Fragile Memory

Ukraine, Slovakia2022documentary85'Międzynarodowy konkurs filmów dokumentalnych (2022)

In a dacha near Odessa, the film’s director has found old photographic films that belonged to his grandfather Leonid Burlaka, a Ukrainian filmmaker. They are an impressive record of his work and everyday life in the Soviet Union. Looking at the scanned photos, the director’s grandfather reminisces about that reality and the Soviet cinema. The photographs with worn-off emulsion, like fading film stock in archives, become an equivalent of fading memory. Using the photos and private footage shot by Burlaka throughout several decades, the documentary aims to save his life from oblivion.