A Bit of a Stranger

• Svitlana Lishchynska
• 90 min
• Ukraine, Germany, Sweden
• 2024
• Documentary

Ukrainian documentary director focuses on four generations of women's complicated family relationships, set against the backdrop of the full-scale Russian invasion.

Svitlana Lishchynska was born in Mariupol during the Soviet era. She moved to Kyiv to pursue a television career, leaving her daughter Alexandra behind with her grandmother Valentyna. Now, Svitlana is a grandmother herself, and a full-scale war is going on. In an attempt to understand how they have each been affected by, and related to, the imperialist rule from Moscow over different periods, and how it has shaped their complicated relationships, she turns the camera on herself, Valentyna, Alexandra, and granddaughter Stefania. The result is a touching, often warmly humorous debut about fractured identities, varying degrees of Russification, liberation, and a family searching for love in order to heal.

- Camilla Larsson

• Dokumentär
• Krig
• Familj
• Uppväxt
• Identitet