One day, Roman, Nastya, and their two children are enjoying a relaxing vacation in Tenerife. The next, Russia invades their homeland, Ukraine, and the world has shifted beneath their feet. Their newfound status as refugees insidiously, inexorably heightens the tensions typical of any family holiday. The war underwrites their every interaction. While trying to distract their young son and deal with their teenage daughter’s newfound rebellious streak, Roman and Nastya’s marriage is put to the test.
Elliptical in style but unflinchingly honest, this Polish-produced film effectively conveys the Ukrainian family’s maelstrom of emotions—grief, fear, confusion, animosity, depression, self-doubt, lust for revenge, and greater sympathy for other dispossessed strangers. Director Damian Kocur wields the absurdity of being in a holiday destination when your home is under siege to tremendous effect. His brilliant narrative gambit results in a truly unique and invaluable perspective on the Ukraine crisis.
Supported by
Sofia Berezowska, Roman Lutskyi, Anastasiia Karpienko, Fedir Pugachov
Poland
2024
In Ukrainian, Spanish, English, Russian, German and Wolof with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Mikolaj Lizut, Agnieszka Jastrzębska
Screenwriter
Damian Kocur, Marta Konarzewska
Cinematography
Nikita Kuzmienko
Editor
Alan Zejer
Production Design
Aleksandra Markowska
Damian Kocur
Damian Kocur is a director, scriptwriter, cinematographer, and a PhD student at the Łódź Film School. His debut feature film Bread and Salt (2022) was awarded the Special Jury Prize in the Orizzonti competition at the Venice Film Festival 2022, Cairo IFF, Antalya IFF, Cottbus Film Festival, and many more. His last short film As It Was was nominated for the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2023.
Filmography: Bread and Salt (2022)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Calle Málaga
Seventy-nine-year-old María Ángeles lives independently in Tangier's Spanish quarter. When her daughter pressures her into selling her apartment, she refuses to give in, finding in her old age a new resilience and an unexpected romantic connection.
Sansho the Bailiff
The third of the great Japanese masters (with Ozu and Kurosawa), Mizoguchi is a poet of suffering. There's plenty of that here in his exquisite telling of an ancient folktale about the enslavement of a woman and her two children.
Agatha's Almanac
Shot over six years on vibrant 16mm film, Agatha’s Almanac is an artful documentary portrait of filmmaker Amalie Atkin’s octogenarian aunt, who has fashioned herself an endearingly simple and self-sustaining lifestyle on her Manitoba farm.
Fucktoys Advance Screening + Annapurna Sriram Q&A
Bold, irreverent, and fiercely queer, Fucktoys plunges into a world where pleasure, performance, and identity collide. This special advance screening comes with a Q&A with filmmaker Annapurna Sriram.