The documentary web series is a universal tale of a complex identity crisis in war torn Ukraine
The three part documentary web series, commissioned by Coda stories and distributed by Journeyman pictures has been nominated for a prestigious One World Media Award, under the short film category.
Directed/cinematography/editing by Ross Domoney. Co-Directed by Julia Kochetova-Nabozhniak. Produced by Thomas Burns.
Well done to all the team!
https://www.oneworldmedia.org.uk/awards/longlist-2020/
Practical workshop in documentary film making taught by Ross Domoney and Rod Morris
Read MoreThe three part web series I co directed with Julia Kochetova-Nabozhniak, which was initially commissioned by Coda Stories has been picked up for distribution by Journeyman pictures.
The series has now been cut into to one complete film which has been embedded at the top of this blog post.
The story;
As war rages in eastern Ukraine, Dima, a former leader of an ultra-right group, and Tanya, a self-proclaimed anarcho-feminist, make an unlikely couple in modern-day Kiev. This is their bewildering story.
"When I was a Nazi, I was madly in love with death in all its forms", says Dima, a former member of Kiev's C14 organisation, one of the extreme political factions that thrived in the instability following the war with Russia. But Dima's experiences fighting in Donbass opened his eyes to the bravery of those he thought he despised: "There were all these people serving who I never thought could be warriors." In love and in an 'experimental' new lifestyle, Dima does the cleaning, laundry and cooking while his feminist girlfriend Tanya is out at work as a computer programmer. "If Dima could change his beliefs, that gives hope to other ultra-right people", says Tanya.
Originally published on Roar
The police violence in Hong Kong has intensified, but so has the militancy of the protesters. All dressed in black, they are ready for the confrontation.
Since early June, a huge protest movement has erupted in the semi-autonomous region of Hong Kong against the encroaching rule of China. What started as a protest against a controversial amendment to the Extradition Law that could potentially see Hongkongers being extradited to China has since evolved into a broader pro-democracy movement. The amendment that triggered the protests has since been shelved, but the protests show no sign of abating,
The extremely violent and disproportionate crackdown by the Hong Kong police forces have in turned sparked a more aggressive and organized resistance from the protesters. The movement’s militant “frontliners” have been inspired by black bloc techniques they picked up online watching videos form past protests in Greece and France.
October 1 was the 70th anniversary of the people’s republic of China. On this occasion, up to one million people came out to protest. Nearly all demonstrators wore black and the frontline was occupied by a black bloc of over 10,000-strong, ready to resist and fight the police. It was the first time that Hong Kong police shot a live round at a protester, taking the crisis to a new level.
Ross Domoney was there with his video camera to capture the day as it unfolded.
An extract from a film we are making, about victims of police violence in France, has made it onto the front page of the Guardian.
I also captured the moment where a policeman is about to shoot Yellow Vest protesters with a rubber bullet gun, only to realise one of them is his friend. The video got viewed nearly one million times on twitter.
You can view the clip here.
Bellow is a selection of short films that I shot in Paris amongst the Yellow Vest revolt.
We are pleased to announce that the award winning documentary ‘Uprooted’ has been fully released online.
Thanks to everyone who was involved.
In the middle of a rapidly changing London, a housing crisis rips through the capital eating up communities and council estates along the way. Two lives intertwine as they are forced to say goodbye to their memories at Myatt’s Field North estate in Brixton.
Documentary length 26.37
This film is copyright of the National Film and Television School. The film is free to be shared online but it must remain on it's original link (the vimeo link). No re-uploading/distributing on different platforms.
We are delighted to announce that our film '44 Messages from Catalonia' has been shortlisted for the next round of judging at the prestigious Grierson Trust Award for best short documentary. Co directed by Ross Domoney & Anna Giralt Gris and executively produced by Laura Poitras (Citizen4)
Well done to the whole team involved!
More info can be found here
On the southern coast of England; drifters reflect on what the sea means to them, with soothing music filling gaps in-between
Pleased to announce that our film '44 Messages from Catalonia' commissioned by Field of Vision was published online via The Intercept. Directed by myself and Anna Giralt Gris and executively produced by Laura Poitras (Citizenfour).
'In 2017, the citizens of Catalonia voted to become an independent state. The referendum was then deemed illegal in Spain’s constitutional court. Through on-the-street conversations and actual WhatsApp chats, join the voters as they head to the polls and anxiously await the results.'
Links to film:
https://fieldofvision.org/44-messages-from-catalonia
https://theintercept.com/2018/03/28/44-messages-from-catalonia-referendum-whatsapp/
Here is some of the footage I shot in 2017 from Trumps troubled America to a feared victory of the far right Le Penn in France. Happy new year!
