“Everybody Knows” by Daria Gellar
Beyond the Short Official Premiere
Everybody Knows: Exposing Apathy and Seeking Truth Amidst War and Deception.
A little over one year ago, Russia invaded Ukraine and the world changed. Millions of Ukrainians were displaced, almost overnight, from their homes; entire cities were destroyed; all as the world watched. In Russia, state media dutifully got out the message: this was only a “special operation.” In the year that has followed, thousands have been arrested and jailed (or worse) for daring to call it what it really is: a senseless and brutal war.
“Everybody Knows” stands as a statement by a group of artists from Ukraine, Russia and Belarus all of whom have fled their home countries in the wake of the war. Directed by Russian-Ukrainian filmmaker Daria Geller, Everybody Knows is a short film, a music video and a political action about a terrible reality that many are now too afraid to speak about openly: so long as Russian society remains apathetic to what is being done in its name there can be no peace, and nothing will change. Set to the words of Leonard Cohen, the film shows us what happens when everybody knows, but no one does anything.
The video addresses the apathy and willful ignorance that has afflicted Russian society for too long. In it, a group of women stand and watch as a young man lies naked on the floor, ready to give himself up to false promises. Representing the individual, and therefore a meaningless number in the eyes of the regime, he finds himself being lifted up to the skies hoping to fulfil his duty, only to realise that he is nothing but a resource to be selfishly exploited. Shot on 16mm film using only natural light, the film’s seamless long shots are set against a motionless dark colour palette enhancing its eerie feeling of stillness. As these images repeat again and again, the repetition deepens our understanding not only that everybody knows that things will seemingly never change – but that they don’t even care.
FROM THE DIRECTOR
“When the war started, and not only my friends but total strangers from the filmmaking community started running away and coming to Israel, I created a group for filmmakers arriving in Tel Aviv to bring people together, which now includes more than 1,000 members. I shared the idea of the video with the group - from the cast to those involved in the production, these are all people from this group who were immediately onboard. Honestly, I was surprised by how many people volunteered to take part, because the fears about speaking up are so real; many will agree with you quietly but not be willing to attach their name to a statement, let alone to a work like this. I think it is our responsibility as artists to speak the truth, especially to the powerful, but in the end it’s not enough for us to speak alone: we need more voices to join the chorus against a senseless war and the lies that keep it going, which together claim new innocent lives every day.”
-Daria Gellar
Credits
Actors:
Main actor // Vladislav Zalivanski (ZAVA) / @zavaaaa
Weeping woman // Anna Pereleshina / @42kg
Mother // Bruria Rabiner
Monster // Michael Gluz
Women// Polina Pakhomova, Tanya Kupavyh, Olga Yovov, Lena Turevskaja, Hawlee No, Elina Shusterman, Thea Spector, Anna Karmelitski
Director and Cinematographer // Daria Geller / @daria.geller
Executive Producers // Daria Geller, Yuval Orr
Original music and words by Leonard Cohen
Composer // Roi Keidar / @roikeidar
Vocals // Roi Keidar & Daria Geller
Violin // Alina Maslennikova
Recording Engineers // Eldy and Ben K
Line producer // Sonya Goryacheva / @sonyaagain
Art director // Yulia Gavrilova
1AD // Katrin Tublin
2AD // Anna Pereleshina
1AC // Pasha Adler / @pappolokk
2AC // Naama Bernstein
Gaffer // Ilya Pliatskovskii
Grip // Lev Arpishkin
Steadicam // Gilad Porat
DP assistant // Yan Yasinski / @yan.dop
Special make up effects artist // Kseniya Malkina
PA and Make Up // Valeriya Moysak
Spark // Nikolay Platonov
PA // Leonid Fridman
PA // Timofei Stelmah- Darevsky
Driver // Nazar Harhun
Equipment Rental // Utopia
Backstage photographer // Eitan
VFX// Editit Studio / @editit.studio
VFX Supervisor // Itay Assouline
DMP // Tomer Nakash, Ofek Ben Shitrit
Compositing // Itay Assouline
Roto // Furkan Abdani
VFX of the hand and birds shots // Boris Lutsiuk
VFX Supervisor // Max Polinsky
Colorist // Andrey Garny / @andrey_garny
Film Lab // Kodak UK
Shot on 16mm / @kodak_shootfilm
A No Man’s Land production / @nomansland.film
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