TITLE: Porcelain War
Section: U.S. Documentary Competition
Directors: Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev
Logline: Under roaring fighter jets and missile strikes, Ukrainian artists Slava, Anya, and Andrey choose to stay behind and fight, contending with the soldiers they have become. Defiantly finding beauty amid destruction, they show that although it’s easy to make people afraid, it’s hard to destroy their passion for living.
Sales Agent: Submarine
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Panelists: Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev
Writers: Aniela Sidorska, Brendan Bellomo, Paula DuPre’ Pesmen
First screening: Saturday, Jan. 20
Key quotes: “The film is about three artists who decided to remain behind in Ukraine and fight back, not only with weapons, but with their art… Slava is a sculptor and he creates forms of incredible animals that his wife and artistic partner Anya paints with stories from their lives, their memories, their experiences, both before and during the war and their dreams for a peaceful future. And what they’ve created is just nothing short of incredible.” — Brendan Bellomo
“We fight exactly for that — so that our culture continues to exist, that our art continues to exist, that Ukraine continues to exist, and that’s exactly what we’re fighting for, and I think we’re good at this. So our fighters of Saigon unit, they’re all civilians in life. They all have civilian professions, and none of them wants to fight a single extra minute to remain in the military. Yes, that’s exactly what I love about porcelain, and that’s exactly what I love about Ukraine. Yes, you can break us, but you cannot destroy us.” — Slava Leontyev
The Deadline Studio at Sundance ran from January 19-22 at 608 Main Street, when the cast and creatives behind the best and buzziest titles in this year’s lineup joined Deadline’s festival team to discuss their movies and the paths they took to get to Park City.
Thank you to our sponsors McGee & Co., Final Draft, Portrait Creative Network, and Courser.