Filmmaker documents Ukrainian refugees in Atlanta

A casting agent helped Tirmizi put out a call to Atlanta’s Ukrainian community and find four subjects: Victoria Shaikina, Kateryna Galytska, Alina Riabinina and Alexandra Slasnaya. In “Ukraine: Hope Against Chaos,” these women talk about the war and how they had to flee the country they love, leaving behind almost everything that was important to them.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Danny Tirmizi

Credit: Photo courtesy of Danny Tirmizi

Millions of people have been displaced by the war and UNICEF reports that 88% of refugees from Ukraine are women and children. Here in Atlanta, Galytska and Riabinina were the first to arrive.

A financial director for a national logistics company, Galytska has a son with special needs who must take medication daily. The child’s medical costs in the United States are colossal – $500 just for a blood test – but his friends and colleagues agreed to help him financially. Although Galytska considers herself a strong woman of high spirit and strength, the war has left her weak and feeling helpless. “Before the war, I didn’t believe this could happen,” she says.

Riabinina, a dancer at the National Operetta Theater, also arrived in Atlanta a few weeks after the war began. She chose this city because she has relatives who live in the area. Riabinina and other members of her family fled Ukraine with only shoes, medicine and a visa – virtually nothing else, not even clothes. On their way to safety after leaving their home in Ukraine, they slept in cold basements, constantly surrounded by gunfire.

One aspect of this war that Tirmizi considers unique is the resilience of its citizens. “A lot of people stay put and fight,” explains the director. “People are very resilient. A common point (for those who fled) is that they all want to return home. You would think they would want to come here with all these opportunities, but they all want their lives back. These people were successful at home and had to start from scratch. »

There is hope among the women in the film and among those who fled Ukraine – but plenty of uncertainty. “No one sees the war ending soon,” Tirmizi says. “The European Union is involved, as is NATO, but no one knows where it is going. (Refugees) try to comfort each other and not feel too comfortable in one place.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Danny Tirmizi

Credit: Photo courtesy of Danny Tirmizi

Chamblee Mayor Brian Mock is also interviewed in the film. He wanted to tell his story as a non-Ukrainian who visited the country. Thanks to Sister Cities International, many major American cities have official sister cities around the world, and Mock wanted Chamblee to become the Ukrainian city of Kovel. Kovel officials approved a resolution to become Georgia’s sister city during Mock’s October 2022 visit.

Tirmizi had originally planned a feature-length documentary, but his team ultimately thought it would be easier for a shorter, 30-minute version to make the rounds on the film festival circuit. The San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival accepted “Ukraine: Hope Against Chaos,” and Tirmizi hopes others will follow. He recently held a premiere in Florida and is planning a premiere in Atlanta in June, with proceeds going to the Georgia branch of the nonprofit Ukrainian Congressional Committee of America (UCCA) to either help his country or refugees from Atlanta. The film is a non-profit project, made in collaboration with organizations such as UCCA and Dattalion, a photo and video database based in Ukraine.

“Atlanta has a decent-sized Ukrainian community as well as a Ukrainian organization,” says Tirmizi, referring to the Georgia branch of the UCCA. “I feel like a lot of people have family members or friends who settled here, even before the war, and became native Georgians. This is one of the reasons people come here, as well as the fact that the city itself is a big hub. »

Despite the millions of people who have been affected by the war, Tirmizi believes there is a “disproportionately small amount” of coverage of the stories of the individuals involved. That’s one of the reasons why it became so personal for him.

“It took a lot out of me,” he says. “It was very hard to work on that. What is happening is heartbreaking. This film is more of a humanitarian project than a political statement. It’s important to tell these stories and I wanted to be the voice for those people who don’t have a voice.

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Jim Farmer is the recipient of the 2022 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Drama Feature and a nominee for the Online Journalist of the Year Award. A member of five national critics’ organizations, he covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has been writing about the arts for over 30 years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival, and lives in Avondale Estates with his husband, Craig, and dog, Douglas.

Credit: ArtsATL

Credit: ArtsATL

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