Filmmaker documents Ukrainian refugees in Atlanta

A casting agent helped Tirmizi put out a call to the Atlanta Ukrainian community and find four subjects: Victoria Shaikina, Kateryna Galytska, Alina Riabinina and Alexandra Slasnaya. In “Ukraine: Hope Against Chaos,” these women talk about the war and how they had to flee the country they love, leaving behind most everything of importance to them.

Credit: Photo courtesy of Danny Tirmizi

Credit: Photo courtesy of Danny Tirmizi

Millions of people have been displaced because of the war, and UNICEF reports 88% of the refugees coming from Ukraine are women and children. Here in Atlanta, Galytska and Riabinina were the first of the subjects to arrive.

A CFO of a national logistics company, Galytska has a son with special needs who has to take daily medication. The child’s medical costs in the United States are daunting — $500 just for a blood test — but friends and colleagues have been willing to help financially. Although Galytska considers herself a strong woman with a high spirit and strength, the war has left her weak and feeling powerless. “I did not believe before the war that this could happen,” she says.

Riabinina, a dancer at the National Theater of Operetta, also arrived in Atlanta weeks after the war began. She chose this city because she has loved ones living in the area. Riabinina and other family members fled Ukraine with only shoes, medicine and a visa — virtually nothing else, not even clothes. En route to safety after departing their homes in Ukraine, they slept in cold basements with gunfire constantly surrounding them.

One aspect of this war that Tirmizi feels is unique is the resilience of its citizens. “Many people are staying put and fighting,” the director says. “The people are very resilient. One thing in common [for those who fled] is that they all want to go back home. You’d think they would want to come here with all these opportunities, but they all want their lives back. These people were successful back home and have had to start over from scratch.”

There is hope among the women in the film and among the rest of those who have fled Ukraine — but a lot of uncertainty. “No one sees the war ending soon,” Tirmizi says. “The European Union is involved, and NATO is involved, but no one knows where it is headed. [The refugees] are trying to console themselves and not get too comfortable in one place.”

Credit: Photo courtesy of Danny Tirmizi

Credit: Photo courtesy of Danny Tirmizi

Chamblee Mayor Brian Mock is also interviewed in the film. He wanted to tell his story as a non-Ukrainian who had visited the country. Through Sister Cities International, many major U.S. cities have official sister cities all over the world, and Mock wanted Chamblee’s to be the Ukrainian city of Kovel. Kovel officials approved a resolution to become the Georgia city’s sister during Mock’s visit in October 2022.

Initially Tirmizi planned a feature-length documentary, but his team eventually thought it would be easier for a shorter version of 30 minutes to make the film festival circuit. The San Francisco Arthouse Short Festival has accepted “Ukraine: Hope Against Chaos,” and Tirmizi hopes more will follow. He recently hosted a Florida premiere and envisions an Atlanta debut in June with proceeds going to the Georgia Branch of the nonprofit Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (UCCA) to either help back home or to assist Atlanta refugees. The film is a nonprofit project, made in collaboration with organizations including the UCCA and Dattalion, a Ukraine-based database of photos and videos.

“Atlanta has a decent-sized Ukrainian community as well as a Ukrainian organization,” says Tirmizi, referring to the UCCA’s Georgia Branch. “I feel a lot of people have family members or friends who settled here, even before the war, and they have become native Georgians. That is one reason people are coming here — as well as the fact that the city itself is a big hub. ”

Despite the millions of people who have been impacted by the war, Tirmizi feels there’s a “disproportionately small amount” of coverage of the stories of the individuals involved. That is one reason it became so personal for him.

“It has taken a lot out of me,” he says. “It was very hard to work on. What is happening is heartbreaking. This film is more a humanitarian project than a political statement. These stories are important to be told, and I wanted to be the voice of these people who do not have a voice.”

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Jim Farmer is the recipient of the 2022 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Award for Best Theatre Feature and a nominee for Online Journalist of the Year. A member of five national critics’ organizations, he covers theater and film for ArtsATL. A graduate of the University of Georgia, he has written about the arts for 30-plus years. Jim is the festival director of Out on Film, Atlanta’s LGBTQ film festival, and lives in Avondale Estates with his husband, Craig, and dog, Douglas.

Credit: ArtsATL

Credit: ArtsATL

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