How Filmmakers Captured Humanity During the Ukraine-Russia War - Porcelain War TIFF Q&A

How Filmmakers Captured Humanity During the Ukraine-Russia War - Porcelain War TIFF Q&A


Join SLAVA LEONTYEV (Director, Participant), ANYA STASENKO (Associate Producer, Participant), BRENDAN BELLOMO (Director, Writer, Editor), and Paula DuPré Pesmen (Producer) for a Q&A about their Award-winning fil PORCELAIN WAR during the Toronto International Film Festival. Watch as the crew engages in a thought-provoking discussion about the current Ukraine-Russian War, and what it means to produce art in such a tumultuous environment.

Amidst the chaos and destruction of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, three artists defiantly find inspiration and beauty as they defend their culture and their country. In a war waged by professional soldiers against ordinary civilians, Slava Leontyev, Anya Stasenko, and Andrey Stefanov choose to stay behind, armed with their art, their cameras, and, for the first time in their lives, their guns. Despite daily shelling, Anya finds resistance and purpose in her art, Andrey takes the dangerous journey to get his young family to safety abroad, and Slava becomes a weapons instructor for ordinary people who have become unlikely soldiers. As the war intensifies, Andrey picks up his camera to film their story, and on tiny porcelain figurines, Anya and Slava capture their idyllic past, uncertain present, and hope for the future.