The logline of Ukrainian Markiian Miroshnychenko and Natalia Kovalyova’s Hide Me in the Light, selected as a Doc to Go at KFF Industry, hints at the film’s considerable emotional impact. “Every morning, four youngsters are awakened at the Children’s Hospital. They have undergone haemodialysis for years. One winter day, a kidney donor is found. Life comes to an end for one, while for another, life will continue,” the synopsis reads.
“Hide Me in the Light is a character-driven documentary centered around the story of a childhood friendship,” producer Kateryna Ptashka tells BDE. “Although the events take place in Ukraine, directors Markiian Miroshnychenko and Nataliya Kovalyova focus not on the war but on the compelling characters whose world exists despite it. Inside the hospital, the children create their own fragile and unique microcosm, where moments of joy and grief live side by side, and where first friendship, love, and despair take root. The film carries a lot of quiet drama, as we see the children facing adult challenges such as daily medical treatments and waiting for a donor. Yet they are still just kids.”
“Told from the children’s perspective, the story is emotional and deeply moving,” she adds. “Universal human experiences like friendship and the strong will to live and be happy mean that the film resonates far beyond Ukraine, reaching audiences in Poland and around the world. Viewers can connect with these children because they will recognise something of their own childhood in them.”
It took the directors over six months to “gain permission” with their characters, ie to build trust. This enabled them to capture intimate, tender moments without intruding, “while maintaining a strong sense of dramaturgy and the bigger picture,” says Ptashka.
“This unique access is one of the production’s biggest strengths. Markiian and Nataliya were more than just observers. I believe they became part of the children’s world, which enabled them to film with great emotional depth and honesty,” she adds. “Another strength lies in the directors’ approach to portraying the war. Instead of focusing on it directly, they allow it to enter the story unexpectedly, reflecting how it suddenly breaks into the children’s fragile bubble.”
The 92-minute film will be ready for release by the end of 2025. Before then, Ptashka and fellow producer Oleksandr Krasenkov will be presenting it at more rough-cut and WIP events and will seek a world premiere at a major festival. They will retain active contact with key festivals on the doc circuit and source/secure prime distribution outlets and VOD platforms/broadcasters. The pair are also looking to entice sales representation.
Ptashka further describes the look of the film, characterised in part by a measured slow tempo, avoidance of over-dramatization and a minimal use of cuts and effects. “Staying gentle and careful with metaphors: the topic is so universal and eternal that its main danger is slipping into clichés and moralizing, which we want to avoid by all means,” she says.
“At the centre of this [transplant] ward is a corridor where life is constantly in full swing, where kids play, fall in love, get angry, and get scared. In the corridor, the fates of all the characters intersect. The children’s rooms are their personal spaces, their inner worlds, into which we only occasionally look when the characters let us in.”
“In scenes where the characters are in their wards, spending time together or with their parents, the directors are deliberately close to them, as if to show that this is a part of ordinary life, accessible and similar to the life of any child,” Ptashka adds. “In scenes where the characters are on dialysis, being tested, or surrounded by doctors, the directors wittingly shoot from a distance, peeking at the characters, as if not approaching this unknown part of treatment and illness.”
For the past three years, Ukraine has been a country at war, a fact which is, of course, reflected in the documentary. “Although the directors chose not to focus directly on the war, it inevitably and abruptly intrudes on the narrative. This raises an important question: what does it mean to grow up during a war? Since Poland is a close neighbour and one of Ukraine’s strongest supporters, this story carries a strong emotional connection,” the producer signs off.
