After – Sophie Lenartovych – Ukraine

Mother died, having saved others’ lives during a pandemic. Devastated and lonely, her daughter continues to struggle with inner demons and the terrible pressure of society, when death is raging around.

Sofiia Holovetska was born in Ukraine in 2001 and studied at Economic Lyceum, Ternopil. Nowadays she’s one of the most successful third-year students at the Institute of Architecture at the Lviv Polytechnic National University.

Sofiia attended the dance club for 8 years. She graduated from drama school and music school in 2015 perfectly well. She’s been drawing and painting all her life. That’s why she had a scholarship in fine arts from the City Council of Ternopil, 2017/2018.

At 16 y.o. she had an experience of working as a journalist for different Internet-articles, recording audio poetry and fairy tales for blind children, and was an activist of public organization. Sofiia had journalistic practice at Nazar Voitovich Art Residence in 2017.

Sofiia and her friends have also created a platform for young artists “Neskazane” (“Unspoken”), 2018. The first literature event, arranged by “Neskazane”, was held in October, 2018. Of course, she has dozens of victories at different contests and olympiads, and during studying at school Sofiia had a scholarship in literature and poetry from the City Council of Ternopil. When she was 14 y.o. she won at many poetry contests at the regional level. From that moment she’s been participating at the literature events, performances and other art events.

Director Statement

A very important fact: I’m writing under the pseudonym “Sophie Lenartovych”. Lenartovych is the maiden name of my deceased mother in the initial variant ’cause after WW II, during the census, it was mistakenly changed to Lernatovych. Actually, my lineage comes from Boykivshchyna – an ethnic region in the Carpathian mountains. My grand grandpa, who held the Lenartovych surname, was shot in front of his kids ’cause he did not betray insurgents. So I took this pseudonym as a kind of tribute to the Boyko’s Lenartovych family, covered in legends and nearly wiped out by history.

To begin with, I’m seeking refuge in art ’cause it helps me not to get stuck in a senseless routine, unsolved problems, and to experience losses of the dearest people in my life.

I’ve been creating poetry films for last year. The only pieces of equipment I had for making the video were an iPhone and a video montage app. And I want to prove that art is accessible for everyone and under any circumstances – it is the result of creative thinking and unusual way of dealing with the problem. And so the budget of such videos is basically non-existent.

An idea of filming video poetry was forming during the quarantine. When an unrestrained flow of ideas and panic was stopped – the only thing that left was to concentrate on the transformation, to hear inside a silent voice that was drowned in thousands of screams. That period of not only physical but mental isolation from stereotypical cliches, models of behavior, and everlasting dogmas is vital for every person during the information war.

The text and plot of the film are almost autobiographical. My mom was a doctor but she died before the coronavirus outbreak. She was a bright angel who was saving both people’s bodies and souls. Unfortunately, mom has failed to defeat the pandemic of ignorance, cruelty, and hypocrisy, but she left a valuable memory behind. And now I continue her struggle and I’m not afraid to share my experience with others. Because death is always side-by-side with life, no matter how will we try to avoid this theme. So I decided to distance myself from a constant hunt for unknown and to talk honestly with myself, to let me feel the most beautiful and pitiful conditions, to get with them along and then let them go.

Because all fears begin and end inside your head.
Because the fear of public condemnation is the basis of morale, the fear of God’s laws is the basis of religion.
The fear is the mightiest manipulator.
The fear paralyzes.

But you always have a choice, my friend, despite the beginning. Who are you now and who you will be – that’s what matters.

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