When Lightning Flashes Over the Sea

Deutschland 2023-2025 Dokumentarfilm

Summary

Day labourers smoke while looking at the Black Sea, workmen stretch out on the roof of the damaged cathedral, a boy manoeuvres us through the sunny streets and courtyards of Odesa while he dreams of a medium-size chocolate cake for his birthday and a job on a cruise ship. Yet this cheerful everyday life is tempered by a feeling of unease, for the many gaps – the holes in the historical facades, the absence of family members or the darkness caused by the power blackouts – render the omnipresence of the war far more shocking than its deceptively far-off rumblings. The memories, experiences and dreams of the astounding people that Eva Neymann shows on her extended, attentive expedition through the harbour city become a means of survival. A refugee from Abkhazia, a nomadic clergyman, a widow who takes care of street cats, a single father whose sons live on different sides of the front, a Shoah survivor and many more give us seldom insights into the reality of a place surrounded by myths, a poetic space full of resilient humanity.

Source: 75. Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin (Catalogue)
 

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Credits

Director

Director of photography

Editing

All Credits

Shoot

    • 23.10.2023 - 15.04.2024: Ukraine
Duration:
124 min
Format:
DCP
Video/Audio:
Farbe, Ton
Screening:

Uraufführung (DE): 15.02.2025, Berlin, IFF - Forum

Titles

  • Originaltitel (DE) When Lightning Flashes Over the Sea
  • Arbeitstitel Bomben und Träume

Versions

Original

Duration:
124 min
Format:
DCP
Video/Audio:
Farbe, Ton
Screening:

Uraufführung (DE): 15.02.2025, Berlin, IFF - Forum