As the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches, I wanted to re-share a project that I believe defines me as a creative. Ukraine Unbroken was my first documentary project; prior to undertaking its creation, I had never had any dealings with the film industry. I knew nothing about documentary-making, and "no resources" was an understatement. Going into the process, all I had was my relationship with narrative and an understanding of media impact on... Read more
As the third anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine approaches, I wanted to re-share a project that I believe defines me as a creative. Ukraine Unbroken was my first documentary project; prior to undertaking its creation, I had never had any dealings with the film industry. I knew nothing about documentary-making, and "no resources" was an understatement. Going into the process, all I had was my relationship with narrative and an understanding of media impact on audiences.
This documentary was made in a small Missouri college town, as Stephen Fry would put it, "two hours from the nearest lemon." During my studies there, I had observed the story of young Ukrainian refugee resilience within a very privileged student body that was far removed from the realities of war. It was my hope that this project would help bridge the gap between not knowing if your family is alive and not knowing if you will make varsity, and open a dialogue between the Ukrainian community and the American population.
To make this documentary, I did a lot of door-knocking until I convinced the amazing production company, Rapport Storytelling, to collaborate with me pro bono. I jumped into the deep end and worked with them to take on any non-technical workload (all while balancing an academically dense semester and being a student organisation president). During this process, I taught myself logging, story editing, shoot setup, obtaining consent from vulnerable individuals, scheduling, PR, and far more than I could list. I watched and learned from our director, C.J. Levy, who was a master at gaining trust and supporting subjects as they opened up to the camera about extremely vulnerable moments in their lives.
My pride in the creation of this project is twofold. I am proud to have made this much "something" with that much nothing, and I am extremely proud that the "something" I created has made a difference to the community it was created for.
This documentary was made in a small Missouri college town, as Stephen Fry would put it, "two hours from the nearest lemon." During my studies there, I had observed the story of young Ukrainian refugee resilience within a very privileged student body that was far removed from the realities of war. It was my hope that this project would help bridge the gap between not knowing if your family is alive and not knowing if you will make varsity, and open a dialogue between the Ukrainian community and the American population.
To make this documentary, I did a lot of door-knocking until I convinced the amazing production company, Rapport Storytelling, to collaborate with me pro bono. I jumped into the deep end and worked with them to take on any non-technical workload (all while balancing an academically dense semester and being a student organisation president). During this process, I taught myself logging, story editing, shoot setup, obtaining consent from vulnerable individuals, scheduling, PR, and far more than I could list. I watched and learned from our director, C.J. Levy, who was a master at gaining trust and supporting subjects as they opened up to the camera about extremely vulnerable moments in their lives.
My pride in the creation of this project is twofold. I am proud to have made this much "something" with that much nothing, and I am extremely proud that the "something" I created has made a difference to the community it was created for.