We are very pleased to announce that our warming video of asylum seekers singing an uplifting rendition of Bill Withers 'Lean on me' is being picked up by media across the UK.
Today the video was published on the Guardian and last night the same performance was performed live on BBC news night.
The song is also being used to raise awareness and funds to help refugees. Proceeds will go to Refugee Action and you can donate here
Bellow is the text published on the Guardian today:
One Heart Refugee Choir, made up of 24 refugees, join professional musicians to record version of Bill Withers’ Lean On Me
They escaped persecution, violence and torture in some of the most brutal countries in the world. Now, a group of asylum seekers have come together with professional musicians to record a single for the festive season, an uplifting rendition of Bill Withers’ Lean On Me.
The One Heart Refugee Choir, made up of 24 refugees from countries including Zimbabwe, Uganda, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Jamaica and Kazakhstan, decided to record the track as a symbol of the resilience of the human spirit, and to offer a message of solidarity.
Tamara McFarlane, one of the singers in the choir, said: “Refugees’ and asylum seekers’ voices are rarely heard in this country.
“Usually we are hidden. We have all been through terrible things, but our spirits are strong. We hope that the song’s message, urging human beings to unite, is one that people across the UK can get behind.”
Less than 1% of the world’s 2.2 million refugees make it to the UK to claim asylum, yet those who do often struggle to overcome the stigma placed on asylum seekers and experience social and institutional hostility.
As a Guardian video revealed, they often live in filthy, overcrowded and dangerous conditions in Home Office accommodation.
Those in the One Heart choir have escaped rape, torture and forced female genital mutilation. One of the singers had to flee Zimbabwe for resisting Robert Mugabe’s regime, while another from South Africa was subjected to “corrective rape” after it was found she was a lesbian.
The choir said the song gave them an opportunity to present an antidote to the negative associations often placed on asylum seekers. Lean On Me was originally written by Withers in 1972 as a testament to the power of community spirit that he had known growing up in a poor coalmining town in West Virginia.
One of the professional singers involved in the collaboration, Nina Miranda of the band Smoke City, said she had encouraged fellow musicians to get involved because “the message of human solidarity, especially in times of adversity, has never been more important”.
“Everyone had a wonderful day recording the song and it was a real pleasure to perform with the talented members of the One Heart choir. We hope the song will raise awareness and funds for asylum seekers and refugees,” she said.'
Experimental film from Athens 2012.
From summer 2017:
Amongst the darkness of the recent attacks and days before another election, we asked the British people:
What do they see threatening them and their Britishness.
Instead of heading to the squares of towns and cities where people congregate, we were drawn to the more unusual places within the British landscape.
Places that were once the height of fashion and destination diner spots. But we now know them more as creepy, neglected road side refuge areas.
The great British service station.
By Ross Domoney & Keymea Yazdanian
Another tragedy strikes London. This time through negligence and greed. A horrific fire has blitzed the whole of Grenfell estate in one of London's richest borough and over a hundred are feared dead. The people demand answers and talk politics on the streets.
Miss Daily looks on at her tangerine tree as diggers knocking down the old Myatt's Field North estate inch closer to it. In 'Uprooted' the tree becomes a symbol of resistance as many residents are sad to loose old memories as their homes are bulldozed.
We are pleased to announce that the Grierson shortlisted 'Uprooted' has won the Royal Television Society best factual award.
“A beautifully crafted film that demonstrated a real understanding of how personal stories, powerfully told, can be used to shine a light on a wider political issue.”
A humbling thank you to the residents of Myatt's Field North who intimately shared their struggle with us.
Thanks to the pre and post production crew who made this film possible.
From the archive: A short clip from a documentary we were never able to finish in early 2016. It shows the hardships of volunteers who run a self orginized refugee rescue camp (Platanos) on the Greek island of Lesvos. A group of friends from Athens set up the camp in the face of E.U inaction with regards to the refugee crisis on the island of Lesvos.
This film is released under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND licence.
Details here: creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/deed.en_GB
Really pleased to announce that our Grierson shortlisted documentary 'Uprooted' has been nominated for a Royal Television Society award. Well done to all the team that made this moving documentary happen.
https://rts.org.uk/studentawards2017
See the trailer bellow:
If you want to learn more about the housing crisis here in London you can also watch 'Estate of War' by lyrical bad man Potent Whisper. We shot this a few months back.
After Le Pen wins the first round of the presidential elections in France - heavy clashes erupt at May Day demonstrations in Paris.
As the press and politicians obsess themselves with the second round of voting in the French elections, with the choice between the two final contenders seeming meaningless for many, we follow those who were never offered a choice to begin with: France's forgotten refugee populations are now faced with grim future scenarios, dictated by either the neoliberal, or the outright fascist policies of the two remaining candidates.
