"Her son has put in the request to the volunteer humanitarian team ferrying civilians to safety in the east of the country. But she is caring for her brother, who is paralysed, the woman protests and what about her German shepherd? As explosions boom terrifyingly close, a volunteer patiently explains that his team will carry her brother to the minivan and don't worry, bring the dog."
"Director Ivan Sautkin is a film-maker by trade and served as a volunteer on the evacuation team. A Poem for Little People is his one-man film; Sautkin is behind the camera, recording everything. These are no interviews, explainers or voiceovers (which admittedly makes it hard to follow at times). The leader of the volunteers is Anton, a cool head under the heaviest fire."
"In the second strand of the film, Sautkin visits two women friends and neighbours living in a block of flats in a town near the Russian border. As the invaders enter Ukraine, Zinaida, a neat woman in her 80s, spies through her net curtains, carefully writing down how many tanks roll in, feeding the information to the Ukrainian army. Upstairs, her friend Taisia writes poems lambasting the Russians. There are no little people here."
A Poem for Little People follows volunteers evacuating civilians from frontline areas and captures intimate moments of fear, care and decision-making. A woman initially refuses evacuation while caring for her paralysed brother and worrying about her German shepherd, until volunteers assure them both will be brought. Director Ivan Sautkin filmed alone while serving as a volunteer, using no interviews or voiceovers. The evacuation leader Anton remains calm under fire as volunteers debate the ethics of risky journeys. Another strand follows elderly neighbours near the Russian border who record tank movements and write poems resisting the invasion. The film aired on True Story from 23 January.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]