphs (graffiti on the bark of the trees).

The first film, "Artels of Fintiktikova's Followers," 2006-2007.

The second film, "Artels of Fintiktikova's Followers," 2006-2009.

An auto-fictional essay about a gay community that makes use of a communication network consisting of amateur radio and grassroot hook-up apps. While the air is constantly interrupted by homophobic messages made of the intercepted military ciphers used by the Russian army, networks of love, empathy, and support become ever stronger. Produced as a close observation of everyday media practices and the social life of love relations, “The Film of Sand“ takes a close look at the interrelations of war and intimacy, threat and empathy, fiction and documentation.

The film crew of the Creative East project is travelling around the Eastern Ukrainian cities researching abandoned areas and buildings. The people they meet offer different perspectives on the problem. Apart from revitalizing abandoned buildings (skate-park Druzhba in Lysychansk), you can also use them for temporarty art interventions (rave parties in the former industrial park in Kostyantynivka) or just leave them as they are (Soviet summer camps on the Azov coast).

A day in the life of a working man. Gathering the wires for scrap. Feeding the stray dogs. Chopping wood and lighting a furnace. Opening the gate for more important people. Channel zapping and simple food.

Road movie on the road. Sashko Protyah and Diana Berg are going to explore the Kherson region, trying to find a new understanding travels, creativity, experience.

Residents of Mariupol talk about looting in shops during the siege and capture of the city by russian troops in March 2022.