Also presented by IFP for the sixth year at the ceremony was the deep euphoria Calvin Klein Spotlight on Women Filmmakers “Live the Dream” grant, a $25,000 cash award for an alumna of IFP’s Independent Filmmaker & Screen Forward Labs.
This grant aims to further the careers of emerging women directors by supporting the completion, distribution and audience engagement strategies of their first feature film or episodic series. The winner of the 2016 grant was Roxy Toporowych, director of Julia Blue, a forthcoming feature centering on the relationship between a university student and a traumatized soldier in war-torn Ukraine.
Tell me a little bit about what film you won the award for and your project.
I won the Deep Euphoria Calvin Klein Grant for Women Directors, and the name of my film is Julia Blue and it’s a grant that gives finishing funds towards completion of the film, and my movie is a love story set in modern day Ukraine, post-revolution, between a young student activist and a soldier from the war front.
What inspired it?
I am Ukrainian American. I won a Fulbright scholarship. I moved to Ukraine and I just saw what’s happening around me with the war and with young adults and how war affects young adults. I really felt that telling a story about Ukraine. The best way to tell it is through love, and I really want to tell a love story because there’s so many negative and sad things, but I think through love you can learn about culture, you can learn about people, and maybe learn a little bit about the crisis that’s happening now over there and the war there.
I don’t think, besides some of the news headlines, people really understand the complexity of the situation.
No, they don’t. Movies are brilliant because movies can show you a little glimpse and then it’s up to you to go home and research. It could be about any culture, any community and it just is a tool to use to learn about other people.
Did you film all of it in Ukraine?
I shot the entire film in Ukraine. It’s all in Ukrainian and Russian languages and post-production is in the city but everything was shot there. Ukrainian actors, everything.
What was that like for you? It sounds challenging.
Yeah. I wouldn’t advise making your first film in a foreign language at all, but because I speak fluent Ukrainian, it was okay. My actors were actually just phenomenal. My actors got it, especially my lead actress Polina, she was able to really grasp what I was trying to do. I’m the first American director that I know of to make a film in Ukraine, an independent film. It’s never been made before, so they were able to come along on the ride.
I was going to ask you, what is the film and TV situation like in the country right now?
There is a scene. They make good quality work. There’s a lot of music videos or commercials from outside, like European commercials shot there. As for Ukrainian language, Ukrainian films, a lot of them are historical. Maybe very old-fashion or historical or from the past. There’s some modern day. They tried to do one like Twilight I think.
What are the next steps for you after post-production? Is it distribution?
Yeah. Right now it’s about finishing post … We have an original score and sound design, color collection and all that has to be completed and done. We’ll do that for the next couple of months and then hopefully film festivals and distribution and I’d love to make another film.
The evening was also presented by Fiji Water and Landmark Vineyards.