Interview by Emmanuel Itier with director Anastasiia Bortuali : TEMPORARY SHELTER
In this “tour de force” documentary, Ukrainian filmmaker Anastasiia Bortuali will make your soul ache for the horrific fate of so many Ukrainian refugees in Iceland. Beyond the despair and the tears, Anastasiia manages to bring a strong light of hope to this world and the beauty she captures in each eye and smiles, mixed with the rawness of the volcanic islandic eruption, will wake up your inner flame for survival and make you want to send blessings to the 6 million beautiful Ukrainian souls in complete limbo around the World. ‘Temporary shelter’ is a wake-up call for our “leaders” to fix this chaos and give back their lives to all the Ukrainian refugees. We stand by you, Ukraine! We want to see you head home permanently. Freedom and Peace are coming.
We engaged into an inspiring conversation with director Anastasiia Bortuali as she was premiering ‘Temporary Shelter’ at TIFF.
Q: How did this documentary come together and what was your goal with it?
Anastasiia: Initially I didn’t know if it was going to be a full movie. This was more of a therapy for myself with everything that I went through. So, it started with my personal experience and then I started to document other people’s lives as refugees. It was important for me to show the truth about being a refugee and the trauma that comes with it. I wanted to give a voice to the refugees and have their stories speak by themselves. I wanted to be truthful to them and show what we all are going through with this displacement. I hope people learn the truth about this sad human condition.
Q: What was the toughest aspect of making this film? Your biggest challenges?
Anastasiia: The toughest was to find the most compelling characters and their stories. There were many people I could have filmed but I didn’t want to have too many people in this film. I chose to focus on only a few to make the storyline tight and solid. Also, I had to spend lots of time with the people I filmed in order to gain their trust and in order for them to really open themselves and share with us what they are thinking, their fears and their hopes. The editing process was also very difficult to find the right length and the perfect rhythm. It took around 10 months to get to the perfect cut.
Q: What are your expectations being at TIFF, what are your hopes for this film?
Anasrasiia: This is my very first film so it’s a very emotional moment for me to be here in Toronto at TIFF. I was so happily surprised to be able to attend TIFF. It is important for me that the voice of the Ukrainian refugees keep being heard. I hope people will understand what we are going through and how life is very hard when you are a refugee, far away from your country and not knowing when and if you can go home one day. I just want to show people to other people. I want to bring hope to people and especially to the Ukrainian refugees from Iceland and everywhere else.
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