“Everybody Knows” by Daria Gellar

Beyond the Short Official Premiere

Everybody Knows: Exposing Apathy and Seeking Truth Amidst War and Deception.

A little over one year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine and the world changed. Millions of Ukrainians were displaced, almost overnight, from their homes; entire cities were destroyed; all as the world watched. In Russia, state media dutifully got out the message: this was only a “special operation.” In the year that has followed, thousands have been arrested and jailed (or worse) for daring to call it what it really is: a senseless and brutal war.

“Everybody Knows” stands as a statement by a group of artists from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus all of whom have fled their home countries in the wake of the war. Directed by Russian-Ukrainian filmmaker Daria Geller, Everybody Knows is a short film, a music video and a political action about a terrible reality that many are now too afraid to speak about openly: so long as Russian society remains apathetic to what is being done in its name there can be no peace, and nothing will change. Set to the words of Leonard Cohen, the film shows us what happens when everybody knows, but no one does anything.

The video addresses the apathy and willful ignorance that has afflicted Russian society for too long. In it, a group of women stand and watch as a young man lies naked on the floor, ready to give himself up to false promises. Representing the individual, and therefore a meaningless number in the eyes of the regime, he finds himself being lifted up to the skies hoping to fulfil his duty, only to realise that he is nothing but a resource to be selfishly exploited. Shot on 16mm film using only natural light, the film’s seamless long shots are set against a motionless dark colour palette enhancing its eerie feeling of stillness. As these images repeat again and again, the repetition deepens our understanding not only that everybody knows that things will seemingly never change – but that they don’t even care.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

“When the war started, and not only my friends but total strangers from the filmmaking community started running away and coming to Israel, I created a group for filmmakers arriving in Tel Aviv to bring people together, which now includes more than 1,000 members. I shared the idea of the video with the group - from the cast to those involved in the production, these are all people from this group who were immediately onboard. Honestly, I was surprised by how many people volunteered to take part, because the fears about speaking up are so real; many will agree with you quietly but not be willing to attach their name to a statement, let alone to a work like this. I think it is our responsibility as artists to speak the truth, especially to the powerful, but in the end it’s not enough for us to speak alone: we need more voices to join the chorus against a senseless war and the lies that keep it going, which together claim new innocent lives every day.”

-Daria Gellar

Credits

Actors:

Main actor // Vladislav Zalivanski (ZAVA) / @zavaaaa

Weeping woman // Anna Pereleshina / @42kg

Mother // Bruria Rabiner

Monster // Michael Gluz

Women// Polina Pakhomova, Tanya Kupavyh, Olga Yovov, Lena Turevskaja, Hawlee No, Elina Shusterman, Thea Spector, Anna Karmelitski

Director and Cinematographer // Daria Geller / @daria.geller

Executive Producers // Daria Geller, Yuval Orr

Original music and words by Leonard Cohen

Composer // Roi Keidar / @roikeidar

Vocals // Roi Keidar & Daria Geller

Violin // Alina Maslennikova

Recording Engineers // Eldy and Ben K

Line producer // Sonya Goryacheva / @sonyaagain

Art director // Yulia Gavrilova

1AD // Katrin Tublin

2AD // Anna Pereleshina

1AC // Pasha Adler / @pappolokk

2AC // Naama Bernstein

Gaffer // Ilya Pliatskovskii

Grip // Lev Arpishkin

Steadicam // Gilad Porat

DP assistant // Yan Yasinski / @yan.dop

Special make up effects artist // Kseniya Malkina

PA and Make Up // Valeriya Moysak

Spark // Nikolay Platonov

PA // Leonid Fridman

PA // Timofei Stelmah- Darevsky

Driver // Nazar Harhun

Equipment Rental // Utopia

Backstage photographer // Eitan

VFX// Editit Studio / @editit.studio

VFX Supervisor // Itay Assouline

DMP // Tomer Nakash, Ofek Ben Shitrit

Compositing // Itay Assouline

Roto // Furkan Abdani

VFX of the hand and birds shots // Boris Lutsiuk

VFX Supervisor // Max Polinsky

Colorist // Andrey Garny / @andrey_garny

Film Lab // Kodak UK

Shot on 16mm / @kodak_shootfilm

A No Man’s Land production / @nomansland.film


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