Can a state of emergency become normality? Is everyday life possible despite the apocalypse? Bohdan would reply with a “yes” and a calm smile. He lives in Nikopol, Ukraine, on the former Kakhovka Reservoir, which dried up rapidly after the Russian army destroyed the dam in 2023. Like most of Nikopol’s inhabitants, Bohdan has adapted to the constant bomb alarms and nearly daily bombardments – an unbelievable mental achievement which Anastasiia Bonadyha also captures using sound design and music, transforming it in the process: a music box plays a Viennese waltz, the howling sirens turn into the drawn-out tone of a shofar horn. Bohdan’s serenity and optimism are deeply rooted in his faith. As he puts it, he’s not scared of death, he will come to God anyway. Living and enduring, as long as possible: shot on a Super 8 camera, Bonadyha’s film is a moving time capsule, a moment of hope amid the impositions of the ongoing war.

Marie Ketzscher