Razom was honored to support a talented group of the Ukrainian documentary The Earth Is Blue As An Orange, that was chosen for the participating at the Sundance Film Festival and the MoMA DocFortnight 2020 Festival of International Nonfiction Film and Media.
October 21, Anna Kapustina, a film producer, asked to meet Razom Vice President Lyuba Shipovich. During the meeting, Anya shared that the movie “Earth is blue as an orange” was selected for the competition program of the largest independent film festival Sundance 2020. Anya was excited and at the same time felt lost. Lyuba learned that the team did not have the funds to go to the festival, and the government agencies refused funding.
Razom usually does not help individual projects unless they are part of the organization’s current initiatives. But this was an exceptional case. The screening of the Ukrainian film at such a prestigious festival is important for promoting the development of the Ukrainian film industry. We know the movie team from the Yellow Bus project, which Razom supported earlier. And a documentary about the war at such a world festival is a unique chance to tell the story of the Ukrainian realities. So the Razom board of directors have decided to make an exception and support the movie within the Razom Culture project. Oleksii Prokopenko took over the coordination of work: the visas, tickets, accommodation and much more, which took almost all of his free time for almost 2 months.
We could not have been happier to see the excited faces of the team at the Sundance festival. And what is more, we rejoice with the film crew, who won the Sundance Directing Award in the world documentary category!
Further, in February the film was also chosen for the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) DocFortnight 2020 Festival of International Nonfiction Film and Media. The team was invited to NYC, and Razom helped with the logistics, accommodation and tickets to the Big Apple.
We sincerely congratulate the entire film team, director Iryna Tsilyk, who has already made history in the world of cinematography, producer Anna Kapustina, film heroes and everyone who helped create this outstanding documentary! You have done a lot for the promotion of Ukraine and for the positive image of our country!
Razom thanks Lyuba and Oleksii, and to all those who helped organizing the trip! Thank you to all of our donors: it is your support that allows us support the incredible talent of Ukrainians and showcase them to the world!
About the film:
Single mother Anna and her four children live in the front-line war zone of Donbas, Ukraine. While the outside world is made up of bombings and chaos, the family is managing to keep their home as a safe haven, full of life and full of light. Every member of the family has a passion for cinema, motivating them to shoot a film inspired by their own life during a time of war.
The creative process raises the question of what kind of power the magical world of cinema could have during times of disaster. How to picture war through fiction? For Anna and the children, transforming trauma into a work of art is the ultimate way to stay human.
Original title: Земля блакитна, ніби апельсин
English title: The Earth Is Blue as an Orange
Film length: 74 min
Countries of production: Ukraine – Lithuania
Year of completion: 2020
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheEarthIsBlueAsanOrange
About the director:
Writer/Director IRYNA TSILYK graduated from Kyiv National University of Theater, Cinematography and Television named by Karpenko-Kary in TV directing in 2005. Her previous short fiction and documentary films were presented and awarded at various international film festivals. In addition, Tsilyk has been working as a writer. Some of her works have been translated into various languages and presented at different international literary festivals.
About the producer:
Anna Kapustina is a producer based in Kyiv, Ukraine and the founder of the production company ALBATROS COMMUNICOS. In 2003 – 2014 she had been producing commercials, TV programs and international reality-shows. Since 2014 she is the producer of the Ukrainian cinematographic community “BABYLON`13” and NGO “HERO.UA”. Selected participant at IDFAcademy Summer School, Dok.Incubator and B2BDoc. Her latest documentary The First Company was awarded with Docudays Audience Award and recognized as the Best Ukrainian Documentary.
More info about the film’s participation in Sundance: https://www.sundance.org/projects/the-earth-is-blue-as-an-orange
