MERET MADÖRIN
CINEMATOGRAPHER

SYNOPSIS

In a remote village whose name roughly translates to “cold place,” this film seeks warmth through human connection. The Ukrainian village of Stuzhytsia, located in the Carpathians near the tri-border region of Poland and Slovakia, has seen most of its young people leave by 2019, the year of Zelenskyy's election victory. The three elderly protagonists — a farmer, a postal worker, and a biologist — remain deeply rooted in the community. Over time, the film crew itself becomes, at least temporarily, a valued part of the village. Between horoscope readings at the post office, farm work with a pitchfork, and church blessings for cars in need of repair, Maksym Melnyk — himself a native of the Zakarpattia Oblast — gradually builds a relationship with the three women. His documentary style evolves through interaction: while he starts out asking questions from off-screen like a reporter, he increasingly appears on camera as his closeness to the villagers grows. Few documentary filmmakers today still see themselves as “flies on the wall.” But giving a pig to a protagonist on camera, or having one cut your hair? That’s certainly not the norm.

Through the story of the single farmer Hanna — who treats Melnyk and cinematographer Florian Baumgarten, whom she calls “the German,” like her sons — the film portrays a life of hardship in a rural region near the EU border, a way of life that seems to be fading.
(Jan-Philipp Kohlmann)

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