For nearly three years now, Russia’s war in Ukraine has completely upended the existence of those who chose to stay. Porcelain War is a new documentary that vividly portrays the lives of civilians-turned-soldiers on and off the battlefield. It centers on Slava Leontyev, a Ukrainian artist-turned-Special Forces weapons instructor in the city of Kharkiv. When he’s not in combat or training civilians how to shoot, he’s at home with his wife (Anya Stasenko), making beautiful porcelain objects such as owls, dragons, and snails, intricately painted with scenes of Ukrainian life. Leontyev is the film’s co-director, along with Brendan Bellomo.
“I think porcelain is a metaphor of how fragile is our life, but how strong and how immortal is beauty and art and Ukrainian culture,” Leontyev tells KCRW.
Shifting between making art at home and fighting war outside is a very surreal experience, he says. “Yes, we are in war, but we are still the same peaceful civilian people like before the war. And we are happy because we still able to create art. It's important for us because … it's a source of our resilience, and it's other side of our resistance.”
An owl handicraft is seen in “Porcelain War.” Credit: © Picturehouse 2024.
One scene in the film shows how instantly a situation can change: Viewers see Leontyev opening a duffel bag filled with supplies for war, such as pants and waterproof boots. Then he hears an explosion nearby and suddenly takes cover.
“Every day and every night is under the shelling,” he describes. “Yes, missile attacks in October was every day. We had one day without missile attack. But people never agree, just sitting in shelter every day and every night. Because this not our soldiers only. Civilian people living under this shelling, and someone killed tonight or next day in his own bedroom or kitchen.”
Artists Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontyev are at work in “Porcelain War.” Credit: © Picturehouse 2024.
Bellomo says the film invites audiences to step into the lives of a Special Forces unit called Saigon, which is made up of regular people such as a dairy farmer, a furniture salesman, and a young office worker.
“There was always a focus on what's beautiful in their world and what they're living for. And yet, there were things in the film that we needed to and wanted to show, that really couldn't be filmed: their peaceful past in Crimea before the invasion, and the first moments of the war, which was something that Anya had actually depicted in her figurines,” Bellomo says. “And in the film, these become animated segments. And finally, they also culminate in a vision of the future, which is a peaceful Ukraine. And so their work, Anya’s language, served as a very vital structural component in crafting the narrative of Porcelain War.”
Porcelain War won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at Sundance earlier this year. You can see it starting November 29 at the Laemmle in Santa Monica.