Match in a Haystack

“When some piece of art is created, whether a book, a picture, a dance or a song, it means that something is born to the world. A small universe is born in the world. And to me, it is balancing the lives that are being taken now.” — Nadine Kupets, Ukrainian dancer and main participant in Match in a Haystack

Match in a Haystack is a story of resistance, reflection and creation in war time Ukraine. Through the lives of three women in one of Ukraine’s leading contemporary dance groups, Match in a Haystack unpacks how young Ukrainian artists reassess the practice that once defined their sense of purpose after a full-scale Russian invasion that seemed to end their creative dreams.

War is unique in its ability to destroy in totality – not only spaces and lives, but also our conception of who we are and will be. It contorts our perception of what was once important and causes us to reassess how we live. How can you make sense of the wreckage of the life you had before, when your entire perception of the world has been forced to shift?

Match in a Haystack is an intimate and nuanced exploration of the struggle for purpose, comradery, and devotion familiar to many lives affected by war. The story of these women reflects the struggle of many in war-torn Ukraine: despite overwhelming and omnipresent reminders that what they once dedicated their lives to had already been lost, they rehearsed. With no certainty that what they would make might matter to anyone except themselves, they devoted time to pursue meaning in their lives. They supported one another as they processed a year of injustice and senseless violence. And they found moments of joy — a feeling they doubted might ever exist again after what they had witnessed.

As a filmmaker and journalist, I’ve devoted the last seven years to shining a light on the consequences of conflict. I believe that films serve as a historical record of the way it feels to live through a particular moment in time. I have learned to believe that the record we create must not be full only with the death and destruction that takes place, it must also be full of creation, adaptation, and the experiences that make life meaningful. As paradoxical as it seems, it is consequential and necessary to allow ourselves to view and understand the generative, positive changes that can rise from a period of destruction. In a situation that is seemingly otherwise destitute, it is essential to focus on the other experiences: the magnitude of love between those you trust, the power of laughter when it breaks the silence in a room, and the ability to reassess what it is that makes us feel alive.