PROVO – A native of provo helps to underline the struggle of the Ukrainians for freedom thanks to a documentary on the ballet dancers who preserve art and culture during the war.
“Ballet and art in general, it is not only a means of showing joy and hope during this war; it is a way to retaliate directly,” said director Jonathan Mariticle.
In the fall of 2022, the National Ballet of Ukraine interpreted “Nadiya Ukraine”, a celebration of Ukrainian culture and resilience, during a profit concert in Orlando to collect funds for Russia-Ukraine War.
Adrenaline Films has been invited to record this performance on video. Then, producer Julie Meyer met the dancers, who began to tell their stories of rehearsal and performance during the war.
“He (the stage director) showed his photos of himself and one of the other Ballerinas of Fatigue, and being like:” It's my reality now. “And Julie was so struck by the choices that these people were forced to make,” said co -producer Abi Nielson.
After completing the performance film, Adrenaline Films decided to continue a documentary on how war affected the artists and culture of Ukraine. Nielson was led to help with the development and distribution of “The sky was on fire: ballet and war in Ukraine“On the project shortly after this decision.
For two years, the team worked on the creation of the documentary, a process that included two trips to Ukraine where they had to go to a neighboring country and take a train to Ukraine to interview various dancers and artists in kyiv.
“They live to do and live art. They were forced to make the choice to stay and occur under rocket fire, or have to go into bombs shelters in the midst of performance, or flee abroad and try to start again,” said Nielson.
Some artists have decided to pick up their arms and join the front lines. Many continuous performance of the Ballet Society aim to raise awareness of the situation of Ukraine and to collect funds for the war effort, said Nielson.
“I had to tell the stories of these brave dancers literally fighting for the freedom of Ukraine – both on the stage and on the front lines,” said Marlic.
Thanks to the destruction of more than 475 cultural sites, Russia has actively tried to erase the Ukrainian heritage, said Mariticle, but the ballet as an art form is used to resist.
“Ballet is one of the secret weapons of Ukraine in war, occupying a central role in the articulation of the voice of Ukrainian freedom and culture around the world, in direct contrast to Russian control of the art that they have always dominated,” he said.
The documentary aims to amplify the voices of artists and to celebrate their courage in preserving their inheritance, he said.
As a person who also lives for art, Nielson said that the Ukrainian stories had deeply resonated with them. She grew up in Utah and went to Byu, but has been based in Orlando for five years now as a creative director of Adrenaline Films.
“I hope that when people see this film with which they can also connect and resonate with effort, they enter to speak and use art as a voice. To sympathize with these Ukrainians who care so much and try so hard,” she said.
The 95 -minute film was created during its first festival last month and will be presented at more festivals throughout this year. Nielson said the company was pursuing distribution avenues so that more people could see “the sky was on fire: ballet and war in Ukraine”.
“During the first evening of Florida Film Festival, we had two different Ukrainians standing and we thank and tell us that they felt represented – which is huge as a filmmaker, as a documentary maker, to have the impression that you do them justice. Because of this, I want people to look at him to watch him to understand and empathize and see what's going on,” said Nielson.
Originally from Utah, which, according to Nielson, has a rich oral and written story because Utahns cares about connecting through stories, it is grateful to be able to continue to tell stories through her work. He feels surreal that she can do this to make a living.
“I feel so lucky to tell such a precious story in a way that, I think, can really connect with others. I am grateful for the Ukrainians who have opened our hearts. It is not easy to be a documentary subject, you must be really vulnerable. They were beyond generous with their time and their emotions,” she said.
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