Iron Butterflies
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“In Hybrid Documentaries, the Classic Rules of the Game Do Not Always Work”: DP Andrii Kotliar on Iron Butterflies
In Iron Butterflies, the hybrid doc from director Roman Liubyi, the political ramifications of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17—which was shot down by Russian forces as it was passing over eastern Ukraine—are unraveled and contextualized within broader global events. DP Andrii Kotliar talks about his experience shooting the film, including one particularly scorching day on the job. See all responses to our annual Sundance cinematographer interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the cinematographer of your film? What were the factors and attributes that led to your being hired for this job? Kotliar: It’s not quite a classic […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“Develop a Workflow to Effectively ‘Play Ping-pong'”: Editors Roman Liubyi and Mila Zhluktenko on Iron Butterflies
Ukrainian director Roman Liubyi’s Iron Butterflies examines the ramifications of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which was shot down by Russian forces as it passed over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, killing all 298 passengers on board. With an intricate nonfiction narrative laid out by Liubyi and Mila Zhluktenko, Iron Butterflies confronts the political aftermath of this atrocity. Liubyi and Zhluktenko discuss the process of cutting Iron Butterflies, as well as their involvement in the Babylon’13 film collective. See all responses to our annual Sundance editor interviews here. Filmmaker: How and why did you wind up being the editor of your […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 29, 2023 -
“We Were Forbidden to Film in the Archive” | Roman Liubyi, Iron Butterflies
Every production faces unexpected obstructions that require creative solutions and conceptual rethinking. What was an unforeseen obstacle, crisis, or simply unpredictable event you had to respond to, and how did this event impact or cause you to rethink your film? COVID, and, after that, the expansion of Russian aggression against Ukraine, were pretty strong obstacles. It is a paradox, but we have never felt broken. I remember an expression that art is the material of resistance. This whole project is a search for creative solutions and remaining possibilities against these obstacles. An example is the scene that we shot in […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Jan 28, 2023
