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Since its beginnings, Verzió Film Festival has screened Ukrainian documentaries and welcomed Ukrainian filmmakers. The festival organizers maintain a close relationship with Ukrainian documentary filmmakers through our partner festival, DocuDays UA. Some of these films and filmmakers are presented in what follows.

Alina Gorlova’s documentary This Rain Will Never Stop is a war documentary very different from the conventional documentaries on wars. It presents war in artistically, to rather show its impact on the people. yet we still are kept at a distance from the bombs and blood visually, which are usually a part of war documentaries. Alina Gorlova has incorporated different artistic choices to guide us through Andriy’s life and the impact of war on his family. Some of these artistic choices are the chapter-like structure of the film, the black and white visuals, and the use of water and earth as metaphors.

“This is not the end of the road, but this is the beginning. Change is coming, change is coming. Whether it is delayed is another thing. It cannot be denied.” Those are the final words of Nelson Chamisa – Zimbabwean opposition leader – in Camilla Nielsson’s documentary President. Chamisa said this in August 2018, after the Supreme Court of Zimbabwe dismissed his challenge of the electoral results and Emmerson Mnangagwa was confirmed as President. What happened in Zimbabwe since then? Is change really coming to the country in the south of Africa?

In 2017, a coup d’etát resulted in the removal of former president Robert Mugabe from the office he had held for 30 years and the replacement of him by his former vice president, Emmerson Mnangagwa. This led to cautious hope that the 2018 presidential election might finally be a truly free and fair one—one where the voices of the Zimbabwean people would finally be both heard and respected.

Alexa Bakony’s documentary is about Tobi, a trans teen living with his parents in a small Hungarian village, who tries to figure out who he really is. The title Colors of Tobi suggests the difficulties he faces during this journey, and metaphorically is expressed also by the constant changes in his hair color (Tárnai, 2021). But more than ‘transness’, this is a story about family, the relationship between Tobi and especially his mother Éva, who stands in the center of the film.

Courage depicts the events around last year’s elections in Belarus and the following protests against Alexander Lukashenka, known as Europe’s last dictator. The 2021 documentary by the Belarusian filmmaker Aliaksei Paluyan does so by focusing on individual stories of three (former) actors in resistance against the ruling government, but also by depicting the events on the streets from a protester’s perspective.

The topic of children’s sexual abuse (CSA) is especially sensitive and often hazy when it comes to its media representation. Besides the fact that many abuse-cases never appear in the media, those that do, are often particularly violent or bizarre, where good and bad roles can clearly be defined. These particular cases rarely put CSA in perspective by offering a wider overview of the problem. As Anne M. Nurse, American sociologist mentions, in dominant media representation applies the image of the ”imperiled child”, which means that children are represented as victims in television news more than in any other role.

“Why does war exist?” wondered This Rain Will Never Stop’s film director, Alina Garlova, in an interview for the Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights. According to her, society has internalized war and its consequences. 

In the 2021 documentary film, Taming the Garden, director Salomé Jashi opted for a minimalist style, with many wide shots and longer takes, and not using any direct interviews. We mainly see the villagers from a fair distance, and they only talk between themselves, not directly to the camera.

Francesco Montagner's second feature documentary film, Brotherhood, explores questions of masculinity, patriarchy, identity and destiny. It is an intimate and timeless documentary revolving around three young brothers living on their father's sheep farm. We are talking with the director.