Ukraine/Denmark/Sweden/France
SONGS OF SLOW BURNING EARTH
95 MIN
2024
An audiovisual diary of Ukraine’s immersion into the abyss of the first two years of Russia's full invasion, made up of places, occasional characters, rare dialogues, intraframe sounds and silences which, when put together, capture the chronology of how the war became normalised. Against the backdrop of this (meta)physical landscape of collective disaster, a new generation of Ukrainians aspires to imagine the future.

Cast & Crew
Producers: Darya Bassel
Director: Olha Zhurba
Script: Olha Zhurba
Directors of Photography: Volodymyr Usyk, Vyacheslav Tsvetkov, Misha Lubarsky
Music: Yaroslav Tatarchenko
Sound: Vasyl Yavtushenko
Editing: Michael Aaglund
Production: Moon Man

Awards
Best Film-Feature Film Competition, Riga IFF, 2024; Doc Future Award, Verzio IDFF, Budapest, 2024; Best Film, Tertio Millennio FF, Rome, 2024; Special Jury Award, Rome Documentary FF, 2024; Best Feature Film, Big Sky Documentary FF, Montana, 2025; Best Film, One World IDFF, Prague, 2025; Best Feature Film, Film Fest, Bremen, 2025; Best International Feature Film, Docville, Leuven, 2025; Academy Award™ Qualifying, Millenium Docs Against Gravity - Amnesty International Award & First Appearance Award, Special Mention for the Best Cinematography
Olha Zhurba
Olha Zhurba is a Ukrainian film director, editor and screenwriter. Her short fiction film Dad's Sneakers (2021) premiered at the Locarno FF and later won awards at many international festivals. Dad's Sneakers was a candidate for a nomination at the European Film Awards 2022. Outside (2022) is her debut documentary, which premiered at CPH:DOX and HOT DOCS and won the Willy Brandt Award at the Human Rights FF Berlin and later the Japan Prize Award of Honor. She was also the editor of the festival hits and award-winning documentary films This Rain WillNever Stop (2021) and Home Games (2018).

Filmography
Dad’s Sneakers (short, 2021), Outside (doc., 2022), Ukrainian Factory (doc., 2024), Songs of Slow Burning Earth (doc., 2024)․

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