PORCELAIN WAR

(directors: Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev; screenwriters: Aniela Sidorska, Brendan Bellomo, Paula Dupre Pesmen; cinematographer: Andrey Stefanov; editors: Kelly Cameron, Brendan Bellomo, Aniela Sidorska; Runtime: 87; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Aniela Sidorska, Paula Dupre Pesmen, Camilla Mazzaferro, Olivia Ahnemann; Imaginary Lane; 2024-Ukraine, USA, Australia-in Ukraine, Russian, English, with subtitles when necessary)

“It’s an intimate historical documentary that will give you heart that the good guys will ultimately win because of the will they have to fight for their freedom.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Ukrainian artistic co-directors Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev present a personal war documentary on the ongoing Russian invasion in Ukraine. It presses home the point of how essential art is in the time of war to keep you human. The essential film shows how ordinary citizens navigate a destructive war taking place in their back yards.


Co-director Leontyev is an artist and former Ukrainian Special Forces soldier, whose war footage is used for the film. His artist wife Anya Stasenko colorfully paints the porcelain figures hubby makes, while their artist friend, the painter/filmmaker Andrey Stefanov, has given up painting to document on film how ordinary citizens conduct their lives during the dastardly invasion.

The porcelain figures become a rich metaphor for how the human spirit prevails in these difficult times.

What the film has going for it are the breathtaking images and that the Ukrainians are in the right, fighting to live as a free people against the barbaric Russian dictator Putin.

It’s an intimate historical film that will give you heart that the good guys will ultimately win because of the will they have to fight for their freedom.

It played at the Sundance Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 4/18/2024  GRADE: B+