Ukrainian filmmakers Tetiana Dorodnitsyna and Andriy Litvinienko’s Mother of Angels picked up the Bank Millennium Award May 15 for the Best Eastern European Project at the Milennium Against Gravity FF. The project, which is currently at shooting stage, was presented at the Eastern Europe Against Gravity pitch session for young filmmakers from Ukraine and Belarus.
The project synopsis reads how, “on the outskirts of the city, in an abandoned industrial zone, you can hear dogs barking behind the fences. Starving, dirty animals wander around the abandoned buildings of a ruined thermal power plant. They sneak among rubbish covered with sparse plants. The scenery resembles that from catastrophic science fiction movies. The last righteous try to preserve the crumbs of humanity by saving animals abused by other people, feeding them, dressing their wounds, hugging them.”
The war further highlighted the problem of homeless animals, many of them lost their homes due to the war. The shelter in Mykolaiv, where the protagonists of the film used to work, has been bombed. Although there are many wounded people around, Anna and Vika also rescue wounded animals. The film is a story of the essence of humanity, which is manifested in our attitude towards animals.
“If we are able to preserve them, even in the terrible times of war, then there is hope that we will survive,” the synopsis concludes.
