"THE CHOICE" produced by KALYNA FILM, the film that won the Toronto International Women's Film Festival, becomes a resonant event in the World
The short film "THE CHOICE" by Kalyna Film, which won the Toronto International Women Film Festival, has clearly become a resonant event in the world. Not only because the world sees the truth about the war in our country, but also because it reads the comments under the film's trailer on Youtube, which was recently posted by a British resource with over 2 million subscribers.
It is already clear that the film hit the target and caused a "firestorm" among Russians who only saw the trailer and are already insisting that the film not be shown. We can clearly see that in the comments section: "it's not true!", "it's propaganda sponsored by the West", "it simply can't happen", "Russians are not like that". And we would like such content to make the enemy feel extremely uncomfortable on all possible territories, resources and platforms all around the world.
This film is based on real events and is dedicated to the memory of those Ukrainian citizens, who had to be the first to face the enemy face to face.
According to the director Viktoria Melnikova, they tried to be as objective as possible during the production of the film, choosing the form of a fiction film that does not contain the direct, naturalistic horrors of this invasive, insidious war that we all know about.
Production of the film began in March 2023, when massive enemy attacks were underway. The filming took place in the basement, which served as a shelter for the film crew during air raids. In order to accurately recreate the events, military men, who were holding the defense at the Gostomel area, were our consultants behind the scenes.
The film's producer and CEO of the Kalyna Film Halyna Khrapko said that despite the fact that everyone missed their professional work and had a strong desire to return to the field, it was very difficult to find actors willing to play the roles of the occupiers. More than 30 young actors refused to play the enemy because of the pain and disgust they felt for them. This also made it difficult to sew chevrons of the enemy army. But our military came to the rescue in this case as well.
Is it worth making films about war during war? Definitely yes. And the comments below the trailer are a clear confirmation of this. After all, the enemy is fighting us not only with missiles, but also with bots, "good Russians," and propaganda around the world. This movie is primarily aimed at a foreign audience. In the words of the film's screenwriter Irene Rozdobudko: "This is our 'bell': DON'T SLEEP, REMEMBER, DON'T GET TIRED!"
Follow this link to watch the trailer for "THE CHOICE" and comments on it.
The film was created by Kalyna Film with a grant from the House of Europe.
Written by Inesa Motorna