I am grateful to the wonderful Elisaveta Dvorakk at Inherit for organising a screening of the film “Voice Messages from Bakhmut” by Ihor Babaiev here, in Berlin, just before we’ll count three years since full scale russian invasion into Ukraine. Elisaveta pushed to have it now, at this particular time, and it could not have been timed any better. I observe the talks that are happening now in the political arena and, frankly, it is beyond the pale. What is happening between the two self-righteous pompous yet dangerous men is scary. I feel things so unfair, and I feel so powerless.

I am reading poetry by Maksym Kryvtsov to ground me. If you have never heard of Maksym, this is just one of his poems of war. Maksym was killed last year, 7th January 2024. In the year 2022 I was thinking, but how do people continue to create in spite of the war? And now I am thinking, why would they not? It really feels that art remains the only firm ground amidst the lie and disappointment and horror.

If you are in Berlin on Friday the 21st February, you are welcome to attend the screening of the film and the discussion that follows after, in Kino Central (Rosenthaler Str. 39, 10178 Berlin). Ihor will connect online, internet allowing, while Elisaveta, myself, Ganna Liulikova (our colleague, a fellow at Inherit) and Valentina Zalevska (Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin) will be there in person. I’ll talk about sound I composed for the film, and how telling intimate stories is a form of resistance against the ultra-violence.