Single mother Anna and her four children live in a small Ukrainian town in the ‘red zone’ of Donbas, where war has been raging for five years. While the streets outside echo with the sounds of grenades and gunfire, the family transforms their home into an amateur film studio. Together, under the direction of elder sister Myroslava, who dreams of becoming a cinematographer, the family constructs, acts, and edits stylized scenes based on their personal experience of life under siege. Director Iryna Tsilyk quietly observes the family’s wondrous imagination, weaving the dramatized reenactments with quotidian moments between takes to highlight the joy and laughter amid the darkness. In this push and pull between the real and the constructed, The Earth is Blue As An Orange is an insightful display of the power of art to transcend reality. - MS
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2020
Did you enjoy this film? Have any comments or questions? You can send filmmakers your feedback by leaving them a written or video note at feedback@doxafestival.ca.
- Year2020
- Runtime74 minutes
- LanguageRussian, Ukrainian
- CountryUkraine, Lithuania
- DirectorIryna Tsilyk
Single mother Anna and her four children live in a small Ukrainian town in the ‘red zone’ of Donbas, where war has been raging for five years. While the streets outside echo with the sounds of grenades and gunfire, the family transforms their home into an amateur film studio. Together, under the direction of elder sister Myroslava, who dreams of becoming a cinematographer, the family constructs, acts, and edits stylized scenes based on their personal experience of life under siege. Director Iryna Tsilyk quietly observes the family’s wondrous imagination, weaving the dramatized reenactments with quotidian moments between takes to highlight the joy and laughter amid the darkness. In this push and pull between the real and the constructed, The Earth is Blue As An Orange is an insightful display of the power of art to transcend reality. - MS
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary, Sundance Film Festival 2020
Did you enjoy this film? Have any comments or questions? You can send filmmakers your feedback by leaving them a written or video note at feedback@doxafestival.ca.
- Year2020
- Runtime74 minutes
- LanguageRussian, Ukrainian
- CountryUkraine, Lithuania
- DirectorIryna Tsilyk