Enter Through The Balcony

Enter Through The Balcony is a Documentary Short about Ukrainian make-shift balconies.
The film explores the phenomenon of the balcony as a small architectural form. Enter Through The Balcony is a journey through the decades. It is a look inside balconies and their owners in cities across Ukraine. It is a balanced and in depth view of the balconies from their owners, employees of city councils, historians, sociologists, urbanists, developers and architects. Through the history of the balconies film explores the history of Post-Soviet Ukraine — life, culture, and the relationships between personal and public space in cities.
An engaging love letter to Ukraine and its people, Enter Through the Balcony examines how architecture can be a curious pathway to a deeper understanding of culture and place.

  • Roman Blazhan
    Director
  • Roman Blazhan
    Producer
  • Mikhail Volkov
    DOP/Edit
  • Alex Cherepanov
    Music/Sound design
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Culture, Architecture
  • Runtime:
    25 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 31, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    45,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Ukraine
  • Country of Filming:
    Ukraine
  • Language:
    Russian, Ukrainian
  • Shooting Format:
    RED
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Roman Blazhan

Roman Blazhan is a documentary filmmaker and producer based in Kyiv, Ukraine. Born in Donetsk, he first pursued a career in energy trading and finance, but later in life found his passion in film. He runs Minimal Movie, a leading video production company. He is a director and producer of numerous music videos, and commercials. His first professional documentary short Enter Through the Balcony is about makeshift balconies in Ukraine and was possible with a grant from The Ukrainian Cultural Foundation.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement


I grew up in Donetsk. For the last many years I have lived in Kyiv watching the country around me change constantly. The city I live in is odd. Both ugly and beautiful. Sometimes Ukraine feels like a Balenciaga commercial. I wanted to make a film about the urban landscape of Ukraine and show its rough beauty. Through makeshift balconies that people make themselves overlooking legal city norms, I wanted to show a different Ukraine. This Ukraine interests me and is a source of curiosity for an international audience.

My goal was to give voices to people and balconies they inhabit without judgement. The film started off from the perspective many people have that makeshift balconies ruin architecture and the city landscape. The story that unfolded is much more complex and poetic. Enter Through The Balcony turned out to be of a love letter to the strange place that is Ukraine and its urban landscape. It was fun and exciting to make this film and travel across the country.