31/10/2023 - A soldier in the Ukrainian army, the director will focus on the experiences of her comrades on the front

After an impromptu debut in filmmaking with the forebodingly titled Everything Will Not Be Fine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Helena Maksyom
film profile] (2020), which she co-directed with Adrian Pîrvu, Ukrainian director Helena Maksyom is currently shooting The Soldier’s Journey, a documentary feature focusing on the experiences of Ukrainian soldiers on the front (read our interview). The documentary is being staged by Adrian Pîrvu Production, with German outfit Perennial Lens serving as co-production partner.

As she was in Everything Will Not Be Fine, Maksyom is both witness and protagonist of what is happening in her documentary. In April 2022, following a Russian missile attack in the city of Kramatorsk that killed 51 people, she decided to enrol in the Ukrainian Army, becoming the only woman in an unit of 240. Her documentary follows the months spent in a besieged mining town in Eastern Ukraine, where she formed a bond with Artem and Andrey (pictured), two fellow soldiers. According to Maksyom, the documentary shows “how average civilians can become combat veterans and what they lose on the way,” also exploring the absurdities and dysfunctionalities of life in a war zone.

“My intention is to take the viewer along on a journey where I meet different kinds of people, soldiers and civilians, some overwhelmed by their fear, some genuinely brave and some simply trying to make it to the end of the day. My film has no heroes or villains and even the enemy soldiers we capture are not portrayed as monsters, but as frightened and clueless people who let themselves be the instruments of powerful and evil men,” the director explains in a presentation that accompanied the project at the most recent edition of Eurodoc. Another topic the documentary will explore is “how one’s mental health and outlook on life are shaped and warped by witnessing violence,” says Maksyom. 

The director is the only Director of Photography on the documentary, her camera following her interactions with the protagonists on several levels: as a filmmaker, as a soldier, as a caregiver, and as a friend. Maksyom will be discharged at the end of the year and she plans to continue shooting as a civilian in order to finish her documentary. She expects to wrap the post-production of this €300,000 project in the fall or winter of next year, striving for a release in cinemas afterwards.