A House Made of Splinters

In a town near the front line in eastern Ukraine there is a temporary children's home. Children removed from their families by court order come here. They can stay at most nine months; within that time either the family pulls itself together or the child goes to a state institution or to foster care. A small number of social workers keep the house standing. Simon Lereng Wilmont directed the documentary, shot in Lysychansk; he did the camera and the sound himself, with only one Ukrainian assistant beside him. The camera stays beside the children, at their level, and explains nothing. The film won the directing award in the world documentary section at Sundance in 2022 and was nominated for an Academy Award. The war here is not noise but the reason sitting behind everything.