Film about young Ukrainians living through war to be screened at Toronto International Film Festival
A film about Ukrainian youth by American director James Marcus Haney, with Sean Penn as executive producer, will be screened at the 51st Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
Details: Black Sunflowers explores the coming of age of young Ukrainians in wartime as they move between underground raves and car races.
Haney captures a military truck driver speeding through city streets back home, a young amputee serviceman dancing at a rave, a woman who used to take photographs of nature but now works as a war photographer, and a woman being trained to shoot a rifle.
The director said that during his first visit to Ukraine, he was surprised by how normal life is for Ukrainians amid the war.
In a statement on the TIFF website, he said: "I was surprised to see how much normal life carried on, despite the war. I couldn't help but think that mainstream media is missing half of the story."
The film has three Ukrainian co-producers, Volodymyr Yatsenko, Anna Yatsenko (ForeFilm) and Yevhenii Zdorovylo.
TIFF has been held annually in Canada since 1976. It was founded as the "Festival of Festivals", bringing together the best movies from film festivals around the world. This year's festival will run from 10 to 20 September.
American actor Sean Penn has visited Ukraine several times since the full-scale invasion began. He has also made a film about Ukraine, Superpower.
The film follows Penn as he travels to Ukraine to learn more about President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. It was originally intended to be an amusing film, but as events unfolded, it was transformed into a documentary record of the war in Ukraine.
Filming began in early 2021. Penn even travelled to Donbas to visit Ukrainian troops. He was in Ukraine in February 2022 and experienced the start of Russia's full-scale invasion.
Sean Penn also appeared in one of the stories in the film Animals in War. He played a sound producer who accidentally witnesses the start of the war. The story, titled "Eagle", was directed by Myroslav Slaboshpytskyi. Sean Penn's fee for appearing in the film was one dollar.
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