We Will Not Fade Away director Alisa Kovalenko and Oscar nominee Simon Lereng Wilmont co-direct a story of young gymnastics impacted by unrest in Ukraine, in their latest short, Girl Away From Home.
Marked as the first collaboration between Ukrainian director Alisa Kovalenko, whose latest feature documentary We Will Not Fade Away premiered earlier this year at the Berlinale, and Danish filmmaker Simon Lereng Wilmont (The Distant Barking of Dogs, Oscar-nominated A House Made of Splinters), who is known for his works about war and its impact in Ukraine through the eyes of children, Girl Away From Home, which world premiered in the Youth Documentary Competition at the 2023 International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), follows Kyiv-born and raised Natasia (13) as she prepared intensively to enter the National Gymnastic Championship with her four teammates, winning the game at the end but war breaks out one month later and took off the joy out of her life.
In this subtle 22-minute linear narrative format, the filmmakers captured Natasia’s incredible energy to fulfill the story from the beginning, even though we will know what’s coming up next; another wrenching diary of life affected by the worst circumstances of war. Girl Away From Home is enjoyable in more ways than I can tell, thanks to the brilliant duo behind the camera who gave its subject the opportunity to tell the story in her own way. Of course, the first part of the film, which delves into the girl’s passion, dream, and energy, will enthrall viewers of all ages. However, when the narrative loses its momentum, precisely when the terrible full-scale war erupted, the true meaning in Girl Away From Home comes from how understated it is. To find the beauty in our darkest days, such as when our protagonist is separated from her parents, friends, and her gymnastic team, Girl Away From Home provides us with the joy and hope that still exist.
Produced by Maria Stevnbak Westergren for Toolbox Film (co-producer of Venice prize-winner Paradise is Burning) and co-produced by Knut Skoglund and Karl Emil Rikardsen, Girl Away From Home is a part of the award-winning documentary series Kids on the Silk Road, created by Westergren and consisting of 15 short documentaries that revolve around 10 children between the ages of 11-13 from 10 countries along the Silk Road, including China, Azerbaijan, Mongolia, and Ukraine. This is director Wilmont’s second project in the series after Bird Boy and the first to be joined by Kovalenko. The result is an exacting delicacy and a gorgeously mesmeric quality, just like their previous movies. Vienna-based Autlook Filmsales, which holds all the series’ previous titles, also boarded Girl Away From Home.
