Ukraine’s Recent Oscar Entries ‘Bad Roads,’ ‘Donbass’ and Sundance Docu Nabbed By Film Movement (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comElsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFilm Movement has acquired all North American rights to two previous Ukrainian Oscar entries “Bad Roads” and “Donbass,” as well as the Sundance award-winning documentary “The Earth Is Blue as an Orange.”“Bad Roads,” which was Ukraine’s Oscar candidate last fall, marks the feature debut of playwright-turned-filmmaker, Natalya Vorozhbit.
The politically minded omnibus film, which premiered at Venice in 2020, is adapted from Vorozhbit’s play and unfolds in the recently invaded Eastern region of Donbass.“Bad Roads” features four stories shedding light on life in the front-line war zone of Donbass: one man alleging to be a schoolmaster is accosted by the military at a checkpoint, two teenagers wait for their soldier boyfriends in a dilapidated town square; a journalist is held captive and gets brutally assaulted; and a young woman apologizes to an elderly couple for running over their chickens.
Variety’s review said the film “gains extra resonance from current events in this troubled region,” and “introduces a new talent to watch in debuting writer-director Natalya Vorozhbit.”Vorozhbit told IndieWire that she was finishing the shooting of her sophomore film “Demons” when the bombs arrived.
She found refuge in a makeshift bomb shelter with her relatives outside of Kyiv.“We’re seeking to both support the Ukrainian film industry, as well as to offer North American audiences an eye-opening window into a world most can’t imagine,” said Film Movement.
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