Frontline

Runtime: 90'

Expected release: January, 2025

Production stage: Post-production

Budget: $360 000 (43% in place)

1st feature: No

Looking for: Festivals, Sales Agents, Buyers, Gap Financing

Synopsis:

The battle rages on, but everything seems so calm and fragile, until a missile shatters everything. A first-hand look into the reality of the Ukrainian front line, by a director and a mother, who became a soldier. Frontline reveals a very different and unseen side of war through a camera that is both a soldier’s and a documentary filmmaker’s eye.

Director’s profile:

Alisa Kovalenko is a Ukrainian award-winning documentary director from Kyiv. Her debut feature-length documentary “Alisa in Warland” had its world premiere in the First Appearance competition at IDFA 2015. Her second film “Home Games” (2018), a social fairy-tale with a sensitive female gaze about the broken dreams of a young professional female football player featured in over 100 festivals. After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Alisa left the editing room of her then upcoming film “We Will Not Fade Away” and joined a volunteer fighting unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. She fought in the trenches for four months before returning to finish the film, which premiered at Berlinale Generation 2023 and has been having a very successful festival run. Alisa is a recipient of multiple awards and scholarship, including a Chicken & Egg Award (2024).

Producer’s profile:

Kasia Kuczynska is a Polish producer at HAKA Films in Warsaw. She graduated from Lodz Film School and Wajda School. Katarzyna has worked on international co-productions such as “Communion”, directed by Anna Zamecka, which went on to win the European Film Award Award for Best Documentary in 2017. HAKA FILMS’ first documentary, “Boylesque” by Bogna Kowalczyk, premiered at Hot Docs 2022 winning Best International Filmmaker Award. HAKA Films co-produced Alisa Kovalenko’s latest feature-length documentary, “We Will Not Fade Away”. In 2024 HAKA FILMS premiered their third documentary, LILI by Sylwia Rosak at Santa Barbara IFF. Kasia was a part of Ji.hlava’s Emerging Producers 2023 programme.