Episode 176: Photophobia – a film about children during war

Talk Eastern Europe

In this episode of the podcast, Alexandra and Nina share some tips on interesting films from the region and discuss the latest developments related to foreign agent laws in Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They also remind listeners of the political prisoners' situation in Belarus and shed light on the challenging circumstances in Ukraine.
Later, Nina has a conversation with Ivan Ostrochovský and Pavol Pekarčík, the two directors of an awarded film Photophobia which captures lives of 12-year-old Nikita and 11-year old Viktoria who are hiding from the Russian invasion at a Kharkiv metro station. Ivan and Pavol speak about the film but also their first-hand experience being in Ukraine at the beginning of full-scale invasion. They also share their experiences of regularly delivering humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The film received an award at the Venice film festival where it was premiered and was awarded as a best documentary in the Warsaw International film festival.
We also prepared a very special patron-only bonus content as the directors kindly agreed to share the film with our Patrons. If you're our Patron, you can watch the film online here with the password that you find on Patreon page.
Films mentioned in the podcast:

• 20 days in Mariupol; (An Academy Award Winner, Best Documentary Feature Film, a film by Ukrainian journalist Mstyslav Chernov)
• Who, if Not Us? The Fight for Democracy in Belarus; (Directed by Juliane Tutein, Germany)
• Queendom (Directed by Agniia Galdanova, Russia)