Ukraine Filmmakers Unite to Send Everything From Bulletproof Vests to Power Banks to Those Documenting War (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comPatrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefUkrainian filmmakers have mobilized quickly in their campaign to document Russia’s invasion of their country.
While some are filming, others have taken up support roles to provide essential resources.Festival organizer and producer Darya Bassel, whose recent film “A House Made of Splinters” won a directing award at Sundance in January, is among those who have set up a structure to provide logistical support.Three days after evacuating from Ukrainian capital Kyiv with her family, Bassel has settled in an apartment in the Western town of Chernivtsi and has opened an office channeling means and materials to others. “We’re trying to help our friends who are in Kiev, because there are a lot of filmmakers and journalists [who are filming] events,” she told Variety by phone. “Like 90% of the people I know that are Ukrainian filmmakers — and I know all of them — 90% of them are now either in Kiev, or in the east of the country.
The first goal of all this filming is just to collect evidence of the crimes that Russians are doing to us. And then the second goal is, of course, to create films.
But later.”As both a documentary producer and organizer of the Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival in Kyiv, Bassel is an ideal knowledge center and connector.“For some of our fellow filmmakers, it is simple stuff like food or chocolate.
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