14 July 2018

Anna's War



Aleksey Fedorchenko : 2018
Voyna Anny

Nazi-occupied Ukraine, in November of 1941. The entire family of 6-year-old Anna dies in the mass execution of Jews. The mother covers up Anna with her own body, and the girl miraculously survives. She regains consciousness under a layer of black earth, in a mass grave. For the next few hundred days Anna hides in the disused chimney at the Nazi Commandant's office in a requisitioned schoolhouse. From her shelter she views the war, watching life pass her by until the village is liberated from the Nazis. Her ingenuity, the items left behind by the slowly alternating visitors and the treasures she discovers in the adjacent rooms help her survive. Despite the inhuman conditions Anna keeps her humanity. Many factors help her: memories from the life swept away by war, the cultural foundations laid by her parents and a friend who saves her from loneliness. Aleksey Fedorchenko's feature premiered in the Voices section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2018.

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