Life, theatre and cinema combine in this raw documentary portrait showing the power of the creative process.
Award winning theatre director Roza Sarkisian brought together a group of five young Ukrainian actors to develop a performance based on Shakespeare’s HAMLET. Each had been affected by the war in Donbas or other aspects of the Ukrainian struggle. A few months later Russia invaded Ukraine.
Elwira Niewiera and Piotr Rosolowski observe the actors as the theatre piece develops, their individual portraits resonating across personal experience and literary text. Variously processing trauma and gathering resilience to fight conservative values or social bigotry (LGBTQ or feminist values are not widely tolerated) they all face important decisions informed by their past and determining their future. Winner of Best Documentary at Krakow Film Festival and well received at a variety of international festivals including IDFA and Human Rights Watch and DOC NYC.
