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Den Pobedy: Victory Day

“Den Pobedy” (Victory Day) is counted among the most important celebrations for many former Soviet Republics. It is held on May 9 and commemorates the victory of the USSR over Nazi Germany in the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). This day pays homage to the war veterans and to the over 26 million Soviets who lost their lives fighting this war.
Kalinichenko Vasily Porfirievich fought in the Red Army on the 3rd Ukrainian Front and on the 1st Belarusian Front. As a member of the 226th Infantry Regiment he entered Berlin on April 22, 1945. This documentary explores the war, his life and his family story.

  • Alberto Lobelle
    Director
  • Alberto Lobelle
    Writer
  • Alberto Lobelle
    Producer
  • Oskar Lopez
    Sound Editing
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    День Победы: Den Pobedy
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Genres:
    War, History, family
  • Runtime:
    38 minutes 29 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 23, 2015
  • Production Budget:
    8,000 EUR
  • Country of Origin:
    Spain
  • Country of Filming:
    Ukraine
  • Language:
    Russian, Ukrainian
  • Shooting Format:
    VHS, Digital Video
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • FID Marseille 2015
    Marseille, France
    July 4, 2015
    World Premiere
  • Alcances, Muestra Cinematográfica del Atlántico
    Cádiz
    September 9, 2015
    Spanish Premiere
  • Play-Doc
    Tui, Galicia (Spain)
    April 16, 2016
    Galician Premiere
Director Biography - Alberto Lobelle

Born in Galicia (Spain) in 1976, Alberto Lobelle begins his career in the audiovisual field at age 22, completing a camera operator course and an internship at Santiago de Compostela’s local television station. The following year he enters the Escola de Imaxe e Son (School of Image and Sound) of A Coruña where he directs, writes and produces his first works.

Already in the professional field, he works on television series, documentaries, short films, commercials and films as second assistant director, script supervisor and assistant director (although also sporadically in editingand production). As a filmmaker he directs and produces “Matisse is spelt with two S’s” (2011) and “Den Pobedy: Victory Day” (2015), a found-footage documentary about history, war and family.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Q: The film is made of family found footage. How did you first got in touch with the material and what make you decide to make a film out of it?

A: The story of how the footage appeared is a very curious one. The idea of making a documentary came first, and only later I came across the footage. It all started shortly after violence broke out in Ukraine (early 2014). The fact that Western media were constantly bombarding us with their biased coverage of the conflict had me thinking. Add to it that my wife Natasha, a native Ukrainian, was getting information from other channels. So I started tentatively gathering information from the Internet and the TV news, with the idea of making a film about media manipulation, reflecting conflicting views. Then it all took an unexpected turn when the conflict spread to Eastern Ukraine (April 2014), where her family lives. Within a few weeks, the idea of the documentary had become obsolete. It was at this time that Natasha told me about this footage that existed of her grandfather, a Red Army vet who is now dead. Since she was going to visit her home country, I explained to her how to capture the material. Upon her return, when I watched it, I was amazed; it had incredible potential.

Q: With a very simple structure, Victory day ravels the idea of victory and defeat, peace and war celebration and mourning. How did you work on the writing of the film?

A: Once the war began to have a direct impact on my wife’s family, the film structure developed naturally. We both thought of what her grandfather and other soldiers were fighting for 70 years ago. Taking into account this was amateur footage, I decided to go for a lineal, simple editing. Linearity implies the end of a world, and simplicity means it could be uncut material.

Q: The film cover a lapse of time of about 20 years with many ellipses . How did you work on the choice of the scenes?

A: I worked on about 10 hours of visual content and 60 hours of audio material. I tried to focus on its powerful content and its evocative capacity, while respecting its nature, duration and historical value.