Porcelain War

On Thursday February 6 at 6:30pm, join us for a post-screening discussion with Lubomyr Y Luciuk and David Pedlar, moderated by broadcaster and author Bill Welychka.

• Buy Tickets – $14 General Admission / $11 for Members of The Screening Room

Additional “screening only” dates: Saturday February 8 at 1:30pm, Tuesday February 11 at 6:10pm, Thursday February 13 at 4:10pm.

Russia’s unconscionable war in Ukraine has forced the country’s artists to become soldiers. Slava and Anya split their time between making ceramic sculptures and training civilian fighters, while cameraman Andrey can no longer bring himself to paint as he shoots the devastation around him. While mired in the horrors of protecting life and land, these artists are compelled to locate beauty in the bloodshed. They make delicate creatures, porcelain owls, snails, painted with intricate patterns, which they place on the killing fields, and transform mechanical drones into vibrant dragonflies before launching them to drop bombs. The winner of the US Grand Jury Prize: Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival, Porcelain War delivers a visually stunning dispatch from the front lines of both a terrifying physical invasion and the soul’s battle to rise above destruction. Wrestling meaning from trauma, Slava explains: “Ukraine is like porcelain—easy to break but impossible to destroy.”

A sublime and stirring documentary about living, fighting and creating under siege. – Los Angeles Times

This powerful documentary set amid the war in Ukraine is a rare look at the reality of war and the ordinary people compelled to defend their freedom and their way of life. – Wall Street Journal

About the Speakers

David Pedlar is a Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Therapy at Queens University,  and a Senior Scientist at the University of Ottawa Institute for Mental Health Research at the Royal Hospital. Working closely with Ukrainians, he has co led and supported applied research projects in Ukraine to support military to civilian transition, and best practice in rehabilitation from combat injuries since 2016.  He is a two-time Fulbright Scholar with extensive research experience and publications. 

Lubomyr Y Luciuk has been a professor of political geography at the Royal Military College of Canada since 1990. Born in Kingston, the son of Ukrainian refugees who came to Canada after the Second World War, Lubomyr obtained an Honours BSc, (1976) and MA (1979) from Queen’s University, then went on to do a PhD at the University of Alberta, (1984). As a postdoctoral fellow, he taught in the Departments of Geography at the University of Toronto and Queen’s University. He is the author, editor, or co-editor of 32 books and monographs, as well as over 225 opinion-editorials published in Canada’s leading newspapers. On 6 December 2019, he was awarded the Cross of Ivan Mazepa by President Volodymyr Zelensky, the 9th Canadian so distinguished.