EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Alisa Kovalenko, the Ukrainian filmmaker who evacuated her child from the path of bombs and went to war
In the early days of the Russian invasion in February 2022, Alisa Kovalenko, a Ukrainian documentary filmmaker, said goodbye to her four-year-old son Théo and enlisted in the Ukrainian army. It was a heartbreaking separation, in a train station in western Ukraine.
His partner, the French journalist Stéphane Siohan, was leaving with their son to visit his family in France. And she chose to go to the front, to fight. He felt that if he didn't do that he wouldn't be able to look in the mirror.
“Art was no longer enough”
In fact, the 37-year-old director, known internationally for documentaries in which she talks about the trauma and victims of the war in Ukraine, had made the decision to enlist in case of need eight years before.
In 2014, while documenting the conflict in Donbas, she was captured by the Russians, tortured and sexually assaulted. After his release from captivity, he promised himself that if the war expanded, he would go to fight at the front. In 2022, when the large-scale invasion of Ukraine began, Alisa didn't think twice. “Art was no longer enough,” she says.
From this break, almost impossible for a parent to understand, the documentary shot on the front was born “My Dear Theo”dedicated to his son. The film, highly appreciated internationally, had its premiere in Romania, last year, at the Astra Film Festival, where it also won the award for the best Eastern European film.
Alice's documentary sometimes seems like a war diary, sometimes a confession or even her testament – a dedication to a child who could have grown up without a mother. The Ukrainian director filmed herself at the front, trying to keep the connection with her son alive, tormented by the question “what will my child remember about me if I never come back?”.
After the four months spent at the front, Alisa returned home to Kiev. It was then that Théo and his partner returned from France. They chose to stay in Ukraine, together. The director tells almost surreal moments of their daily life in the capital of Ukraine, about the nights that her child spends in the bathroom, sheltered in the bathtub, or about drone attacks that make you think you are in a movie from the Star Wars series.
Alisa is convinced that it is the parents' duty to talk about the war with their children, as much as they can understand, depending on their age. At the same time, she is convinced that people's love and kindness are real sources of hope and energy, even on the battlefield, when you can no longer make plans for the future.
Read the full interview HERE.
