On November 17, the Traveling Docudays UA began in Kharkiv region with the screening of the film The War of Chimeras. In order to present the film, its directors Maria and Anastasia Starozhytskis visited Kharkiv.

“The screening of the film The War of Chimeras at the opening of the Traveling Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA in Kharkiv has confirmed what Anastasia Starozhytska and I suspected — that in order to hear reviews, there should be a pause after the screening. Thus, we heard the most interesting things later, in personal conversations — about the magical realism of the film, about how some scenes in the film are similar to Zhadan’s poems, ‘He’s our poet from Kharkiv, do you know him?’ We had to answer many questions, tell stories about some parts of our video and about what was omitted. It was interesting, sincere and inspiring, thanks to the organizers Ihor Kofman and Yuriy Chumak. But the most important thing was that we invited to come to the discussion with us Halyna Puhachova, the mother of the fighter with the nickname Dudadev, who disappeared during the exit from Ilovaysk. We have been close friends for a long time. She is still waiting for him and believes that her son will be back, escape imprisonment and ring the doorbell of their Kharkiv studio. She knows better than anyone how truthful is our film, which she has watched several times…,” shared Maria Starozhytska her feelings about the screening.

Photos: Volodymyr Yermakov