Between red carpets and trenches, Ukrainian cinema continues to create. More than 600 kilometers from the front and the tumult of the guns, the SOTA Cinema group, founded in 2006, is inspired by the war for its new productions. “There is a military front line but also a diplomatic, IT and cultural front line”, assures Oleg Kokhan. The producer and founder of the SOTA Cinéma group arrived slightly late due to a bombing alert in kyiv. “We couldn’t cross the bridge,” he apologizes, settling in a meeting room, one wall of which is covered with small multicolored balls.
“In April, rumors began to circulate that the West was tired of the war in Ukraine. We met the cybervolunteers (the IT army of Ukraine), in a center run by the Ministry of Defense, who told us that we had to create new content to inform the West about the invasion,” says Oleg Kokhan. Since its invention in 1895, cinema has learned to play its role in conflicts. Many films have taken a stance in times of war. Certain scenes have even become iconic, such as that of the Dictator where Charlie Chaplin, in a parody of Adolf Hitler, plays with the world, represented by a terrestrial globe which ends up shattering in his hands.
The discreet role of animals
“Russia is not only fighting against us on the military front, we realize that they also put a lot of resources into their films,” notes Oleg Kokhan. “Cinema is not only a source of income but also a source of information”, abounds Oleksandr Tkachenko, the Minister of Culture. Aware of this essential role, Oleg Kokhan worked with his teams on the events they wanted to immortalize. The group is currently working on two separate projects. That of a theater actor who was to play a play in Lviv on February 24, 2022, the day of the Russian invasion, but left for mobilization. And eleven adventures of animals that have been affected by war, a collection of true stories to see War in the eyes of animals.
“They are all true,” says Svitlana Mashovets. On the Internet, animals are a weapon of massive tenderness. “We were surprised to see the amount of information on animals during the war, it was very striking,” underlines Oleg Kokhan. The SOTA Cinema group has always been interested in the environment and evokes an “ecocide” caused by the war in Ukraine. “More than 10 million animals have died, 55,000 dolphins have been killed, millions of birds, 400,000 cows”, lists the producer before adding that, unfortunately, “some species are lost forever”. This collection examines the adventures of these animals which played an almost invisible and yet sometimes essential role in this European war.
The spy goat and the scared rabbit
Goat, wolf, rabbit, cow… Each species has its own story. “The fifth short story is about a goat and a grandmother. She let her goat roam freely and used her wanderings to approach the Russian forces and count them,” says Svitlana Mashovets. Thanks to this improbable pair, the Ukrainian forces were able to identify a hundred Russian armed vehicles. Unfortunately, “the grandmother was killed”, explains the director of the SOTA Cinéma group. The group also wanted to tell the story of a producer and his rabbit. “Unfortunately, her rabbit died of fear because of the bombardments. His heart stopped. We thought about stopping the filming, but in the end we bought a new rabbit, and at the end of the film there will be a word of tribute for him, ”says Oleg Kokhan.
Financing and filming conditions are more difficult in times of war. “Unfortunately we have limited means to support the cinema but we are in discussion with France in order to open an international fund”, recalls the Minister of Culture. On the sidelines of the Berlinale last February, a European support fund for Ukrainian cinema, endowed with one million euros for 2023, was indeed launched by the French, German and Luxembourg Ministers of Culture. “It’s not just a war with very dangerous weapons, it’s also a war against culture,” said German minister Claudia Roth at the time.
Controlled explosions at film festivals
“It’s difficult at the moment because the cinema needs a lot of funding and it’s not the priority,” concedes Oleg Kokhan. “But we have friends who understand that the cultural fact is no less important and that the films will remain after the war”, he underlines, referring to “European patrons” who remain discreet. Shooting in times of war also has its own particularities. The team had to ask the army for permission to use vehicles with the “V” or “Z” markings representing Russian military districts.
For the controlled explosions of the filming, “we went through each house to warn all the inhabitants that it was only a film and not a bombardment”, explains Oleg Kokhan. Actors dressed as Russian soldiers were not allowed to leave for “their own safety and to avoid panicking the inhabitants”. Despite these difficulties, the SOTA Cinéma group wants to present the trailer for its film War in the eyes of animals during the Cannes Film Festival, which will take place this year from May 16 to 27. The premiere of this feathered and furry collection is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival, between August 30 and September 9.
