On 11 and 13 September, the Asian premiere of director Olha Chernykh’s film The Illusion of a Quiet Night will take place at the 18th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival (DMZ Docs). This is reported on the DMZ Docs website.
The film has been selected for the Verite programme, which will present works that depict survival not only as an instinct, but as an unbreakable will to preserve the continuity of life.
According to the synopsis, The Illusion of a Quiet Night captured hundreds of Ukrainians’ lives across Ukraine during one and the same summer night in July 2025. The footage used in the film was shot by 40 camera operators and hundreds of citizens. The idea was for the night to be documented by people of different professions, ages and genders from all regions of the country, including the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Crimea. The film aimed to bear witness to how life continues despite the war, demonstrating the resilience of a nation living with uncertainty.
The project was created by the company Tabor on commission from Suspilne Broadcasting.
DMZ Docs will run from 10 to 16 September.
In April this year, The Illusion of a Quiet Night received a special mention at the 57th Visions du Réel International Film Festival in Nyon (Switzerland), in the Burning Lights section.
About Olha Chernykh:
- Ukrainian director;
- in 2024, her debut film A Photo for Memory opened the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) and won the top prize at the Sarajevo Film Festival in the Documentary Films category.
About DMZ Docs:
- a seven-day documentary film festival in South Korea, founded in 2009;
- held each autumn less than twenty kilometres from the Korean Demilitarised Zone;
- the festival’s slogan is Peace Is Not Silent;
- it aims to showcase films dedicated to peace, coexistence and reconciliation.