Elwira Niewiera is a Polish director and screenwriter of documentary movies akin to “Domino Effect” and “The Prince and the Dybbuk.” In her creative work, she focuses totally on political, social, and cultural transformations in Eastern Europe. Niewiera has acquired many worldwide awards for her work, together with Best Documentary on Cinema on the 74th Venice Film Festival, Polish Film Academy Award for Best Documentary, Grand Prix Semaine de la critique at seventy fifth Locarno Film Festival, Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig Film Festival, Young German Cinema Award 2019, and the Chicken & Egg Pictures Award 2021.
“The Hamlet Syndrome” (“Syndrom Hamleta”) is screening on the 2022 DOC NYC movie competition, which is working from November 9-27.
W&H: Describe the movie for us in your individual phrases.
EN: A number of months earlier than the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 this 12 months, 5 younger Ukrainians — Katya, Oksana, Slawik, Roman, and Rodion — have been engaged on a theatrical efficiency primarily based on the motifs of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” with which they have been utilizing to work via the traumas they sustained from their involvement within the Ukrainian War of 2014-2015. Katya, Slawik, and Roman fought within the battles and discovered firsthand the horrors of conflict. Rodion is a refugee from the Donbas area and, as an LGBTQ+ particular person, fights towards homophobia, whereas Oksana is a really well-known actress and feminist in her nation.
The stage is remodeled right into a tribune from which they’ll air their grievances, share their private experiences, and discover impartial floor for private reckoning. The motifs from “Hamlet” resonate with our protagonists right here, who’ve been marked by conflict and the political state of affairs of their nation. In the movie, we observe their means of returning to their very own, and sometimes tough, lives.
When the conflict began in 2014, our protagonists have been round 20 years of age. They went on to review worldwide relations, performing, regulation, and theater directing. Then, all of a sudden, they have been compelled to confront points and challenges that left them in hopeless conditions. They grew to become troopers, paramedics, and refugees they by no means needed to be.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
EN: I used to be on this era, a singular era as a result of they have been the primary to be born right into a free and impartial Ukraine. Those younger individuals initiated the Maidan revolution in 2013. After then-president Viktor Yanukovych refused to signal the affiliation settlement with the European Union, college students protested, which changed into a large wave of demonstrations throughout the nation and led to a revolution. These younger individuals skilled a political awakening in the midst of their revolt. A number of months later, when the conflict started in Eastern Ukraine, they grew to become concerned within the battle for his or her nation and have been compelled to make robust selections, paying a excessive value for his or her dedication.
I needed to point out what it means to be in a conflict, the marks that conflict makes on individuals, and the way exhausting it’s to return to normality afterwards. My protagonists illustrate that it may possibly take years to rebuild private normality.
W&H: What would you like individuals to consider after they watch the movie?
EN: I made this movie to attract consideration to the conflict that has been happening within the Ukraine since 2014. Although individuals have been dying and struggling for eight lengthy years, hardly anybody on the earth appears to care. The world forgot about it, ignored it, and moved on. When we completed enhancing the movie in February this 12 months, Russia invaded Ukraine and the full-scale conflict started. My protagonists, Katya, Slavik, and Roman, are in hell once more, preventing for his or her nation and for freedom.
Our movie offers viewers front-row seats to the torture these younger individuals are experiencing. Today, the movie offers voice to what the nation goes via; we see how tough it’s to return to on a regular basis life within the aftermath. This is true for hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians who’ve been scarred by conflict. But we’re so used to photographs of conflict that they not transfer us. While there are hardly any conflict pictures in my movie, the conflict makes its presence recognized simply by the method of the protagonists as they try to beat their conflict trauma.
W&H: What was the most important problem in making the movie?
EN: All the occasions from our protagonists’ lives that us occurred a couple of years earlier. We didn’t need to document simply interviews with our protagonists [where] they [just] shared their experiences. The largest problem was to discover a narrative thread on which the tales could possibly be advised. We determined to create a theatrical efficiency primarily based on the motifs of “Hamlet,” during which the protagonists might handle these traumatic occasions. The stage can be a secure house that allowed their recollections and feelings free reign, a course of during which our protagonists might bear a deep reflection of their experiences whereas on stage.
