01/04/2025 - The Ukrainian filmmakers talk about the event that inspired them to make a documentary about Anna Kurkurina, the Ukrainian athlete and animal activist, and about filming in a war zone

(© Maria Stoianova)

We spoke to filmmakers Tetyana Dorodnitsyna and Andrii Lytvynenko about their documentary Everything Needs to Live [+see also:
film review
interview: Tetyana Dorodnitsyna, Andri…
film profile], centred on Anna Kurkurina, a former athlete now devoting her life to rescuing animals in war-torn Ukraine. The film screened at the 2025 One World International Human Rights Film Festival, and will be presented in other cities in the Czech Republic until 27 April.

Cineuropa: How was your first encounter with Anna, and what made you want to make a film about her? 
Andrii Lytvynenko: Tetyana and I are both from Southern Ukraine; Tatyana from Mykolaiv and me from Kherson. In 2020, we were in Mykolaiv to do some research for another film project. We noticed a demonstration in the city centre.

Tetyana Dorodnitsyna: The mayor of Mykolaiv had ordered the culling of street dogs and cats, as the city shelter was already full and the municipality struggled to deal with the influx of incoming animals. In the town square, there was a demonstration of mostly women chanting: “Please, let the dogs live!” We noticed someone, originally we thought it was a man, who led the demonstration and courageously went into the shelter, trying to get some of the animals out. It turned out that that person was Anna. She was so brave, and we soon learned about her tireless commitment to helping animals and people in need. That is how we decided to tell her story. 

Andrii Lytvynenko: In the beginning, we just wanted to make a documentary about her work, but then the war started. It was not just about people killing or helping animals any more. Suddenly, people had turned against other people.

How was it for you and the crew to film in a war-torn region? Were there any moments when you life was in danger?
AL: Of course it was stressful, but we made a conscious decision to portray a Ukrainian hero, someone who shows us how to be brave in an impossible situation.

TD: To stay on the safe side, we worked in two small teams: Andrii, together with a sound director and cameraman, and myself with a cameraman. When Andrii was filming, there were a lot of bombings. I took over when the Russians had just been pushed out of Kherson. We also travelled in occupied territories, contaminated by landmines.

AL: One day, our team’s car broke down on a war road. We were afraid that Russian tanks would come and shoot at us, but our military pulled us out. It is difficult to make a film when you see your homes being destroyed and loved ones killed, but having a mission helped up stay sane. 

Your way of telling the story is interesting, because it doesn't feel as if you were there. The documentary feels intimate, almost like a conversation between Anna and the viewer.
AL: We wanted our story to focus on one person. We were there to observe. In addition to that, Anna is a popular and professional blogger, she knows how to handle a camera's presence. In the beginning she was more closed off, but bit by bit, she opened up. We spent a lot of time with Dima [a boy with cerebral palsy whom Anna was training] and explored Anna’s relationship with the children. This is how we built trust.

TD: We wanted to show what the war feels like for Ukrainians through one person. Anna has a big heart and never turns away animals or people in need. We wanted to understand why.

I had the impression that, were it not for the animals, Anna would be quite lonely. She lives for helping others. But who helps her? Could the title of the film also be interpreted as “Anna needs to live”?
TD: Yes, this is something we wanted to show. Anna has people who help her, such as the doctor, but she has no one to talk to about her feelings. We also wanted to highlight her struggle with being a lesbian in a conservative town. Anna is a strong woman, but strong people are often alone. It was important for us to give space to the two sides of Anna: Anna amongst men, Anna amongst women. According to a theory by Carl Jung, everyone carries two forces inside them, the anima and the animus, which form a union. This is what we see in Anna.

AL: What is so special for me is that Mykolaiv is such a conservative town. Many people there do not support the LGBTQIA+ community. But Anna is a local hero and people accept her.

Putin is said to be a dog-lover. How do you explain that a person who likes dogs commits such atrocious crimes against animals such as blowing up an animal shelter?
AL: I think when money, power and control come into the equation, a certain kind of person never stops. Politics use children and animals for emotional manipulation.

TD: When you start a war, you put a mask onto the other side, you no longer see your counterpart for what they are. How do you decide whom to kill or not to kill? We live in a wild world with predators. According to Jung, humans are the link between the instinctual and the divine. It depends a lot on what meaning we attach to the word humanity.

Could you imagine revisiting Anna in another documentary in a few years? I felt like the ending, when Anna opens up about the passing of her mother, opens a door for much more.
AL: We ended at this moment because it was a victory for Dima, whom Anna had trained for the weight lifting competition. For us, Dima is also a winner, because he had to overcome so many obstacles on the road to victory.

TD: This is a good question. Some producers asked whether we wanted to make a series about Anna. But I think we accomplished our goal with this film, because it is the end of a journey for Dima and Anna, who really opened up about her pain in the end. We have now started working on another film project about the ecocide committed by the Russians during this war. While the new project is not about Anna, she might make an appearance in it.