A BIT OF A STRANGER

By Svitlana LISHCHYNSKA

FILM HARBOUR - as SALES

Documentary - Completed 2024

Four generations of Ukrainian women explore how their ethnic identity has been destroyed by the full-scale Russian invasion. Together and one-by-one at the same time, they embark on an emotional journey shaped bytheir newfound memories and family history.

Festivals
& Awards

Berlinale - Berlin IFF 2024
Panorama
Artdocfest Riga 2024
One world Prague 2024
    • Year of production
    • 2024
    • Genres
    • Documentary, Family, Female director
    • Countries
    • UKRAINE, GERMANY, SWEDEN
    • Languages
    • UKRANIAN, RUSSIAN, ENGLISH
    • Duration
    • 90 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Svitlana LISHCHYNSKA
    • Producer(s)
    • Anna KAPUSTINA (ALBATROS COMMUNICOS)
    • Synopsis
    • Svitlana is a film director born in Mariupol, Ukraine. For several years she documented her family life: four generations of women who felt how Moscow‘s long-term imperial policy robbed them of their national identity.

      After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the shock throughout the first months of the war is overwhelming. Her daughter, Alexandra, and her two-year-old grand-daughter, Stephanie, escape to London. Valentina, Svitlana's mother, stays in Kyiv and keeps in touch with Mariupol and her daughter via phone.

      Eager to find out what exactly has happened in Mariupol, Svitlana discovers how their individual experience of war collides with their newfound quest to learn about their families‘ history.
      Throughout their events, the three adult women wonder what patriotism really is and if it is worth dying for.