‘Silent Flood’ by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk (‘Pamfir’) explores life in a closed religious community during the war. The film had its world premiere in the international competition at IDFA in Amsterdam, and will be released in Ukrainian cinemas on October 29
Work on the documentary has been underway since 2021 as a co-production between Ukraine and Germany. It was filmed by Tabor Production in collaboration with Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk.
The main characters of ‘Silent Flood’ are members of a closed religious community that settled on the banks of the Dniester, where the front lines of World War I and World War II once ran.
This closed community lives by their own, strict rules and is detached from the outside world. For example, they are forbidden to use electricity or modern medicine, forbidden to marry outside the community, and forbidden to attend a regular school or join the army. However, their peaceful way of life is gradually being disrupted by recurring floods and the Russian-Ukrainian war.
‘When a devastating flood comes under the flag of the Russian army, the community unites, losing their comfort. Despite the lack of information due to the absence of electricity, the peasants gradually begin to go against their own rules, connecting to the outside world to confront the enemy’, the description reads.
The cinematographers on ‘Silent Flood’ were Ivan Morarash, Oleksandr Korotun, Viacheslav Tsvietkov, and the director himself.
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At IDFA in Amsterdam, ‘Silent Flood’ won the award for Best Cinematography, while at the Krakow Film Festival it received the award for Director of a Film of High Artistic Merit. The film had its Ukrainian premiere at Docudays UA.
