21/10/2025 - The UK-Ukrainian co-production, helmed by a director trained at Moscow’s Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, represents a rare cultural bridge in today’s geopolitical landscape

Bleeding Blue Bird had its world premiere at the Chelsea Film Festival in New York on 18 October. It is the second feature by writer-director Lev Prudkin, who shot the film entirely in Kyiv before the war.

Produced by Vladimir Prudkin, of Mirage Adventures Studios, and executive-produced by Michael Riley, of Sterling Pictures, the 103-minute theatrical drama flick packages British stars Arthur Darvill and Hannah Arterton with a UK-Ukrainian cast.

Bleeding Blue Bird follows an international theatre troupe preparing an English-language performance of Maurice Maeterlinck’s symbolic play The Blue Bird in Kyiv. When the lead performer playing The Cat is abducted, the director (Darvill) assumes the role himself. As outsiders infiltrate the production with hidden agendas, the company’s search for Maeterlinck’s symbol of happiness takes an increasingly sinister turn. Rehearsals and performances begin to merge with reality as actors slip between their stage personas and private selves until illusion and truth become indistinguishable. The relentless repetition of rehearsals and the intensity of the performances push the troupe into a descent of corruption, madness and disturbing visions of what may lie ahead.

Prudkin, who trained at Moscow’s Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, grew up backstage watching his grandfather’s performances and witnessing the surreal comings and goings of the Moscow theatre world, so this milieu is familiar to him. He is the grandson of Moscow Art Theatre actor Mark Prudkin, who trained under Stanislavski, and has described the film as a meditation on artistic obsession, rather than a straight adaptation of Maeterlinck’s symbolist classic.

The production was filmed at Kyiv’s Theatre on Podil on Andriivskyi Descent, assembling a Ukrainian crew including cinematographer Boris Litovchenko, production and costume designer Olena Drobna, make-up artist Tetiana Tatarenko, and composers Jim Cornick and Matt Loveridge. Prudkin also edited the picture.

Darvill, whose credits include Doctor Who, Legends of Tomorrow and Broadchurch, plays The Director opposite Arterton (Walking on Sunshine [+see also:
trailer
film profile], Safe, The Peripheral) as The Queen of Night. Ukrainian actress Iryna Kudashova (The Taste of Freedom) rounds off the principal cast.

“Working in Kyiv was an extraordinary experience,” said Darvill. “I want to specifically mention the crew, who worked tirelessly to bring this film to life and brought such joy, skill and dedication to their craft. I hope the New York audience enjoyed this strange, surreal, thoughtful film about art, creativity and obsession.”

The co-production completed filming before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. The project marks the first feature-length collaboration between the UK and Ukrainian partners on the producing team. Filmed primarily in English with some Ukrainian dialogue, the drama deploys both British and Ukrainian actors in its exploration of how theatrical repetition and performance can transform reality. The Theatre on Podil’s contemporary architecture provided a contained environment for the production’s single-location shoot.

The project is targeting European arthouse distributors and festival programmers, following its New York debut. Its formal ambition and psychological focus position it within the tradition of performance-centred European cinema.

With its combination of British star power, Ukrainian production values, and pre-war Kyiv filming, Bleeding Blue Bird offers a timely co-production boasting both artistic credentials and market appeal. The Chelsea Film Festival premiere served as the movie’s launch pad as it actively seeks international distribution.