The Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole
Date:
December 15, 2022
The Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole
The Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole
by Tetiana Khodakivska
Pronto Film in association with Babylon 13 and Moon Man | Ukraine
Documentary | 2nd feature
Logline
This mixed-media documentary follows the Ukrainian children Kira, Taisa, and Artem as they paint their memories of Russian “summer
camps”.
The animated scenes immerse into shifting identity experiences contouring the propaganda in the modern world.
Synopsis
Kira (10), Taisa (14), and Artem (15) with the assistance of Ukrainian contemporary artists, paint memory maps about the time
they spent in the Russian “re-education camps” and “correcting
schools.”
What seems at first like cheerful summer activities shift
to evoking memories of propaganda events, mental torment, punishments, isolation, stays in psychiatric clinics, and military training.
The live-action footage and revealed memories, portrayed through
hand-drawn animations follow protagonists stories, as they occur.
Childrens’ homes are occupied and “Russia is Here Forever” billboards appear on their streets.
The Russian military visited Taisa’s grandma and threatened her
with guns to convince her to send Taisa to a Russian camp. While Artem’s father spends 30 days in captivity, Artem is kidnapped by Russian soldiers while retreating.
Kira, Taisa, and other 200 children arrive at the summer camp,
where, among fun activities, they also have to repeatedly sing the
Russian Anthem.
Kira and her friend Nikita are put in a mental hospital for not obeying. The children begin to believe in misinformation and the rightfulness of the “new order”.
Artem has to choose between military training in a Russian military
uniform and sitting in the basement. A group of children decides to escape. After 6 months of deportation Artem, Taisa, and Kira are finally home with their parents, but their stories aren’t over. The children continue trying to refind safe spaces where they can be
themselves.
Director’s Profile
Tetiana Khodakivska is an award-winning Ukrainian filmmaker,
who strives to explore pressing social issues and combine meaningful themes with exciting storytelling. Her projects include a cinema vérité documentary about mortality ENTICING, SUGARY,
BOUNDLESS OR SONG AND DANCES ABOUT LIFE that was
nominated as best documentary at the Ukrainian Film Academy
Awards.
Particularly, Tetiana is interested in examining society from children’s perspective. Her most recent documentary STORIES FROM THE CELLAR shows the war in Ukraine with children’s eyes [currently in the final stage of post production] Her body of work also includes the mini-series ANGELS OF WAR, which follows the stories of siblings during the Second World War. The film received the Gold Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival. Tetiana also received the Ukrainian Academy Award for editing the children’s film FOXTER AND MAX.
Tetiana Khodakivska is a member of the European Film Academy,
Ukrainian Film Academy, the Ukrainian Directors Guild and Babylon’13. Among her teaching experience are lectures in the Harriman Institute of Columbia University and Ukrainian Cinema Institutes; and master classes for the Directors Guild of Ukraine.
SELECTED PERSONAL AWARDS
Chicago International Film Festival, Gold Plaque
US International Film and Video Festival, Silver Screen
WorldFestHouston, Special Jury Award
World Media Festival in Hamburg, Globe Gold
Docudays UA, Two Special Mentions
Company Profile
PRONTO FILM, founded in 2004 in Ukraine, is a member of the
European Producers Club and a partner with Canal+, Netflix,
and HBO Europe. Among its films are DOVBUSH by Oles Sanin (the highest-grossing film of 2023); documentaries BREAKING POINT: THE WAR FOR DEMOCRACY IN UKRAINE by Mark
Harris & Oles Sanin (long-list for the Oscar 2016); THE LEADING
ROLE by Serhiy Bukovski (Grand Prix at DOK Leipzig nomination
and Ukrainian Film Academy award 2017); Tetiana Khodakivska’s
ENTICING, SUGARY, BOUNDLESS OR SONGS AND DANCES
ABOUT DEATH (Ji.hlava IDFF 2017); DAD SNEAKERS by Olha
Zhurba (Best Short at the Locarno Film Festival 2021); OLGA by
Elie Grappe (Locarno’s The Films After Tomorrow 2021); UGLY by
Juri Rechinski (Rotterdam IFF 2017).
MOON MAN was founded in 2019 by multidisciplinary professionals experienced in film production, cultural management
and festival distribution. The company focuses on creative documentary and fiction films with a strong author’s approach. In
2022 Moon Man premiered the documentary feature OUTSIDE
by Olha Zhurba in the main competition of CPH:DOX. Moon Man
was a co-producer on award-winning, Oscar nominated documentary A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS by Simon Lereng
Wilmont.
BABYLON’13 an independent filmmaker collective, created more
than 400 shorts and 10 feature documentaries over the last 8
years: IRON BUTTERFLIES by Roman Liubyi (Sundance 2023);
OUR ROBO FAMILY by Anastasia Tykha (Hot Docs 2023); ONE
DAY IN UKRAINE by Volodymyr Tykhyy (Sheffield 2022).