Ashes Settling in Layers on the Surface

Runtime: 75'

Expected release: January 2027

Production stage: Production

Budget: €428,626 (66% in place)

1st feature: Yes

Looking for: Festivals, sales agents, distributors, buyers, co-producers, gap financing

Synopsis:

Based on diaries and photographs of the director’s grandfather and mother, the film reconstructs the life of one family within the never-ending cycle of destruction and restoration in her hometown — Mariupol. Today, the director is left with nothing except her memories. And she is not the only one: while we are watching this film, somewhere there is war.

Director’s Profile:

Zoya Laktionova is a Mariupol born film director and contemporary artist. Her first short Diorama (12’) about the mined sea in the Mariupol area received an award in the MyStreetFilms at 2018 “86” Festival. Her next film Territory of Empty Windows (10’) premiered at 2021 DocudaysUA and received numerous awards at European film festivals. Zoya has been residing in Paris in 2022-23 as a recipient of the Harriman Residencies of Columbia University and in 2024-25 as a resident of Cité internationale des arts at Montmartre. As an artist, she has been exhibited in Roma’s MAXXI, Paris’ The Centre Pompidou and Vienna’s MUMOK. Zoya works with themes of war, memory and personal stories.

Producer’s Profile:

Experienced in co-production and finance through her work with international companies, Natalia Libet is a producer and a co-founder of the women-led production company “2Brave Productions” based in Kyiv/Ukraine. She has produced several successful features, including Kateryna Gornostai’s Timestamp (2025 Berlinale Competition) and Stop-Zemlia (2021 Crystal Bear Berlinale Generation 14+), Mantas Kvedaravicius’ Parthenon (2019 Venice International Critics’ Week) and Anna Buryachkova’s Forever-Forever (2023 Venice Orizzonti Extra). She holds a U.S. MBA as a recipient of the 2000 Edmund Muskie Fellowship Award. She is a member of European and Ukrainian Film Academies, an alumna of EURODOC 2021, Emerging Producers 2022 and Nipkow Program 2023. Natalia also serves as the Head of Tatino Films’ First Cut+, an annual workshop focusing on marketing and positioning of feature films. In 2024, Natalia became a Film Independent Global Media Makers fellow.

Victor Ede, a co-owner and a producer of Cinephage Productions. Cinéphage is a French production based in Marseilles with a catalogue dedicated to gender, childhood, environmental, mental health and war aftermath issues. Cinephage is involved in a large majority of international projects, while having a strong presence in Marseilles and the international industry. Our last films are the Hungarian film KIX (CPH:DOX), the Swedish Unanimal, and the Balkanic The Mountain Won’t Move both to be premiered spring 2025.