Maria, who was forced to leave Ukraine, embarks on a quest for a neighbor in her rented apartment in Budapest. She extends an invitation for like-minded women to drop by, explore the flat, and talk. One by one, potential neighbors visit her. The discussions about food habits and cleanliness in the house transition into intimate conversations about the feeling of home and loneliness. And when Ukrainian girls visit Maria the search for a neighbor turns into an exchange of details about the traumatic experience of war and forced displacement.
Home is 1117 km away
- Marta Smerechynska
- Hungary
- 2024
- 14 mins
- Fri Jan 24
- 12:00 PM
- Market Hall
- Virtual / Hybrid Available
It's Maria from Kyiv. Seeking a female roommate in downtown Budapest! Cozy apartment, shared bathroom, close to amenities. Rent: 400€ + bills. Drop by to check out:)
- English, Ukrainian
- Captioned in English
About the Filmmaker
- https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100004653136515
- https://www.instagram.com/smerechynska_m/
- Filmmaker: Marta Smerechynska
- Writer: Marta Smerechynska
- Producer: Marta Smerechynska
- Other Credits: Sound Design: Mariia Ivashchenko ; Music: Roman Mulenko; Color: Ivan Fomichenko
Marta Smerechynska (1997) is a Ukrainian documentary filmmaker. She holds academic degrees from I.K. Karpenko-Kary University in Kyiv, La Fémis in Paris, and the DocNomads Erasmus Master’s program in Portugal, Hungary, and Belgium. Her films have been screened at over 30 festivals, including Visions du Réel, Sarajevo Film Festival, DMZ Docs, PÖFF Shorts, and FipaDoc.
Marta’s feature-length debut documentary focuses on reconnecting with her sister, who has become a nun, by exploring life in her new home—a remote women’s monastery in the West of Ukraine. Recently, Marta has been focusing on portraying various facets of the Ukrainian wartime experience in her films.