Ukrainian director Denys Sobolev spoke to Cineuropa about the success of his upcoming feature Alice Wants to Live, which has just received the Eurimages Special Co-Production Development Award during the recent Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event (see the news). The accolade is accompanied by a €20,000 cash prize. Written by Vitaliy Dokalenko, the project is being produced by Dokalenko for Ganzafilm, in co-production with Andrejs Ēķis for Latvia’s Cinevilla Studios.

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Cineuropa: How would you describe your project’s core themes, and what makes it stand out within contemporary Ukrainian cinema?
Denys Sobolev: Alice Wants to Live is an intimate drama, set in the real-life wartime Kyiv. Our project is not another film about the war; you don’t actually see the war on screen, but you feel it in the emotional distance, the silences and the relationships between the characters. It’s a story about resistance through tenderness. About the quiet, intimate ways people fight to stay alive inside, even when the world outside is collapsing. We explore a central question: how do you remain human in the middle of a war – how do you hold on to light, and how do you continue to love?

The film follows Alice, a graphic designer in her thirties, who lives in a city where war has become part of the everyday landscape. She forms an unexpected connection with Vadym, a soldier on leave. What begins as a shared silence slowly grows into a cautious form of intimacy. It’s a film about two wounded souls trying to reclaim the right to tenderness – and discovering that even in the darkest times, closeness can be its own form of resistance.

Because the war continues, but the world has already learned to treat it like background noise. Almost no one understands what everyday life looks like for ordinary people living through it. What it feels like to know that every touch might be the last one. How your voice trembles when you speak to someone who may leave for the frontline tomorrow. How tenderness looks between two adults who are exhausted from being afraid. This is not a film about heroism, loss or battles; it is a film about the human, about what is simplest, about what is most alive and about what is most precious.

What are the next steps you are focusing on as you move deeper into development?
We currently have a first draft of the script and a test scene. Our next goals are to complete our team of co-producers, finalise the script together with our international partners and continue the fundraising process.

How would you describe the experience at this year’s Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event?
Our experience was incredibly meaningful. Although I personally couldn’t attend owing to wartime conditions, our team of producers said that the festival staff organised an exceptionally efficient meeting schedule. It gave us the chance to present the project widely and to connect with colleagues from all over the world – valuable steps towards building a strong international team.

The Eurimages Special Co-Production Development Award provides significant support. How do you plan to channel this recognition and the financial contribution into the next stages of development?
Receiving the award gives us a crucial boost. We intend to use it to deepen the script development, strengthen our artistic vision and expand our co-production partnerships. It allows us to move from intention to real momentum.

Producing a film under the current circumstances in Ukraine is extremely demanding. How is your team approaching these challenges, and what timeline are you envisioning for production and completion?
Our project is being developed by an international team with strong experience in both arthouse and audience-driven cinema. Ukrainian company Ganzafilm focuses on auteur and internationally orientated films, with its flagship title Taste of Freedom released on Netflix in August 2024, alongside worldwide theatrical and national TV premieres, providing a solid foundation for emotionally resonant storytelling. Latvian partner Cinevilla Studios contributes a complementary strength as the only full-scale backlot in the Baltics, offering over 100 hectares of diverse shooting environments, complete production control and access to Latvia’s 25% cash rebate, which can reach 30% when combined with Estonia, making it an attractive location for international co-productions.

This partnership allows us to approach the film with both artistic sensitivity and production efficiency. Our combined experience in internationally recognised projects ensures that Alice Wants to Live can live up to its full visual and emotional potential, while also securing a pathway towards successful European distribution.

Of course, producing a film in the current situation is challenging. But despite the war, the Ukrainian film industry continues to work every day to sustain itself. Productions of various genres are still being filmed – for example, Ganzafilm has produced one fiction feature and one documentary film this year alone. We remain committed and efficient. Our dream plan is to shoot in summer/autumn 2026, with the film ready by the end of that year.