Given the events of the past days and weeks which culminated February 24 in Russian president Vladimir Putin’s decision order a full scale invasion of Ukraine, Danish director Simon Lereng Wilmont has been glued to Messenger to try to figure out the whereabouts of his Ukrainian friends and colleagues, now forced to flee the war zones.
The director has spent the last six years between his home in Denmark and Eastern Ukraine filming two top prize-winning documentaries featuring children living near the frontline: the Oscar shortlisted The Distant Barking of Dogs(IDFA 2017 Best First Appearance winner), and A House Made of Splinters for which he won the Directing Prize at the recent Sundance Film Festival. Both films are produced by Monica Hellström of Denmark’s Final Cut for Real, the company behind the multi-Oscar nominated Flee.
The Distance Barking of Dogs features 10-year-old Oleg and his beloved grandmother Alexandra in the small village of Hnutove, Donetsk, caught in the crossfire between pro-Russian separatist forces and pro-Ukraine government soldiers.
Meanwhile A House Made of Splinters focuses the Lysychansk shelter, Luhansk, where the children of unfit parents are placed for up to nine months until they find another home.
Lereng Wilmont told nordicfilmandtvnews.com February 23 that both Oleg and his grandmother Alexandra, as well as the entire shelter in Lysychansk, have been evacuated.
“I have just heard that the shelter has evacuated the kids, towards a safer area, more inland, so that they won’t be threatened by bombardments. As for Alexandra and Oleg whose lives are even more at risk in Hnutove, we’ve decided together with Monica [Hellström], my local assistant director (Azad Safarov) and local production coordinator Lena Rozvadovska to evacuate them temporarily to the Western part of Ukraine,” said the director.
Reminding us that The Distant Barking of Dogs is mainly about Alexandra refusing to leave her home despite the harshness of life in a war zone, producer Hellström acknowledges that convincing the grandmother to flee wasn’t easy. “It took a bit of persuasion, but she could see how critical the situation is becoming,” she said.
“Azad and Lena who are on the ground and both working for the NGO Voices Of Children are doing an amazing job, helping the children and their families living near the frontline,” adds the producer.
“Without Azad and Lena, I could not have done the two films,” stresses Lereng Wilmont who appeals to people to support them and their NGO Voices of Children. “I trust them completely. They are super engaged, and trying to get as much funding as possible not only to help the children and their families find a safe space, but also for basic survival necessities. “
The Oscar-nominated Hellström adds: “With The Distant Barking of Dogs, people have approached us to donate funds to support the protagonists, but we didn’t have a scheme in place, unlike with A House Made of Splinters, where we worked closely with Azad, Lena and Voices of Children. We will also set up an impact campaign to try to improve the fate of kids in these conflict zones.“
Lereng Wilmont is also grateful for the wide festival exposure and warm audience responses that he’s received for his Eastern Ukraine-located observational docs. “I am so happy that there is a lot of interest [from festivals and distributors] to screen both films. The Distant Barking of Dogs is more concrete – about how kids’ lives are affected by bomb shells raining on them, while A House Made of Splinters is more about the long-term consequences on kids living near the frontline. Both films really complement each other,” he notes.
A House Made of Splinters will next screen March 4 as a pre-launch to Copenhagen’s CPH:DOX, and during the festival itself (March 23-April 3) followed by distribution on various pubcasters and platforms including DR, SVT, VGTV in Norway, ARTE and the BBC.
Speaking just before the invasion, Lereng Wilmont said how he was still in shock over the rapid escalation of the conflict and that he feels an immense sadness. “I know so many great human beings over there – including my drivers, people where I used to shop, at the hotels – all have been fantastic. It is awful to think they are now in danger. I feel I’ve left part of my heart over there,” he said.
An earlier version of this story was written for the Nordisk Film & TV Fond and published Feb 23 2022. At the time of publication in BDE, the NGO Voices of Children link has been compromised and is for the time being deleted from the story.
