Supporting Babylon'13

Babylon'13 is a film collective that was created in 2013 to produce and promote independent films and documentaries.

For the past five months, a part of the Babylon'13 team has been living in Kharkiv to document the life of artists who decided to stay there despite the constant danger. Their movie follows the main protagonist, Kostyantyn Zorkin and his art projects, among which his project for the puppet theatre of Kharkiv. This will lead to the creation of a feature-film: "Kharkiv - The City of Sunshine and Reinforced Concrete".

"The film explores the activities of Kharkiv artists during the Russian-Ukrainian war – a crucial turning point between the past and the future. The film protagonist, artist Kostiantyn Zorkin, interacts with his colleagues on topics that all Ukrainians are concerned with nowadays.

The film also raises several important questions: How can we be helpful during this war? What should an artist do in the time of war? How to reflect on mental and cultural ties with the Soviet past? What to do with the artistic material heritage of the last century? What the Ukrainian culture's future should be? If not an artist, who should seek answers to these questions?"

Peace for Art had the opportunity to meet the two co-founders and to listen to them about their activities and this film they are currently working on every day. The amount of material they are producing will also play an important role for archives and research institutes as documentation of life under war conditions.

We are pleased to support the production of "Kharkiv - The City of Sunshine and reinforced Concrete" and follow the evolution of the project.