The exhausted couple talking over video from Los Angeles don’t appear to be typical Oscar nominees. The tiredness etched on their faces shouldn’t be from late nights partying or lengthy days networking. It seems to be extra like the burden of the world on their shoulders.
Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev are ceramics artists from the frontline Ukrainian metropolis of Kharkiv. They’ve been married for many years and work collectively, making fantastically intricate painted porcelain beasts no larger than your fist. When Russian troops invaded in 2022, relatively than fleeing, the couple stayed in Kharkiv. Leontyev was a weapons teacher within the Ukrainian particular forces, a weapons teacher who educated civilian volunteers. Then he picked up a digicam and shot a documentary, Porcelain Warfare. When the movie premiered at Sundance in January 2024, the couple flew to the US, anticipating to remain for a month.
Then, to everybody’s shock, Porcelain Warfare gained the competition’s prime documentary prize. The couple have spent the previous yr within the US elevating consciousness for Ukraine. “We by no means deliberate to be right here such a very long time and we actually must get again as quickly potential,” says Leontyev. They’re based mostly in Denver, however spend most of their time travelling with the movie.
Do they ever really feel a way of guilt about being away from Ukraine so lengthy? Leontyev shakes his head. “I by no means felt responsible, however I actually miss folks.” He talks about his unease when he began making the documentary whereas nonetheless serving. “After I picked up my digicam, somebody needed to choose up a rifle in my place, actually. I can’t clarify. I felt … not responsible, however one thing was unsuitable.”
At some point, Leontyev requested his unit commander for her sincere opinion. “She mentioned to me: ‘Your digicam is a strong weapon. Extra impactful than a rifle.’ It was solely potential to make this film as a result of my unit fully supported us.” To date, the unit has had no fatalities. “It’s a miracle,” he says.
We’re speaking with out an interpreter. Final January, Stasenko and Leontyev arrived within the US unable to talk English. In a yr, they’ve gone from zero to conversational. Leontyev is apologetic. “Our English shouldn’t be so excellent,” he grins. “The grammar is absent!”
At this level, a little bit scrap of fur pokes its head up from his spouse’s lap. It’s Frodo, the couple’s terrier, one other star of the movie. Frodo is barking at an aeroplane. “He thinks each aeroplane is a navy aeroplane. He chases them away,” says Leontyev, taking a look at his spouse. They smile at one another.
Stasenko and Leontyev have identified one another since childhood. There’s a {photograph} in Porcelain Warfare of Stasenko pushing her future husband down the road in an old school pram (she is just a few years older than him). They acquired collectively at artwork faculty within the Eighties in what was nonetheless Soviet Ukraine. In 1991, they had been college students when the Soviet Union collapsed. “It was attention-grabbing – and a hungry time,” says Leontyev.
“It’s regular for college students to hungry!” his spouse factors out. She wonders whether or not residing by means of that second ready them for the conflict. “It was a phenomenal time. It didn’t appear to be the conflict. However our era, we’ve got this expertise of damaged guidelines throughout. We perceive that throughout might fly away in a second.”
They finally settled in Crimea, near their pal Andrey Stefanov, a painter who’s the cinematographer on Porcelain Warfare. Then, in 2014, Russia invaded Crimea and so they returned to Kharkiv. At this level, Leontyev began navy coaching. “We knew,” he says. “For the reason that annexation of Crimea, we knew what sort of conflict would come to us.”
The couple fill their movie with the great thing about Ukraine’s panorama. We additionally watch Stasenko paint – an act of resistance within the face of an aggressor aiming to obliterate a nation’s id. In his voiceover, Leontyev compares porcelain to Ukraine: “Straightforward to interrupt, unattainable to destroy.”
Porcelain Warfare takes us to the Bakhmut frontline in footage shot by the civilian troopers in Leontyev’s unit, utilizing bodycams and drones shipped from the US with medical provides by a Ukrainian hairdresser in New Jersey. The drones observe bombs falling on Russian targets. They’re operated by individuals who as soon as had common jobs, however now look dying within the face on daily basis. There’s an IT analyst, a furnishings salesman, a dairy farmer. Watching it, you’ll be able to’t assist however surprise: may I try this? Do I’ve what it takes?
Leontyev says the message is about resistance – abnormal folks defending democracy. It exhibits the very best of Ukrainians, he says. “In darkish occasions, form folks shine. All these folks joined as volunteers. They aren’t solely defending their households; they got here as a result of they felt accountability within the face of historical past. This battle is a battle between totalitarianism and democracy. It’s not the frontline between Ukraine and Russia. It’s the frontline by means of complete world.”
Porcelain Warfare has been nominated for finest documentary on the Oscars; the couple’s keep within the US has been extended as soon as once more. A win would make the world their viewers, up there on stage to just accept the award, wouldn’t it? They nod. However Leontyev is modest in regards to the achievement. “I by no means thought we’d be nominated. I don’t really feel prefer it’s mine. Behind the movie is the bravery of each Ukrainian soldier and the resilience of each Ukrainian civilian. It’s the nomination of each Ukrainian.”
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