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Ruslan, an 8-year-old boy living in a war-scarred village in Ukraine, drops a line into a pool of water and waits patiently for a bite. His fishing hole is manmade.
“A missile landed here and made a pit,” he mentions calmly in the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Once Upon a Time in Ukraine. “And then there was rain and… it flooded and made a big pond.”
The short film, constructed as a series of vignettes about children growing up in war zones across Ukraine, is directed by Oscar nominee Betsy West (RBG).
“Ruslan’s got his stick, and he’s fishing in a pond made out of a Russian bomb attack… He’s hoping that some fish had somehow gotten in there,” West says. “I mean, it’s so sweet. That’s what really moved me when I saw this footage, was just the incredible way in which kids process these horrible circumstances.”
The film project originated with producer Earle Mack, a filmmaker, businessman and former U.S. Ambassador to Finland, who traces his roots to Ukraine.
“He went to the border shortly after Russia invaded. And he was really impressed with the courage of Ukrainian people but also struck by the experience of children — refugees, or just children caught behind the frontline,” West explains. “So, he commissioned a camera crew, turned out to be an extremely talented camera crew, to go all over the country and film with families and with children… Earle contacted me and asked me to look at some of this material.”
“You see war footage and you see scenes of devastation [in other films],” West continues. “I’ve never really seen these kinds of more quiet moments of children behind the frontlines, talking about their experiences in such a moving way and showing the kind of creativity and resilience, sometimes denial of what’s going on, and just carrying on. I was extremely moved.”
The film begins with Ivanna, a girl from a rural part of the Kherson Region, who takes a camera crew down the stairs to the cellar of her family’s home. She describes huddling there for 256 days as Russian forces attacked the area — testimony that for some viewers may call to mind The Diary of Anne Frank.
“Every morning, we heard shooting from machine guns, from tanks,” she recounts. “And I heard them [Russian troops] walking and chatting, and we were quiet. It was terrifying because they could come in and find us, because they could just come in and throw hand grenades into the cellar. They wouldn’t even check to see if there were people in here or not.”
During that nearly year-long period below ground, Ivanna wrote and illustrated stories of Ukrainian heroism, stories with a fairytale quality that inspired the film’s title, Once Upon a Time in Ukraine.
“You’re with these children in their world,” West says of the film, “just kind of going into these different places and visiting with these kids who, through the arts, through their creativity, their just way of processing, are helping us experience what it is like to go through this.”
In February of this year, the war will enter its fourth year. During that time, more than 600 children have been killed, according to UNICEF, and countless more wounded. Since day one of the war, a primary target for Russian invaders has been civilians.
“Also in Ivanna’s area, they’ve been chased recently — there’s been a real upsurge in drones just going after civilians, chasing civilians and shooting,” West tells Deadline. “It’s horrific what they’ve been living through.”
In addition to Ruslan and Ivanna, Once Upon a Time in Ukraine follows Maksym, a 10-year-old boy who excels at ballroom dancing. His mom expresses fear that one day Maksym and his older brother will have to take up arms in defense of Ukraine. Eight-year-old Myroslava, meanwhile, describes fleeing Mariupol, one of the first cities besieged by Russia.
“I just wanted to drive to freedom,” she says. “I never knew what war was before.”
Her loving father, seen in family videos doting on Myroaslava, has joined the Ukrainian military, and reports come back that he has been killed in battle. Still, Myroslava clings to hope.
“Myroslava was really just convinced that her father will come back. One doesn’t want to deny that. It’s like, my goodness, whatever keeps you together, hold on to that,” West observes. “[She says], ‘Maybe he got a concussion, and he forgot about us for a while.’”
Care was taken not to retraumatize the children who appear in the documentary, the director notes. Camera crews “spent several days with each of the families getting familiar with them and just making sure that they were talking and sharing what they wanted to share and that they weren’t being coerced in any way — these kids or the parents — to do this,” West notes. “In the cases of the kids that we focused on… they were families and children who really wanted to share this experience.”
A week from Monday, President-elect Donald Trump will be sworn into office. What impact that will have on the war in Ukraine remains to be seen.
“It’s obviously a very critical moment,” says West, who emphasizes that she doesn’t consider herself an expert on the war. “These people have been fighting and dying for an independent democratic nation, and now they’re waiting to see what the incoming administration is going to do. A lot of people are talking about some sort of a resolution, and I think that’s what President-elect Trump has said, that he wants a quick resolution. The real question is under what terms, what compromises do they have to make?”
She adds, “It’s amazing. Nobody expected the Ukrainian people to stand up to Russia the way they have, and you can’t count them out. We’ll have to see, if there is a peace, what kind of a peace is it?”
Once Upon a Time in Ukraine played at IFC in New York. Wider release plans are pending. “We actually do have an offer that we’re considering,” West comments, “and we hope that the film will be out there soon. So that’s our plan.”
