Director Damian Kocur On Poland’s Oscar Entry ‘Under The Volcano’ Set During Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine: “We Had An Obligation” – Contenders International

deadline.com:

Although it has been the subject of many acclaimed documentaries, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has yielded very little in the way of fiction.

Damian Kocur’s Under the Volcano, which has been chosen as Poland’s official submission for this year’s Best International Feature Oscar, is unusual in that it takes place entirely on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

In defiance of the impending war, the Kovalenko family have decided to take their vacation anyway. But even without the events that are about to unfold, the trip is awkward for all concerned, as father Roman (Roman Lutsky) has brought his new wife Anastasiia (Anastasiia Karpenko), much to the disgust of his teenage daughter Sofiia (Sofiia Berezovska), who is forced to babysit her little brother Fedir (Fedir Pugachov).

Flanked by producers Mikołaj Lizut and Agnieszka Jastrzębska at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International award-season event, Kocur spoke about the film’s evolution. “The inspiration for the film came from a German newspaper, about a Ukrainian family that were spending the vacation somewhere outside Ukraine when the war started in February ’24,” said Kocur. “That was the starting point for writing.