Deadline includes Ukrainian film in its list of best documentaries of 2024

Entertainment newsletter Deadline has published a list of the ten best documentary films of 2024. Among them is the Ukrainian-American film The Porcelain War.

Source: Deadline

Quote: "Despite the sluggish acquisition market, nonfiction filmmakers continued to unveil remarkable work, whether they landed distribution or not," says the author of the list, Matthew Carey.

He said that this year, there were so many "impressive and moving documentaries" that choosing the top 10 is becoming increasingly difficult.

The list includes The Porcelain War, directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontiev. This film was shortlisted for the 97th Academy Awards.

The film tells the story of three artists from Kharkiv – Slava Leontiev, his wife Ania Stasenko and their friend Andrii Stefanov. After Russia's full-scale invasion, they stay in frontline Kharkiv and, despite the danger, fill it with art – decorating destroyed buildings with porcelain figurines.

Quote: "The documentary shows the forms that resistance can take: by day, Leontyev trains Ukrainian troops to repulse Russian invaders. But his spare moments he devotes to art – the porcelain figurines he makes with his wife, Anya Stasenko (Slava sculpts the owls, ‘dragonlets’ and other animals and Anya paints them in remarkable detail)," writes Carey.

He calls The Porcelain War an "artistic triumph" and recognises the cinematography of cinematographer Andrii Stefanov, the animation that brings Ania's projects to life, and the music of the Ukrainian band DakhaBrakha.

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