On 17 July 2014 a Malaysian Airlines Boeing, flight MH17, with 283 passengers and 15 crew members on board, was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. The plane was shot down by a BUK Missile controlled by pro-Russian separatists while flying over Eastern Ukrainian areas, where war started in 2014. Iron Butterflies reflects on the tragedy of MH17. It is a hybrid film that combines facts and archival footage with artificial and fictitious elements. The fictional scenes of the film show different scenarios touching the topics around the case. By using dance, physical performance, music, installations and video art the film aims to emphasise the surreal circumstances of the case. Different documentary episodes, such as found-footage collages, archival footage, interviews and observations alternate with fictional ones. Through this visualisation the spectator gets a chance to see the event from different angles and at different times, simultaneously connecting the crimes of the past with the present.
Since 2013, the film director Roman Liubyi has been working with the #BABYLON’13: Cinema of Civil Society group of independent film producers who came together during the Revolution of Dignity. Since 2015 Roman has been working on the full-length documentary project War Note, based on videos from soldiers’ cell-phones. In cooperation with the Security Service of Ukraine, Roman Liubyi has created two films based on materials from the major war-crimes cases.
