In February of 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine and started the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk feared for his life and held even more tightly to his and his family’s possessions. Four years later, as the war rages on and despite having found great international success with “Pamfir” and “Silent Flood,” the filmmaker has mortgaged his family’s apartment to fund his next film, “Something Strange Happened to Me.”
Speaking with Variety ahead of presenting his latest project at Venice’s Gap-Financing Market, Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk calls the risky funding strategy “a funny story.” “When the Russian rockets began hitting Kyiv, I cared about my apartment,” he says. “But it’s been years now, and I realized nothing was changing. My apartment continues to be at risk. It could be bombed any day, so I stopped caring so much and holding onto it. Might as well use the money to make the film. It’s a good story, at least.”
“Not only am I the director and the writer, but I also have my own production company, and I decided that I would get a start on this film with my own money,” he adds. “I now have debts; I took huge loans from the bank; I have mortgaged my apartment. But I think it is worth it. It’s the only way we can make the film.”