The means of discovering the protagonists took virtually two years. We met about 80 younger individuals who fought in volunteer battalions, organized humanitarian assist, or have been compelled to flee from the Donbas area. Many individuals we met weren’t emotionally prepared for such a process. It took us a very long time to search out the suitable people, who had beforehand undergone remedy and so have been able to revisiting their conflict experiences on stage.
W&H: How did you get your movie funded? Share some insights into how you bought the movie made.
EN: This mission was difficult from the manufacturing facet too as we needed to safe financing for each the theatrical efficiency and the movie’ manufacturing. Unfortunately, European movie foundations felt the conflict within the Ukraine was not a related matter. Moreover, the concept of recording the theatrical rehearsal was an excessive amount of of an endeavor for a lot of movie establishments.
The movie ultimately grew to become a Polish-German co-production. The largest a part of the cash got here from the Polish Film Institute. We additionally received monetary help from the Polish-German Film Fund, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and German-French tv Südwestrundfunk/ARTE, and CANAL+ Poland. In 2021, I used to be additionally granted the Chicken & Egg Pictures Award and the mentorship portion of the prize was an amazing assist in the method of constructing the movie.
W&H: What impressed you to turn out to be a filmmaker?
EN: I had studied performing earlier than I modified course to turn out to be a filmmaker. At some level, I felt I used to be on the crossroads between the airtight realm of theater and the actual world round me. I wanted a distinct type of expression. So, I made a decision to take the step towards filmmaking.
My biggest champion and creative mentor was Tamara Trampe, a revered and famend German filmmaker of Ukrainian origin. She had a huge effect on the event of my movie profession as a result of she taught me methods to look, perceive, and transcend what the attention can see, methods to uncover deeper that means whereas specializing in the destiny of a person. It was additionally because of her help that I used to be in a position to win the belief of movie establishments, which kicked my profession off.
W&H: What’s the perfect and worst recommendation you’ve acquired?
EN: There isn’t any finest and worst recommendation for me – all recommendation might be fascinating and may result in one thing optimistic!
W&H: What recommendation do you’ve for different ladies administrators?
EN: Make your work private and putting. Listen to the opinions of others, however don’t lose your individual “thread.” Find and observe your interior voice – it’ll lead you to inform the suitable story.
W&H: Name your favourite woman-directed movie and why.
EN: I really like the work of Susanne Bier, a Danish movie director finest recognized for “Brothers,” “After the Wedding,” and the Academy Award-winning “In a Better World.” Her movies revolve across the topic of destiny and the merciless penalties that even the tiniest errors can create. They present individuals in advanced ethical dilemmas and create a singular mixture of helplessness and compassion within the viewers.
W&H: What, if any, tasks do you suppose storytellers must confront the tumult on the earth, from the pandemic to the lack of abortion rights and systemic violence?
EN: I’m from Poland, and we’ve a conflict happening across the nook. When I began engaged on “The Hamlet Syndrome,” I felt a robust accountability to talk up in regards to the cruelties of conflict, particularly as a result of hardly anybody gave this battle any curiosity.
Since the beginning of the invasion, I’ve been organizing transports with assist for our protagonists preventing within the Ukrainian military: protecting vests, helmets, jeeps, drones, quad bikes, medication for subject hospitals, night time imaginative and prescient gadgets, and many others. The state of affairs is devastating and with out an finish in sight as a result of the West has perpetually averted serving to people who urgently want it. I really feel an excellent accountability, not as a storyteller, however as a filmmaker. I’m solely saying this so that you could think about this conflict is being carried on the shoulders of many personal people.
W&H: The movie trade has an extended historical past of underrepresenting individuals of shade onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing – and creating – unfavourable stereotypes. What actions do you suppose have to be taken to make Hollywood and/or the doc world extra inclusive?
EN: We must create room for extra various views in filmmaking. In comparability to the U.S., most filmmakers in Europe depend on state funding, and the state of affairs could be very difficult since state funding is interlinked with state politics. There will not be many initiatives that help underrepresented individuals of various minorities. One of the few cheap exceptions is the IDFA Bertha Fund that helps impartial, vital, and creative voices from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. I believe that in Europe, we have to identify the issue first in order that we are able to make approach for a brand new funding coverage that’s much less nationalistic.