In “Porcelain War,” U.S.-based director Brendan Bellomo and Ukraine-based artist-director Slava Leontyev worked together to tell the story of porcelain artists whose lives are turned upside down by the terrors of the war in Ukraine.
The film follows Leontyev and fellow artists Anya Stasenko and Andrey Stefanov, who all opt to help their countries fight off the Russian invasion. Despite daily shelling, Stasenko finds resistance and purpose in her art, Stefanov takes the dangerous journey to get his young family to safety abroad, and Leontyev becomes a weapons instructor for regular people who have become unlikely soldiers. In the film Leontyev states, “Ukraine is like porcelain — easy to break, but impossible to destroy.
” “Porcelain War” premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Grand Jury prize for U.S. documentary.
The doc has been on the film festival circuit for the last six months playing for audiences at fests including Hot Docs, Doc 10 and Mountain Film. The 88-minute film will screen on June 22 at the Nantucket Film Festival . Variety spoke to Bellomo, Leontyev, Stasenko and doc’s producer Paula DuPré Pesmen ahead of the NFF screening.
How did this film come about? BRENDAN BELLOMO: I had gotten to know Slava and Anya, and admired their remarkable art, for years. When Russia brutally invaded Ukraine in 2022, I immediately made contact with them. At that time, they explained that they were determined to stay in Ukraine and would con.
