''The Earth Is Blue as an Orange'' is a 2020 documentary film, directed and written by
Iryna Tsilyk
Iryna Tsilyk (Ukrainian: Ірина Цілик; born 18 November 1982) is Ukrainian filmmaker and writer, the member of Ukrainian PEN International. The winner of the “Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary” for the film "The Earth Is Blue ...
, who won the Directing Award in the "World Cinema Documentary” category for the film at the
2020 Sundance Film Festival
The 2020 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 23 to February 2, 2020. The first lineup of competition films was announced on December 4, 2019. The opening night film was ''Miss Americana'' directed by Lana Wilson and produced by Morgan ...
.
Synopsis
Single mother Hanna and her four children live in the front-line war zone of
Donbas
The Donbas or Donbass (, ; uk, Донба́с ; russian: Донба́сс ) is a historical, cultural, and economic region in eastern Ukraine. Parts of the Donbas are controlled by Russian separatist groups as a result of the Russo-Ukrai ...
, Ukraine. While the outside world is made up of bombings and chaos, the family is managing to keep their home as a safe haven, full of life and full of light. Every member of the family has a passion for cinema, motivating them to shoot a film inspired by their own life during a time of war.
The creative process raises the question of what kind of power the magical world of cinema could have during times of disaster. How to picture war through fiction? For Hanna and the children, transforming trauma into a work of art is the ultimate way to stay human.
Production
The film is produced by Anna Kapustina ("Albatros Communicos", Ukraine) and Giedrė Žickytė ("Moonmakers", Lithuania) with the support of Ukrainian State Film Agency, Lithuanian Film Centre, IDFA Bertha Fund (Netherlands).
Release
It was selected for the official program of 2020
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
(Generation 14+), the 2020
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam
The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tic ...
(Best of Fests), Documentary Selection by
European Film Academy
The European Film Academy is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988.
The Academy—under the name of European Cinema Soci ...
2020, , 2020
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...
, 2020
Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival
CPH:DOX is the official name for the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, an international documentary film festival established in 2003 and held annually in Copenhagen, Denmark. CPH:DOX has since grown to become one of the largest ...
, 2020
Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
The Thessaloniki Documentary Festival (TDF) is an international documentary festival held every March in Thessaloniki, Greece. TDF, founded in 1999, features competition sections and ranks among the world's leading documentary festivals. Since 20 ...
, 2020
Adelaide Film Festival
The Adelaide Film Festival (AFF, formerly ADLFF) is film festival usually held for two weeks in mid-October in cinemas in Adelaide, South Australia. Originally presented biennially in March from 2003, since 2013 AFF has been held in October ...
and more than 100 other International film festivals.
The film had theatrical distribution in Ukraine, Lithuania, France, Italy.
Characters
* Myroslava Trofymchuk
* Hanna Gladka
* Stanislav Gladky
* Anastasiia Trofymchuk
* Vladyslav Trofymchuk
Reception
Guy Lodge, writing for
''Variety'', wrote, "It’s an apt inversion for a documentary in which the roles of filmmaker, viewer and subject are as inextricably fused as life and art".
Amber Wilkinson of ''
Screen International
''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company.
The magazine is primarily aimed at those involved in the global film business. ...
'' wrote, "Iryna Tsilyk offers an intimate and surprisingly playful family’s eye view of life in the Ukraine warzone in her debut feature documentary, which focuses on the Trofymchuk-Gladky clan".
Awards and nominations
* WINNER: Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary of 2020
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...
, USA 2020
* WINNER: Best Cinematography award of 2020
International Documentary Association
International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Filmm ...
Awards, USA
* WINNER: Spotlight Award of
Cinema Eye Honors
The Cinema Eye Honors are awards recognizing excellence in nonfiction or documentary filmmaking and include awards for the disciplines of directing, producing, cinematography and editing. The awards are presented each January in New York and have b ...
, USA 2021
* WINNER: Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize of
Seattle International Film Festival
The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...
, USA 2021
* WINNER: ZIFF Grand Award of
, Spain 2020
* WINNER: Grand Prix of Millenium Docs Against Gravity film festival, Poland 2020
* WINNER: DOCU/World award of Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Ukraine 2020
* WINNER: DOCU/Ukraine award of Docudays UA International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival, Ukraine 2020
* WINNER: Award for Best Cinematography of Millenium Docs Against Gravity film festival, Poland 2020
* WINNER: Special Prize of the Jury of
Artdocfest
Artdocfest is an international festival of original documentary films. Artdocfest presents the brightest non-format documentaries of all genres. It was established in 2007 by the Directorate of the Russian national non-fiction films award "Lavrov ...
