Svetlograd

There was once an agglomeration that went by the name of Svetlograd, itself the result of a merger of the three cities Lysychansk, Rubizhne und Severnodonetsk. The locals used to make a living thanks to the chemical plant, which was virtually a monopoly employer in the region. Subsequently however the plant was closed and the locals made redundant. Nevertheless they refused to give up, and proceded to craft imaginative artworks from cardboard, metal and other materials left behind by the factory, soon transforming the city into a new Ukrainian centre for modern art. That it could have turned out this way is illustrated by this pseudo-documentary, in which interviews with fictitious locals, videos and archive images of the factory create a pretence of authenticity. Taking up the issue of the arts as a means of self-realisation in time of war director Alina Yakubenko outlines an admittedly escapist, though nevertheless conceivable utopia. KT