Sofiia Buhrii

Filmed during one night in July 2025 by forty filmmakers and hundreds of citizens, The Illusion of a Quiet Night paints a vast collective portrait of war-torn Ukraine. Between fear and exhaustion, moments of joy and scenes of the ordinary day to day, we watch as life goes on in spite of everything, witnessing the resilience of a nation gripped by uncertainty.

A distance of 769 kilometres is what separates a bakery in Kyiv from New York, an occupied town in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. This is where bread baked by people with intellectual disabilities ends up. Although they struggle with their own difficulties, their work saves people in the east of the country, in war-torn areas cut off from supplies. The bakery is a refuge where they can become part of a larger community, which empowers them. In wartime, there is no room for labels or social divisions – only actions matter.

A group of activists is fighting to preserve a historical landmark in the center of Kyiv from a developer. Their struggle is an exact parallel to the fight for memory that took place a century ago, when the soviet government attempted to erase Ukrainian identity.