Roman Liubyi and Face2Face host David Peck talk about his new film Iron Butterflies, cultural diplomacy, artistic interpretations, poetry, war crimes, human rights, justice, propaganda, and creating monuments on screen.

Trailer

Synopsis:

On July 17, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot down over Eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board. While worldwide shock was immediate, failure to lay categorical blame would only amplify the tragedy. Filmmaker Roman Liubyi meticulously presents the intercepted radio communications, uploaded videos, and irrefutable evidence of Russia’s guilt.

But it is the film’s artful meditation on Russia’s incredible denials that powers its real indictment—by not immediately holding the guilty accountable and by allowing a Dutch court to provide the only international reprisal of the Russian state eight years later, the international community tacitly allowed the war in Ukraine to continue.

From sombre dance sequences at the plane’s wreckage to a recurring vignette of a child’s hands playing with butterfly-shaped shrapnel, Liubyi sounds the alarm over what should have been the world’s wake-up call to a war that was already underway.

About Roman:

Roman Liubyi is a Ukrainian director, editor, and animator working in screen arts, theater, and music. His debut feature documentary, War Note, is a surrealist cinematic journey to the front line of Ukraine’s war with the Russian Federation, edited from found footage shot by Ukrainian soldiers in 2014. Since 2013, Liubyi has been a part of the Babylon’13: Cinema of Civil Society film collective.

Image Copyright: Roman Liubyi and Babylon 13

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

For more information about David Peck’s podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here.

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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