Sokolova

The first lockdown forces Sveta Sokolova, a bar owner and a mother of two, to strip naked in front of her fears and start a new life in the new Covid-affected world that none of us has used to live in yet.
As her business collapses weeks after the lockdown, the tensions in her marriage grow. Sokolova falls apart to reinvent herself artistically and personally and collect what was lost.

1th Swedish International Film Festival 2021 | Best Documentary Award Winner
1th Art Film Awards - Monthly Competition 2021 | Honorary Mention
2th Paradise Film Festival 2021 | In competition for “Best Documentary”
6th CARE Awards 2021 | In competition for “Best Documentary”
1th Multi Dimension Independent Film Festival 2021 | Best Documentary Award Winner

  • Darya Evgeniivna Tkachenko
    Director
  • Daniil Oleksandrovich Stolbunov
    Producer
  • Svetlana Sokolova
    Key Cast
    "Sveta"
  • Nicholas O'connel
    Key Cast
    "Nicholas"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Genres:
    Docudrama, drama
  • Runtime:
    60 minutes 60 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 31, 2021
  • Production Budget:
    35,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Ukraine
  • Country of Filming:
    Ukraine
  • Language:
    Russian
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Distribution Information
  • Manifestum Group
    Distributor
    Country: Ukraine
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Darya Evgeniivna Tkachenko

Darya Tkachenko was born in Donetsk, Ukraine at 26th October of 1991.

In 2010 Darya started a film directors education course at Kyiv National University of Theater, Film and Television named after I.K. Karpenko-Kary under the great mastership of Ukrainian eminent film director Boris Savchenko.

Since the 2nd course of education, Darya was already filming her first works and started building a production studio "Manifestum" of her own.
One of my debut works is the film «There are no thieves in our town» by Gabrielle Garcia Marquez which, in a result, participated in the Odessa International Film Festival in 2012.

In the summer of 2014, when the combat actions happened to the eastern region of Ukraine, Darya's home — Donbas fell into the state of mortal shelling, during which Darya's family suffered losses.

This is where the turning point of her biography happened. She was forced to support the family's survival and migrating measures simultaneously keep her place at the university and moving towards her life's passion — to become a professional film director.

After years of crisis in Ukraine which affected personal and professional life spent in writings and reflections, she managed to keep the production team of Manifestum afloat.

Nowadays, the very new pages of Darya's life book are being written right now.
The key director's work is the Sokolova documentary feature film which is about to be shown to the world.

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Director Statement

When our team proceeded to shoot "SOKOLOVA", first lockdown has began in Ukraine.We knew that small business will hardly survive financial crisis. Thats why we decided to show how small business survives in Ukraine. At the very beginning of the pandemic, we selected a family of entrepreneurs who owned a restaurant business. Story about Svetlana and Nicholas is illustrative for our county. After all, when a crisis begins, a person loses everything. The government does not try to help business in any way, and sometimes making things worse. Our country has lost more than 36% of small businesses, and businesses continue to close.

The second problem that is personally important to me is family. Our heroes have two small children. After being closed, children had to grow up fast. My task was to show how severely and irrevocably the pandemic has affected the lives of families in Ukraine.

The third problem that worries me in this story is migrants. The main characters of the film, Svetlana and Nicholas, moved to live in Ukraine in 2013. In 7 years they were able to build a business, a big house and a family. But the lockdown changed their lives. Nicholas's family remained in the United States, and Svetlana's parents in Russia. As a result, for all the waves of the pandemic, the main characters didn’t meet with their relatives.

We hope our film will help raise the topic of family as well as maintaining the rule of law and human rights even during a crisis and pandemic.