The Ukrainian short film “In Her Embrace” by director Roman Volosevych has been selected for the Melbourne International Film Festival.
After winning at the Seville International Film Festival and successful screenings in Portugal and Spain, the film has been selected for the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) program – one of Australia’s oldest, largest and most prestigious film festivals, which annually presents the most notable auteur films to the world audience.
This is the only Ukrainian film presented in this year’s festival program. In addition to international recognition, participation in MIFF offers the opportunity for the film to compete for Oscar-qualifying status. If it wins the competition program, it will be included on the Oscar longlist in the short film category.
For the film, participation in the festival will be an Australian premiere and another international platform where the Ukrainian story of life after the Russian occupation will be heard by viewers from the other side of the world.
The film tells the story of a couple, Georgy and Yaryna, who return home after the de-occupation. In the house where the Russian military lived, they find an abandoned stretcher. While the characters try to return to their usual lives, the war does not recede – it continues to exist nearby, penetrating the space of the house and everyday life. Reality gradually takes on surreal features, and the stretcher becomes a symbol of the evil the invaders leave behind even after they are gone.
