Young children deal with war in the documentary “Once Upon a Time in Ukraine”

Ruslan, an 8-year-old boy living in a war-torn village in Ukraine, drops a rope into a pool of water and anxiously waits for a bite. Its fishing hole is man-made.

“A missile fell here and created a crater,” he calmly recalls in the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Once upon a time in Ukraine. “Then the rain came and… the water flooded in and created a big puddle.”

The short film, created as a series of vignettes about children growing up in war zones across Ukraine, is directed by Academy Award nominee Betsy West (RPG).

“Ruslan’s got his rod, and he’s fishing in a pond formed by a Russian bomb attack… and he’s hoping some fish got there somehow,” West says. “I mean it’s so sweet. “That’s what really moved me when I saw that footage, it was the incredible way the kids were coping with these terrible circumstances.”

The film project originated with producer Earl Mack, a filmmaker, businessman, and former U.S. ambassador to Finland, who has roots in Ukraine.

He went to the border shortly after the Russian invasion. “He was really impressed by the courage of the Ukrainian people, but he was also struck by the experience of children – refugees, or just children stuck behind the front line,” West explains. “So, he commissioned a camera crew, and it turned out to be a very talented camera crew, to go all over the country and film with families and kids…Earl called me and asked me to look at some of this material.”

“You see footage of war and you see scenes of destruction [in other films]”, West continues. “I have never seen such quiet moments of children behind the front lines, speaking about their experiences in a poignant way and showing this kind of creativity and resilience, sometimes even denying what is happening, and continuing to move forward. “I was very impressed.”

The film begins with Ivana, a girl from a rural area in the Kherson region, escorting a camera crew down the stairs into the basement of her family’s home. She describes how she was huddled there for 256 days when Russian forces attacked the area, a testimony that may come to mind for some viewers. Diary of Anne Frank.

“Every morning we heard machine gun and tank gunfire,” she said. “And I heard them [Russian troops] We walked and talked and were quiet. It was terrifying that they could get in and find us, because they could go in and throw grenades into the bunker. They didn’t even check to see if there were people here or not.

During that nearly year-long period underground, Ivana wrote and illustrated stories about Ukrainian heroism, stories with the fantastical quality that inspired the film’s title. Once upon a time in Ukraine.

“You’re with these kids in their world,” West says of the film, “just going to these different places and visiting with these kids who, through the arts, through their creativity, and their only way of processing, are helping us experience what it’s like to go through this.”

In February of this year, the war will enter its fourth year. During that period, more than 600 children were killed, according to UNICEF, and countless people were injured. From the first day of the war, civilians were the main target of the Russian invaders.

“Also in the Ivana area, they’ve been chased recently — there’s been a real rise in drones following civilians, chasing civilians, shooting,” West tells Deadline. “It’s horrific what they’ve been living through.”

In addition to Ruslan and Ivana, Once upon a time in Ukraine It follows Maxime, a 10-year-old boy who excels at dancing. His mother expresses fear that one day Maxim and his older brother will have to take up arms in defense of Ukraine. Meanwhile, eight-year-old Miroslava describes her escape from Mariupol, one of the first cities besieged by Russia.

“I just wanted to drive my car to freedom,” she says. “I never knew what war was before.”

Her loving father, seen in family videos doting on Miroslava, joined the Ukrainian army and was reportedly killed in battle. However, Miroslava still holds out hope.

“Miroslava was really convinced that her father would come back. One doesn’t want to deny that. ‘Oh my God, whatever keeps you together, hold on to it,'” West notes.[She says]“Maybe he got a concussion and we forgot for a while.”

The director points out that care was taken to ensure that the children appearing in the documentary were not exposed to trauma again. Film crews “spent several days with each family getting to know them and making sure they were talking and sharing what they wanted to share and that they were not being coerced in any way — those children or the parents — into doing ‘this,’” West notes. “In the children’s cases we focused on … They were families and kids who really wanted to share this experience.”

A week from Monday, President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn in. It remains to be seen what impact this will have on the war in Ukraine.

“It’s obviously a very critical moment,” West says, stressing that she does not consider herself an expert on war. “These people have been fighting and dying for an independent, democratic nation, and now they’re waiting to see what the next administration will do. A lot of people are talking about some kind of resolution, and I think that’s what President-elect Trump has said, which is that he wants a quick solution. The real question is Under what conditions, and what concessions do they have to make?

“It’s amazing,” she adds. No one expected the Ukrainian people to stand up to Russia in this way, and they cannot be excluded. We have to see, if there is peace, what kind of peace is it?”

Once upon a time in Ukraine Played at IFC in New York. Plans for a wider release are on hold. “We already have a show we’re considering,” West comments, “and we’re hoping to get the movie out soon. So that’s our plan.”