The team behind “Porcelain War” on the release of the film in the world

“Porcelain War” (courtesy of Finch No Worries)

In Porcelain War, US-based director Brendan Bellomo and Ukraine-based artist-director Slava Leontyev collaborated to tell the story of porcelain artists whose lives are turned upside down by the terror of war in Ukraine. The film follows Leontyev and fellow artists Anya Stasenko and Andrey Stefanov, who all decide to help their countries fight the Russian invasion. Despite daily shelling, Stasenko finds resilience and meaning in her art, Stefanov makes the dangerous journey to take his young family abroad to safety, and Leontyev becomes a weapons instructor for ordinary people who have become unlikely soldiers. In the film, Leontyev says, “Ukraine is like porcelain – easy to break, but impossible to destroy.”

Porcelain War premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Best U.S. Documentary. The documentary has been on film festival circuit for six months and has been shown to audiences at festivals such as Hot Docs, Doc 10, and Mountain Film. The 88-minute film will screen at the Nantucket Film Festival on June 22.

diversity spoke to Bellomo, Leontyev, Stasenko and the documentary’s producer, Paula DuPré Pesmen, before the NFF screening.

How did this film come about?

BRENDAN BELLOMO: I had known Slava and Anya for years and admired their remarkable art. When Russia brutally invaded Ukraine in 2022, I immediately contacted them. At that time, they stated that they were determined to stay in Ukraine and continue making their art. It was also the first time Slava revealed that he was a soldier in the Ukrainian Special Forces. Over the next few weeks, as the war progressed, they expressed that while many Ukrainians wanted the world to understand what was happening in their country, they were frustrated by what people were seeing. We decided together that putting the camera in their hands and empowering them to capture their own experiences was a way for them to have a voice and share their story with the world.

When you started shooting, you and Slava had never met and you spoke two different languages. How did you know that directing this film together would work?

BELLOMO: Slava and I were confident that directing Porcelain War together would work because, despite the language barrier and the 6,000 miles between us, we knew we were both fluent in the universal language of visual art, which enabled us to use drawings, photographs, storyboards and paintings to communicate our ideas fluidly, even though we were only speaking through an interpreter. We shared not only aesthetic instincts, but also a guiding principle that the focus of the film should not be on the destruction itself, but on the goodness of the people resisting that destruction and the culture they are trying to preserve.

Brendan, you sent Leontyev 15 cameras. Stefanov was the cameraman. How did the three of you work together to make the film?

BELLOMO: We started by sending Slava and Andrey a camera. Each day of shooting, they went to a sort of mini film school, learning a new facet of filmmaking with each step. They shot and sent the footage back to the US via secure servers so we could review the footage together remotely. I gave them feedback on the technical aspects of their shots, but I realized very quickly that the aesthetic quality of their footage was always absolutely amazing because they are such gifted artists: the camera was just a new tool. Additionally, we trained the members of Slava’s special forces unit on how to use body cameras and drones to record their missions. By the time we were in the middle of production, the team in Ukraine was using 15 cameras. What they accomplished as first-time filmmakers in an active war zone amid constant airstrikes and power outages was extraordinary.

Anya and Slava, were there ever any concerns about making this film? Why or why not?

ANJA STASENKO: We never had any concerns about making this film. People in democratic countries have their own unique culture, art, music and language. It is important for us to have the same – our freedom to choose how we think and how we create. The goal of a totalitarian government is to take away all these things that make us unique. Creating our art and giving it back to the world is our resistance. Sharing our story is our form of resistance.

SLAVE LEONTYEV: What is happening in Ukraine can happen to any of us. Democracy is at risk now more than ever. This is the biggest attack on a European country since World War II. It’s a strange feeling when war is happening on your own doorstep, but it’s not just the case in Ukraine. If Russia isn’t stopped, many people will soon be seeing it from their own windows. We hope audiences leave knowing that we are on the same side. It’s beneficial for all of us to work together. Porcelain War is about all of us. It’s about holding on to our humanity in the darkest of times – because when everything is taken from you, that’s all you have left. And that’s beautiful and worth fighting for.

Paula, what do you think were the biggest challenges in producing this film and how did you overcome them?

PAULA DUPRÉ PESMEN: For our production team, this film was logistically and emotionally complex on many levels. Our entire team was spread across multiple continents. Our co-directors were in different countries and speaking different languages. The film participants were learning how to use cameras for the first time while fighting in a war zone, exposed to artillery fire and power outages on a daily basis. We handled these daily challenges with calm and clarity, and by making safety the highest priority at every step.

From a distribution perspective, are you at all surprised that the film wasn’t bought, given the success it had at Sundance and the fact that a documentary about Ukraine – “20 Days In Mariupol” – won the Oscar this year?

DUPRÉ PESMEN: Yes, but Porcelain War continues to be validated by incredible audience response as we screen the film at festivals both domestically and internationally. We are committed to releasing the film in 2024.