Taken from Paul Eluard’s surrealist poem, the film’s title points to the moment when the seen and the unseen exist at the same time. In this Sundance award-winner, war and peace happen in the same place—in fact, inside the same home. In the small town of Krasnohorivka, Anna and her four children have the Ukrainian-Russian war on their literal doorstep. She is determined not only to stay put, but to see her family flourish in its rubble. They all love cinema, so it’s only natural for them to make a film together about their war experience. Huddling in the cellar against the live shelling overhead, they consider scenes and camera angles. Passing tanks and their bombed-out street transform into mise en scène, not just scars on their memories. Anna shows her family light where there is fear and beauty inside trauma as this stunning portrait reveals the power of art to transcend reality. Myrocia Watamaniuk
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