Written by Sonia LowmanWhy I Chose to Shoot In a War Zone When Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, I had just left my job with the global humanitarian relief organization International Medical Corps, after learning that I had been living with undiagnosed Lyme disease for 20 years—more than half my life. I knew that I needed time to heal after working nonstop with the exhausting and at times debilitating symptoms of Lyme, through the making of two independent films about racial justice, travels to global war and disaster zones, and a full-time job with a nonprofit working on the frontlines of humanitarian relief. Yet as I watched the horror unfold in Ukraine, the question inevitably arose in me: Should I make a film illuminating the humanity of the Ukrainian people? Or rather: How could I not?As a documentary filmmaker, I often find myself drawn to the unjust and inhumane. With all that I have witnessed and willingly exposed myself to as a storyteller and activist, one might think I would feel hopeless. Yet I remain relentlessly, ferociously optimistic. I believe fundamentally in the connective tissue of humanity—that inextinguishable light of the human spirit that turns on in the darkest of times. This is what connects me with International Medical Corps, which provides critical medical care and training across every major disaster in the world, reaching the most underserved and disparate places on the planet. When they approached me with the story of a psychiatric hospital that had survived on...
Published By: NoFilmSchool - Wednesday, 8 May, 2024