Porcelain War

The film follows Anya, Slava, and their friend Andrey, as they fight the enemy, create art, and reflect on their life. In the film, there are three animated sequences, in which Anya’s artworks come to life on the surface of the porcelain figurines. Each animation tells a story about the artists’ lives. The first focuses on their lives before the Russian invasion in 2014. The second one shares their experiences living under the roar of fighter jets, and missile strikes during the war, and reflects on life of people who had to flee their homes. The last one envisions a peaceful time in Ukraine when families can be together again after the war.

We were immediately touched by Anya and Slava’s life and art and couldn’t wait to start the creative collaboration with the filmmakers. Our first task was to replicate Anya’s style, based on the 3D scans from the real-life porcelain figurines. We needed to take into consideration her use of brushes and colors, as well as the imperfections of real-life artworks. If the illustrations were too perfect, they wouldn’t look realistic.

In the meantime, we fleshed out each animation's story based on Anya and Slava's recordings. When the illustrations were ready, we animated them frame-by-frame with additional animation and compositing done in After Effects. This approach required us to constantly preview the animations of the figurines' complicated surface to ensure there are no artifacts and the animation looks good on every part of the figurine, under every camera angle.

Besides recreating existing artworks, we were also creating completely new illustrations in Anya’s style, which required us to study her use of strokes and color closely, as well as the themes and symbols reflected in her works. We were very happy to have creative freedom when it came to storytelling, and we feel honored to be able to participate in the world-building of Anya and Slava’s universe.

The documentary debuted at the 2024 Sundance Festival, where it received the U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary and was well-received by critics. After its success at Sundance, the film started its festival run with US and European screenings.

The film has also been nominated for the Oscars for The Best Documentary Feature. Meanwhile, Anya and Slava continue their fight against the enemy for a bright future and to preserve the art that sustains their peers' hope.