GRANTEE
In late February 2022, the Kharkiv Puppet Theater was preparing a wartime production based on Bertold Brecht’s prophetic play Mother Courage and Her Children. However, on the day of the premiere, the sound that filled the theater was not a standing ovation, but the echo of the first missile explosions in Kharkiv. From that moment, Anna Chasova realized that she was not just making a film about theater—she was making a film about people and a city learning to survive the war day by day. The theater became a shelter for a large team of staff. Chasova had no other choice but to stay in Kharkiv, live inside the theater with the main characters of her film for over a year, and document nearly every day of their lives.