/Riga, Latvia 2021
* WINNER: Best Documentary Film of Ukrainian Film Critics Award "Kinokolo", Ukraine 2020
* WINNER: Best Debut (Premia Hera "Nuovi Talenti") of Biografilm Festival, Italy 2020
* WINNER: Best Human Rights Doc of
Dokufest
DokuFest is an international documentary and short film festival held in the Kosovo city of Prizren, held annually during August. It was founded in 2002 by a group of friends. It has since grown into a cultural event that attracts internationa ...
, Kosovo 2020
* WINNER: Best Documentary Film of Five Lakes Film Festival, Germany 2020
* WINNER: Jury's Prize for Best film of Al Este Festival de Cine Peru, 2020
* WINNER: Press Jury's prize for Best film of Al Este Festival de Cine Peru, 2020
* WINNER: DoXX Award of
Tallgrass Film Festival
The Tallgrass Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Wichita, Kansas, specializing in independent films. It was founded in 2003 by Timothy Gruver.
Gruver was raised in Wichita. He studied filmmaking at Brigham Young University. After c ...
, USA 2020
* WINNER: Bydgoszcz ART.DOC Award, Poland 2020
* WINNER: "Movies That Matter" special prize of
ZagrebDox
ZagrebDox is an international documentary film festival taking place in Zagreb every year, in late February / early March. Launched in 2005, the festival is intended to provide audiences and experts insight into recent documentary films, stimulate ...
, Croatia 2021
* WINNER: "Best Documentary film" of
Golden Dzyga
The "Golden Dzyga" ( uk, Золота дзиґа) is a Ukrainian national film award given for professional achievements in the development of Ukrainian cinema. Founded in 2017 by the Ukrainian Film Academy, the first awards ceremony took place on ...
awards, Ukraine 2021
* WINNER: "Best Documentary film" of MajorDocs, Spain 2021
* WINNER: “Best co-production film of the year" of the Lithuanian National Film Award “Sidabrinė gervė”, 2022
* WINNER: Jury Special Award of Ânûû-rû Âboro Film Festival, 2022
* Special Mention: International competition of Underhill Fest, Montenegro 2020
* Special Jury Mention: of CineDOC Tbilisi, Georgia 2020
* Special Mention: Different Tomorrow category at Reykjavik International Film Festival, Iceland 2020
* Special Jury Mention:
Zurich Film Festival
Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) is an annual film festival that has been held in Zürich, Switzerland, since 2005.
The festival's main focus is to promote emerging filmmakers from all over the world. In three competition categories only first, second ...
, Switzerland 2020
* Special Mention: Human Rights Film Award of Verzio Film Festival, Hungary 2020
* Special Mention: Minsk IFF
Listapad
Listapad ( be, Лістапад, ''meaning "November"''), also known as Minsk International Film Festival (MIFF) or Minsk International Film Festival Listapad, is an annual film festival which takes place in November in Minsk, Belarus. It is th ...
, Belarus 2020
* Special Jury Mention: Premiers Plans - Angers Film Festival, France 2021
Reviews
The Earth Is Blue As an Orange review – subtle doc tells Ukrainian family’s war story. Phil Hoad, The GuardianThe Earth Is Blue as an Orange: Film Review. Guy Lodge, VarietyThe Earth Is Blue As An Orange: CPH:DOX review. Amber Wilkinson, Screen InternationalReview: The Earth Is Blue as an Orange (2020), by Iryna Tsilyk. Marko Stojiljković, UbiquarianReview: The Earth Is Blue as an Orange. Teresa Vena, CineuropaOrange is the New Blue: Film Review. Zoe Aiano, EEFBThe Earth Is Blue as an Orange: Film Review, German. Lida Bach, MoviebreakThe healing power of cinema: Film Review. Lauren Wissot, Modern Times ReviewThe Earth Is Blue as an Orange: Film Review. Davide Abbatescianni, Filmexplorer
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Earth Is Blue As An Orange, The
2020 films
Ukrainian documentary films
2020 documentary films
Sundance Film Festival award winners
War in Donbas films