In a state-wide resistance movement, each citizen tries to be useful. For the last eight years, Ukrainians have been re-orienting their individual working lives to better accommodate the demands of war. In their studios, sculptors have been making anti-tank obstacles for the Ukrainian military, while an army of terracotta soldiers, angel figurines, and copies of Jesus Christ lay and wait for better days.

The realities of  war in Ukraine seen from the perspective of the artist. It refutes the statement that art is not politics – the war is indebted to art. Made as a documentary for the New York Magazine, this film marks acclaimed Ukrainian director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk’s interest in finding a new slant on Ukrainian culture and the fate of its people. In addition, the director’s feature debut Pamfir (2022) can be viewed in the Riga IFF programme Focus on Ukraine.