Olena Yakovitska

Everything Needs to Live

Since early childhood Anna has loved animals – she taught biology at school and worked in the zoo. As a woman, she realised quite soon that she had to be physically strong too. That is why, at the age of 40, she embarked on a career of a power triathlete and soon became a multiple world champion and the strongest woman in the world. Using the power of social media, she ran a campaign for animal rights, opened animal shelters and looked for new families for dozens of stray dogs and cats. When Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Anna went on to help wounded and abandoned animals.

Gulag Eros of the Russian Mind

The first Soviet sexologist is sent to the gulag and is haunted by stories of fellow inmates. They provide unforgettable vignettes of Soviet sexual brutality, from the utopian ideals of the 1920s, to gay life in the 1930s, the rape of women by those in power, and the use of sexpionage to entrap enemies of the State. A visually compelling exploration of how totalitarianism ultimately destroys all forms of human intimacy. Part 1 of the trilogy "Sex in the Soviet Union."

Butterfly Vision

After spending months as a prisoner in Donbass, Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance expert Lilia returns home to her family. But the trauma of captivity continues to torment her and surface in dreamlike ways. Something growing deep within Lilia will not allow her to forget, yet she refuses to identify as a victim and will fight to liberate herself.

Painter

A successful colorist accidentally loses his sight but tries to stay in the profession. His colorblind student, who used to be a programmer in the past, is helping him with this task by using modern advances in technology. Circumstances force them to unite and overcome their fears together.

Petro the Tsymbalist

About a young musician from the Carpathian village of Vorokhta who comes to Kyiv in the winter of 2013 for the Revolution of Dignity to play barricades and talk to protesters. Collisions with security forces are getting tougher and Peter has to replace cymbals with a helmet and a bulletproof vest. Upon returning home, he realizes that he cannot sit back and goes to play his music for people in the newly liberated cities.

The Earth Is Blue as an Orange

Single mother Anna and her four children live in the front-line war zone of Donbas, Ukraine. While the outside world is made up of bombings and chaos, the family is managing to keep their home a safe haven, full of life and full of light. Every member of the family has a passion for cinema, motivating them to shoot a film inspired by their own life during a time of war. The creative process raises the question of what kind of power the magical world of cinema could have during times of disaster. How to picture war through fiction? For Anna and the children, transforming trauma into a work of art is the ultimate way to stay human.

Invisible

When a student in a classroom provokes a young teacher, who has only started her career at a village school, it ashames and confuses her in front of the whole class. Coming back home, she cannot stop thinking of what has happened and for the first time in her life pushes herself to more and more new wild states. In order to cure her trauma, get rid of parent control, and to settle the situation with the student, she calls to her subconscious and it answers.