With the recent escalation of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the seemingly unbreakable bond of a vibrant cheerleading team of 50+ year old women called Nice Ladies is challenged. They face impossible choices between motherland and grand motherhood, between staying and leaving. Core team member Sveta flees with her family to the Netherlands, while captain Valia and coach Nadia stay behind in the repeatedly bombed city of Kharkiv. Torn apart, the ladies try to keep contact to hold on to their sanity amid terror, heartbreak, and the plague of Sveta's survivor’s guilt. Will the team be able to reunite, save their sisterhood, and find a common language through the emerging scars of war?
Mariia Ponomarova
Rogier Kramer, Laura Bouwmeester, Alina Gorlova, Maksym Nakonechnyi
Sveta Aparina, Niels van Koevorden, Lola Mooij
Kamila Wojcik
Labyrinth film in coproduction with TABOR LTD
A gentle hypnotic journey through the VHS archives of the (post-)Soviet figure skater who toured the West in the 80s and 90s. Years later, his daughter follows these videotaped memories to reveal a story about maturing: of herself, her family, and her society.
Everything Needs to Live portrays the unusual daily life of Anna Kurkurina, a charismatic athlete, ‘the strongest woman in the world’, an animal activist and an out lesbian.
Four generations of Ukrainian women from one family explore how their ethnic identity has been destroyed by the full-scale Russian invasion. Together and one by one at the same time, they embark on an emotional journey shaped by their newfound memories and family history.
In Elevation, director Maksym Rudenko captures the process of growing up and becoming a man through the example of young students of a sports school in the Carpathians. Their demanding coach strives to toughen his students and teach them how to achieve victories and professional heights.