In Songs of Slow Burn­ing Earth, film­mak­er Olha Zhurba doc­u­ments Ukraine’s slow descent into the abyss of war over two years. But what does war truly mean and what images can cap­ture its impact on people? Crowds push­ing onto over­crowd­ed trains, tank tracks lining the streets, destroyed homes?

In this film, war creeps in through your ear. You cannot pro­tect your­self from it, even in your sleep. A caller asks the night-time hot­line - she thinks she has heard rocket fire. What should she do? A pro­jec­tile rips through the air above a bread fac­to­ry. The work­ers briefly glance up at the ceil­ing, then con­tin­ue work­ing. Olha Zurba col­lects these moments almost like a diary.

Death is present. Graves are being dug, yet the camera respect­ful­ly turns away from those killed. Again and again, gun­fire sounds, sirens wail, and the explo­sions come closer. Then, sud­den­ly, the film falls almost silent. In the longest shot, the camera peers through the wind­screen of a pickup truck lead­ing a convoy of corpses. Along the road­side, people kneel in silent respect for the dead.

With a clear focus on the side of human­i­ty, the direc­tor cap­tures what this war does to people, but also what they do to resist it.

Olha Zhurba is a Ukrain­ian film direc­tor, editor and screen­writer. Songs of Slow Burn­ing Earth is her second fea­ture length doc­u­men­tary. Films: DAD’s SNEAKERS (2021), OUTSIDE (2022), SONGS OF SLOW BURNING EARTH  (2024)

Awards: RIGA IFF FEATURE FILM COMPETITION; DOC FUTURE AWARD at Verzio IDFF Hun­gary; BEST FILM at Tertio Mil­len­nio Film Fest; Spe­cial Jury Award at Rome Doc­u­men­tary FF; Best Fea­ture film at Big Sky Doc­u­men­tary FF