A Woman's War • Жіноча Війна
Close Up Cinema & Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2025
A Woman's War is a 12-minute 3D photogrammetry documentary weaving together intimate testimonies from Ukrainian women displaced by the 2022 Russian invasion, presenting their stories of memory and resilience through raw digital reconstructions and unscripted personal accounts.
£500
Production Budget
12 min
Runtime
42 h
Ukrainian interviews
6
UK screenings
What is 3D photogrammetry and why did you use it?
Photogrammetry is a technique that reconstructs real-world spaces and objects as three-dimensional digital models using photographs. For this project, scans were captured on location in Ukraine by Jaroslav Hajacik and Serhii Revenko. Rather than polishing these scans, we chose to present them in their raw, unfiltered form, letting the texture and imperfection of the data mirror the fragmented, disrupted nature of the stories being told.
Is this a journalistic or artistic work?
It sits intentionally between the two. The testimonies are real and unscripted, grounded in a specific historical event and location — including the village of Yahidne, where residents sheltered in a school basement during the Russian occupation of March 2022. But the film's slow pacing, raw visual language, and fragmented structure place it firmly in the experimental documentary tradition.
What was your role on the project?
I served as Art Director and Technical Artist on A Woman's War, taking responsibility for all visual elements of the film — from the overall aesthetic direction to the technical implementation of the 3D photogrammetry scans. I collaborated closely with two on-the-ground scan artists in Ukraine, Jaroslav Hajacik and Serhii Revenko, who captured the raw photogrammetry data, and with composer Kornélia Nemcová, whose original score shapes the film's slow, reflective atmosphere.
Overview
A Woman's War is a 12-minute 3D photogrammetry documentary adapted from an original live performance, combining raw digital reconstructions captured on location in Ukraine with unscripted personal testimonies from Ukrainian women recorded during the winter of 2023. As Art Director and Technical Artist, I was responsible for all visual elements of the film — shaping an aesthetic that embraces slow, deliberate pacing to allow viewers to fully engage with the voices and experiences of the women interviewed. The film does not follow a single narrative; instead it interweaves multiple perspectives and fragments of disrupted lives, voiced through intimate stories of resilience and memory. Collaborating with 3D scan artists Jaroslav Hajacik and Serhii Revenko, and composer Kornélia Nemcová, the project was realised on a £500 budget supported by the Lol Sargent Lens Award.
Research
The village of Yahidne in Ukraine's Chernihiv region serves as a key location within the documentary. In March 2022, many residents took refuge in the basement of the local primary school during the Russian occupation. Today, the building's walls preserve the drawings and writings left by the villagers — a quiet testament to the community's resilience and hope. Through a combination of personal testimonies and digital reconstructions, the film offers a space for reflection on the human experience of conflict and displacement, highlighting the importance of memory and shared narratives. The film has also drawn attention from international media, with references spanning AP, Al Jazeera, and President Zelenskyy.
Development
A Woman's War began as a live performance before evolving into its current cinematic form — a process that reflects the ongoing, living nature of the stories it holds. Since its completion, the film has screened across 6 UK venues including Close-Up Cinema, Park Theatre, Copeland Gallery, and the Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2025 in York, where it was selected for the Experimental strand. It also formed the centrepiece of Displaced: Within and Beyond, a Refugee Week 2025 event I co-organised in Bath. Looking ahead, a companion piece is in development — a new version told from a male perspective, expanding the project's exploration of how war is experienced and remembered across different lives.
