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Patronymic (По батькові)

Production Status
Сompleted
Year of starting production
2026
Release Date
2026
Country(ies) of (co)production
Ukraine, Netherlands
Languages
Ukrainian, English
Duration
22’

Following the long train journey home, Kyiv-born filmmaker Mariia Volodymyrivna Ponomarova searches for her patronymic, a Ukrainian middle name derived from the name of her father, which disappeared from her international documents. 

The night train that heads to Ukraine is about to depart from the Polish border. Traveling from the Netherlands, a Ukrainian filmmaker Mariia Ponomarova is asked for her passport at the customs, yet patronymic, a middle name— Volodymyrivna — which is derived from the name of her father, is missing. Is it absent, erased, omitted or not mentioned? How come this happened? For how long has it been gone? Combining documents and archival footage with the staged interplay of the tight train compartment set up, Mariia reflects on the remnants of patriarchy, postcolonial legal inertia and name erasure while tracing the tender and vulnerable bond with her father, who still lives in Kyiv.

CREW:
Production: Noortje Wilschut
Сo-production: Mariia Ponomarova
DOP: Roy van Egmond
Sound: Michael Bucuzzo
Production:
Funding:
Already engaged financial partners and funds: Netherlands Film Fund, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts
Point of contact:
Festivals
DOK Short n’ Sweet Pitching, DOK Leipzig (2022)

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