I have never seen a movie quite like this before. It is classified as a documentary, and it documents a war that is going on at this very minute. As I took my seat in the empty theater, I found myself thinking of the newsreels that were still sometimes shown in front of feature films when I was a kid. Those thoughts weren’t entirely off base even though the upcoming scenes were shot a couple of years ago. Those scenes are not staged. The people in them are not actors. But Porcelain War is a whole lot more than a newsreel. Yes, it shows us near-current events but it also shows us people — artistic, talented, and determined people.
The three stars of the movie are identified as “participants”. One, Slava Leontyev, is also identified as a co-director. Another, Andrey Stefanov, is the movie’s primary cinematographer, a task he undertook for the first time. The third, Anya Stasenko, is also the movie’s Associate Producer. All three are artists who chose to remain in Ukraine to make art as a form of resistance to the 2022 Russian Invasion in addition to more conventional forms of resistance.
The porcelain of the title refers to the small ceramic sculptures that husband and wife Slava and Anya produce. Slava creates the plain white figures that Anya paints. There are scenes of creative sculpting and painting, and there are scenes where the figures serve as decoration or as a member of the cast. There are scenes where the little pieces of art are literally the only bright spot in a screen filled with the devastation of war. They are ever-present reminders of the fight against the destruction of a culture by destroying its art.
The two co-directors’ first in-person meeting was at the film’s premier at the Sundance Film Festival. Their separation by distance and language makes the results of their collaboration even more impressive. Andrey’s “training” by Bellomo’s stateside team had the same issues but also overcame them with quite obvious success.
Two other teams made major contributions to the movie. One is Poland’s BluBlu Studios which created 7,000 hand-drawn frames to animate some of Anya’s artwork in one of the most seamless blendings of media I’ve ever seen. The second is the band DakhaBrakha whose music seems to fit perfectly. The band does not appear in the body of the film but can be seen performing behind the end credits.
It looks like tomorrow (Jan 9) is the last day Mariemont Theater is showing Porcelain War. I know that the recent snow might make that a tough trip even if you are attracted to the movie. That’s a bummer but the movie is worth braving some snow if you’re close enough or watching for showings elsewhere and on other dates if you’re not.