In Limbo – Films – Visions du Réel

W zawieszeniu

Alina Maksimenko
Poland | 2024 | 71 min
World premiere
Languages : Ukrainian, Russian
Subtitles : English, French

Ukraine, February 2022. The Russian invasion on the outskirts of Kyiv forces Alina to join her parents in their village. Amid the noise of the bombs, the three do their best to get on with day-to-day life: keeping warm, feeding themselves and rescuing abandoned animals. She films their daily lives, in which the tension of their enclosed world and uncertain future seems to grip them all.

Ukraine, February 2022. Alina, a filmmaker who has just had surgery on her leg, finds herself under threat from the Russian invasion at the gates of Kyiv. She hastily flees to her parents’ house in a village where no other inhabitants remain, taking her cat and her camera. After a few aborted efforts to flee further, the three of them decide to stay put, hoping for a lull and counting on the isolation of the place. Alina Maksimenko films these days and nights by candlelight, punctuated by the sound of bombs, as each person tries to keep going about their business. Tolya, her father, feeds the neighbourhood's animals that have been abandoned by their owners, while Tetiana, her mother, gives piano lessons over the phone, when the network allows. By documenting the first few weeks of the war in this microcosm, In Limbo reveals the unrelenting logic displayed by people whose survival is in question. As the Russian troops approach, and through the stubborn persistence of Maksimenko's gesture, each family member becomes the director of their own life, despite the uncertainty of what lies ahead.

Aurélien Marsais

In Limbo, 2024
Ptitsa, 2022