Elwira Niewiera is a Polish director and screenwriter of documentary movies comparable to “Domino Impact” and “The Prince and the Dybbuk.” In her creative work, she focuses totally on political, social, and cultural transformations in Japanese Europe. Niewiera has obtained many worldwide awards for her work, together with Finest Documentary on Cinema on the 74th Venice Movie Competition, Polish Movie Academy Award for Finest Documentary, Grand Prix Semaine de la critique at seventy fifth Locarno Movie Competition, Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig Movie Competition, Younger German Cinema Award 2019, and the Rooster & Egg Footage Award 2021.
“The Hamlet Syndrome” (“Syndrom Hamleta”) is screening on the 2022 DOC NYC movie pageant, which is working from November 9-27.
W&H: Describe the movie for us in your individual phrases.
EN: Just a few months earlier than the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 this 12 months, 5 younger Ukrainians — Katya, Oksana, Slawik, Roman, and Rodion — had been engaged on a theatrical efficiency primarily based on the motifs of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” with which they had been utilizing to work by means of the traumas they sustained from their involvement within the Ukrainian Conflict of 2014-2015. Katya, Slawik, and Roman fought within the battles and discovered firsthand the horrors of warfare. Rodion is a refugee from the Donbas area and, as an LGBTQ+ individual, 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 warfare and the political scenario of their nation. Within the movie, we observe their technique of returning to their very own, and sometimes tough, lives.
When the warfare began in 2014, our protagonists had been round 20 years of age. They went on to check worldwide relations, appearing, regulation, and theater directing. Then, out of the blue, they had 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 wished to be.
W&H: What drew you to this story?
EN: I used to be on this era, a novel era as a result of they had been the primary to be born right into a free and impartial Ukraine. These younger folks 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 become a large wave of demonstrations throughout the nation and led to a revolution. These younger folks skilled a political awakening in the middle of their revolt. Just a few months later, when the warfare started in Japanese Ukraine, they grew to become concerned within the battle for his or her nation and had been compelled to make powerful decisions, paying a excessive worth for his or her dedication.
I wished to point out what it means to be in a warfare, the marks that warfare makes on folks, and the way arduous it’s to return to normality afterwards. My protagonists illustrate that it will possibly take years to rebuild private normality.
W&H: What would you like folks to consider after they watch the movie?
EN: I made this movie to attract consideration to the warfare that has been occurring within the Ukraine since 2014. Though folks have been dying and struggling for eight lengthy years, hardly anybody on the planet appears to care. The world forgot about it, ignored it, and moved on. Once we completed enhancing the movie in February this 12 months, Russia invaded Ukraine and the full-scale warfare started. My protagonists, Katya, Slavik, and Roman, are in hell once more, combating for his or her nation and for freedom.
Our movie offers viewers front-row seats to the torture these younger individuals are experiencing. As we speak, the movie offers voice to what the nation goes by means of; we see how tough it’s to return to on a regular basis life within the aftermath. That is true for thousands and thousands of Ukrainians who’ve been scarred by warfare. However we’re so used to photographs of warfare that they now not transfer us. Whereas there are hardly any warfare photos in my movie, the warfare makes its presence identified simply by the method of the protagonists as they try to beat their warfare trauma.
W&H: What was the most important problem in making the movie?
EN: All of the occasions from our protagonists’ lives that us occurred just a few years earlier. We didn’t need to report simply interviews with our protagonists [where] they [just] shared their experiences. The most important problem was to discover a narrative thread on which the tales might be advised. We determined to create a theatrical efficiency primarily based on the motifs of “Hamlet,” through which the protagonists might handle these traumatic occasions. The stage can be a secure house that allowed their reminiscences and feelings free reign, a course of through which our protagonists might endure a deep reflection of their experiences whereas on stage.
The method of discovering the protagonists took virtually two years. We met about 80 younger individuals who fought in volunteer battalions, organized humanitarian support, or had 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 best people, who had beforehand undergone remedy and so had been able to revisiting their warfare experiences on stage.
W&H: How did you get your movie funded? Share some insights into how you bought the movie made.
EN: This undertaking was difficult from the manufacturing facet too as we needed to safe financing for each the theatrical efficiency and the movie’ manufacturing. Sadly, European movie foundations felt the warfare within the Ukraine was now not a related matter. Furthermore, the thought of recording the theatrical rehearsal was an excessive amount of of an endeavor for a lot of movie establishments.
The movie finally grew to become a Polish-German co-production. The most important a part of the cash got here from the Polish Movie Institute. We additionally bought monetary help from the Polish-German Movie Fund, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and German-French tv Südwestrundfunk/ARTE, and CANAL+ Poland. In 2021, I used to be additionally granted the Rooster & Egg Footage Award and the mentorship portion of the prize was an incredible assist in the method of constructing the movie.
W&H: What impressed you to change into a filmmaker?
EN: I had studied appearing earlier than I modified course to change into a filmmaker. Sooner or later, I felt I used to be on the crossroads between the airtight realm of theater and the true world round me. I wanted a special type of expression. So, I made a decision to take the step towards filmmaking.
My best 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 the way to look, perceive, and transcend what the attention can see, the way to uncover deeper which means whereas specializing in the destiny of a person. It was additionally due to 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 obtained?
EN: There isn’t a finest and worst recommendation for me – all recommendation will be fascinating and would possibly result in one thing constructive!
W&H: What recommendation do you may have for different girls administrators?
EN: Make your work private and putting. Hearken to the opinions of others, however don’t lose your individual “thread.” Discover and observe your inside voice – it can lead you to inform the best story.
W&H: Identify your favourite woman-directed movie and why.
EN: I like the work of Susanne Bier, a Danish movie director finest identified for “Brothers,” “After the Wedding ceremony,” and the Academy Award-winning “In a Higher World.” Her movies revolve across the topic of destiny and the merciless penalties that even the tiniest errors can create. They present folks in complicated ethical dilemmas and create a novel mixture of helplessness and compassion within the viewers.
W&H: What, if any, duties do you suppose storytellers should confront the tumult on the planet, from the pandemic to the lack of abortion rights and systemic violence?
EN: I’m from Poland, and we’ve got a warfare occurring across the nook. After I began engaged on “The Hamlet Syndrome,” I felt a powerful duty to talk up concerning the cruelties of warfare, particularly as a result of hardly anybody gave this battle any curiosity.
For the reason that begin of the invasion, I’ve been organizing transports with support for our protagonists combating within the Ukrainian military: protecting vests, helmets, jeeps, drones, quad bikes, drugs for subject hospitals, evening imaginative and prescient gadgets, and many others. The scenario is devastating and with out an finish in sight as a result of the West has perpetually averted serving to those who urgently want it. I really feel an awesome duty, not as a storyteller, however as a filmmaker. I’m solely saying this to be able to think about this warfare is being carried on the shoulders of many non-public people.
W&H: The movie trade has a protracted historical past of underrepresenting folks of shade onscreen and behind the scenes and reinforcing – and creating – destructive stereotypes. What actions do you suppose must be taken to make Hollywood and/or the doc world extra inclusive?
EN: We have to create room for extra numerous views in filmmaking. Compared to the U.S., most filmmakers in Europe depend on state funding, and the scenario may be very difficult since state funding is interlinked with state politics. There are usually not many initiatives that help underrepresented folks of numerous minorities. One of many few cheap exceptions is the IDFA Bertha Fund that helps impartial, essential, and creative voices from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. I feel 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.
Supply: Women And Hollywood