After landing on our radar with his remarkable, formally fascinating Atlantis, Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych has returned with To the Victory!, which world premiered in the Platform section at the 50th Toronto International Film Festival yesterday. Imagining the future of his country, post-war, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first trailer for the film starring Vasyanovych, Vladlen Odudenko, Misha Lubarsky, Sergii Stepanskyy, Volodymyr Yatsenko, Marianna Novikova, and Hryhoriy Naumov.
Here’s the TIFF synopsis: “In Ukraine’s post-war future, Roman (Valentyn Vasyanovych), a struggling film director, dreams of making movies once again. He is residing in Kyiv with his 18-year-old son (Hryhoriy Naumov), while his beloved wife (Marianna Novikova) and young daughter remain in Vienna, the city they fled to at the beginning of Russia’s illegal full-scale invasion. Much to Roman’s mounting chagrin and despite a newly elected populist government — and the fact that he’s unwilling to leave the country he fought for — his family doesn’t plan on returning to their homeland due to the poor economic and political landscapes. These, regardless of liberation and ongoing pushes from citizens, are slow to reform. As he prepares a new film with his trusted producer Volodymyr Yatsenko (the real film’s producer), his close friend Vlad (Vladen Odudenko) may be a melancholy mirror into his own future: he has already lost his family to the allure of the West. Meanwhile, his ailing father (Volodymyr Kuznetsov), possessing a demeanour sourced from all that he has survived, provides a different outlook on life.”
See the trailer premiere below.