Porcelain War is a 2024 documentary film directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev. It won the 2024 Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize and follows the experience of Ukrainian artists as they face the current Russian occupation in Ukraine.[3][4][5]
Premise
Porcelain War follows Slava Leontyev, Anya Stasenko, and Andrey Stefanov during the war in Ukraine. All of them join the Ukrainian defense,[6] and Slava works as a machine gun trainer. Even as the war goes on, Slava and Anya create porcelain figurines[7] in resistance to the war. The film emphasizes the purpose of art during conflict as well as national pride.[8]
The footage in Porcelain War includes Ukrainian landscape as well as the wreckage caused by war missiles.[6]
Production
War footage for Porcelain War was captured by GoPro action cameras and aerial drones.[8]
Release
The film won the Grand Jury Prize for the U.S. documentary category in the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.[9] Bellomo, who created the film along with Leontyev, explained that the film received an award "because of the bravery of the people of Ukraine".[10] The film was also sponsored by the Utah Film Center.[6] In August 2024, Picturehouse acquired distribution rights to the film.[11]
Reception
Writing for Canada's POV Magazine, Courtney Small said the war footage in Porcelain War, "walks a fine line between praising the resilience of Leontyev's people and serving as a propaganda tool for the Ukrainian army." He further writes that the film is more interesting when it focuses not on the war itself but on its everyday impact on the people.[8]
