I am proud to present the film that I directed in Lviv Regional Children’s Specialized Clinical Hospital in western Ukraine for Northwell Health (Agency: StrawberryFrog, NYC). TWO WARS is a documentary shedding light on the disruptive impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on hospitals and medical care in the war-torn region. The film is centered on the daily experiences of Dr. Natalia Fedyk, a transfusiology specialist and podiatrist who has had to balance the threat of war with an influx of patients in need of urgent health care. She says, “patients are very scared because they have two wars in their lives now. One war is with their illness, and the other one is the Ukrainian-Russian war.” The patients are children with complex health issues that require constant care and uninterrupted treatment, a challenge in the conflict zone. Many have had to evacuate to other countries in search of a more stable health care environment. Others require medical knowledge often outside the scope of what’s currently available in Ukraine.
In addition to the 17-minute documentary and 30-second trailer, Northwell’s efforts to spread awareness about healthcare in Ukraine includes integrated content such as online video and social media. The film will continue to live on its landing page, RaiseHealth.com/Ukraine, where individuals can learn more about Northwell’s efforts in Ukraine and donate to the Center for Global Health’s Relief Fund, and doctors outside of Northwell can join telehealth efforts.
Directing this film was a very moving experience, in which I was surrounded by an exceptional team. DOP: Nicolas Villegas. Producer: Grazyna Bastek (Film Produkcja). Line Producer: Tomek Krzywicki. Production Coordinator: Ola Stankiewicz. Fixer: Pavlo Bishko. 1st AC: Wojtek Zubek. Sound engineer: Jan Boguszewski. Editing: Maria Zuba, Maciej Obara. Post-Production: Ewa Bolland, Lukasz Jara (Human Post). Grading: Szymon Ronowicz. Translation: Yulia Orlenko. StrawberryFrog: Venessa Merrin, James Rogala, Josh Greenspan.