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In February of 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine and started the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk feared for his life and held even more tightly to his and his family’s
possessions. Four years later, as the war rages on and despite having found great international success with “Pamfir” and “Silent Flood,” the filmmaker has mortgaged his family’s apartment to fund his next film, “Something Strange Happened to Me.”
Speaking with Variety ahead of presenting his latest project at Venice’s Gap-Financing Market, Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk calls the risky funding strategy “a funny story.” “When the Russian rockets began hitting Kyiv, I cared about my apartment,” he says. “But it’s been years now, and I realized nothing was changing. My apartment continues to be at risk. It could be bombed any day, so I stopped caring so much and holding onto it. Might as well use the money to make the film. It’s a good story, at least.”
“Not only am I the director and the writer, but I also have my own production company, and I decided that I would get a start on this film with my own money,” he adds. “I now have debts; I took huge loans from the bank; I have mortgaged my apartment. But I think it is worth it. It’s the only way we can make the film.”
“After the invasion of Ukraine, creatives were in stagnation,” adds the film’s executive producer Diana Nazaruk. “There was a pause in work. The ways producers were used to making films were destroyed. This is why producers began working without direct financial support, without the national funds. Dmytro is working with much of his own money, bank loans and business sponsors.”
“Something Strange Happened to Me” is set to follow architecture teacher Svitlana, who offers at-home tutoring while restoring her house after the de-occupation by Russian forces. Her home is also open to her neighbor, Korniy, who performs unconventional psychological techniques. One day, one of these sessions triggers a mysterious chain of events: the students stumble upon a dangerous discovery, and Svitlana and Korniy are transported over 100 years into the past.
Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk recalls first having the idea for the film when experimenting with the concept of “less is more” in his practice following the full-scale invasion. “At that time, I had this idea: Ukrainian filmmakers should make stories with strong concepts and without high budgets.” The director gathered some colleagues and collaborators to try out a format where filmmakers would be in development for one year, and production for one year. “It should all be ‘go, go, go.’”
At that time, Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk heard about family constellation, an experimental therapy that uses role-play to reveal possible underlying family dynamics influencing a person’s life. The practice is somewhat controversial as it lacks scientific proof, with some therapists and psychologists also warning of its potential for re-traumatization.
“It looks weird; it sounds weird,” says the director. “It’s like theater. You have a moderator who interprets experiences based on some kind of knowledge that sounds esoteric.” With that in mind, Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk first experimented with the idea on stage, going on a two-month residency with the Kyiv National Theatre to develop the concept as a play.
“First, the text was adapted for the theater, and then we adapted it into a screenplay, and it became a historical detective film with body horror elements,” he recalls. “We’re mixing genres with a little of Greek tragedy and fairytale. It was great that we could experiment on stage and to see how these different genres could come together for a film.”
“Something Strange Happened to Me” will take place in both the present and past, and Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk plans to shoot the past sequences in 16mm. “We need very old cameras and 16mm stock, specific lenses… It will also be an artistic and technical challenge.”
“I was obsessed with the idea that we should feel the historical time changing radically, and to have the aesthetic inside the movie mirror that jump,” says the director. “For parts of the film, we have clean digital cameras, good lenses, great professional lighting, and then we change the aesthetics of the image completely. We ran many tests, and when I tested 16mm and got this imperfect image back, I knew that’s what we needed. It was perfect.”
Since then, Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk has secured funds from the European Solidarity Fund for Ukrainian Films (ESFUF), which has given him a little more security heading on to Venice. The team has already shot some of the material, and is coming to the market to look for co-producers and partners. “The winter block was made with the knowledge that we have the money, and I can cover all these debts, so we’re good. We’ll see what happens with post-production. We still need money to make the film.”
The director also spoke about the current challenges still plaguing the industry in a war-torn Ukraine, particularly as dedicated support has begun to wane. “Times have changed. A couple of years ago, if you were making a film in Ukraine, you automatically had attention to your projects. Now people look at [the war] as if it’s a regular thing.”
“When you live in Ukraine, your reality is different from what other people think is going on here,” echoes Nazaruk. “It’s super stressful to be under constant pressure and having no secure place. People, especially men, can be conscripted at any time. You can’t be sure that the team that began working on the film will be the same at the end. We have to check locations before shooting to make sure they are safe; there are many concerns, but this is just our reality.”
“Two years ago, the country [of origin of your project] came first,” notes the director. “It was: where are you from? And then what is your project, are you talented, and what is your artistic vision? Now, I think only very strong visions and deeply artistic voices will have the chance to get movies made in Ukraine.”
“Something Strange Happened to Me” is produced by Mellivora Production LLC in co-production with the U.K.’s Wellington Films.
