Grey Bees
Ukraine at War: films of resistance and identity
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1h 42m
Directed by Dmytro Moiseiev • 2024 • Ukraine
January, 2022, on the eve of the Russian invasion. Retired miners Serhiich (Viktor Zhdanov) and Pashka (Volodymyr Yamnenko) are the sole remaining residents of a Donbas village in the “grey zone” between Ukrainian and pro-Russian forces. Cut off from electricity and the outside world, this odd couple eke out an existence amid the ghosts of their former community. At first, the pair overlook their political differences, but as encounters with soldiers from both armies become more charged, they will be forced to choose sides. Dmytro Moiseiev’s soulful adaptation of Andrii Kurkov’s celebrated 2018 novel eschews grand narratives of patriotism and bravado to examine the psychological complexities and the small acts of humanity that define life lived in the shadow of war.
GREY BEES • СІРІ БДЖОЛИ
Written and directed by Dmytro Moiseiev
From the novel by Andrii Kurkov
Cinematography by Vadym Ilkov
Music by Andrii Ponomarov
Starring: Viktor Zhdanov, Volodymyr Yamnenko
In Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles
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