The next project by the 'Pamfir' and 'Silent Flood' filmmaker is part of this year's Venice Gap-Financing Market In February of 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine and started the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk feared for his life and held even more tightly to his and his family’s possessions. Four years later, as the war rages on and despite having found great international success with “Pamfir” and “Silent Flood,” the filmmaker has mortgaged his family’s apartment to fund his next film, “Something Strange Happened to Me.” Speaking with Variety ahead of presenting his latest project at Venice’s Gap-Financing Market, Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk calls the risky funding strategy “a funny story.” “When the Russian rockets began hitting Kyiv, I cared about my apartment,” he says. My apartment continues to be at risk.
It could be bombed any day, so I stopped caring so much and holding onto it. Might as well use the money to make the film. It’s a good story, at least.” “Not only am I the director and the writer, but I also have my own production company, and I decided that I would get a start on this film with my own money,” he adds.
But I think it is worth it. It’s the only way we can make the film.” “After the invasion of Ukraine, creatives were in stagnation,” adds the film’s executive producer Diana Nazaruk. The ways producers were used to making films were destroyed.
This is why producers began working without direct financial support, without the national funds. Dmytro is working with much of his own money, bank loans and business sponsors.” “Something Strange Happened to Me” is set to follow architecture teacher Svitlana, who offers at-home tutoring while restoring her house after the de-occupation by Russian forces. Her home is also open to her neighbor, Korniy, who performs unconventional psychological techniques.
One day, one of these sessions triggers a mysterious chain of events: the students stumble upon a dangerous discovery, and Svitlana and Korniy are transported over 100 years into the past. Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk recalls first having the idea for the film when experimenting with the concept of “less is more” in his practice following the full-scale invasion. The practice is somewhat controversial as it lacks scientific proof, with some therapists and psychologists also warning of its potential for re-traumatization.
You have a moderator who interprets experiences based on some kind of knowledge that sounds esoteric.” With that in mind, Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk first experimented with the idea on stage, going on a two-month residency with the Kyiv National Theatre to develop the concept as a play. It was great that we could experiment on stage and to see how these different genres could come together for a film.” “Something Strange Happened to Me” will take place in both the present and past, and Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk plans to shoot the past sequences in 16mm. We ran many tests, and when I tested 16mm and got this imperfect image back, I knew that’s what we needed.
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