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Porcelain War

Directors

Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev

Executive Producers

Al Hicks, Luke Mazzaferro, Rob Galluzzo, Linda A. Cornfield, David J. Cornfield, Sheri Sobrato, Jeffrey Sobrato, Lisa Sobrato Sonsini, Ginny Jordan, Georgia Welles, Garrett Cayton, Andrea Cayton, Robina Riccitiello, Josh Peters, James Balog, Joe Barnathan, Kevin Marciano

Producers

Aniela Sidorska, Paula DuPre' Pesmen, Camilla Mazzaferro, Olivia Ahnemann

Editors

Brendan Bellomo, Aniela Sidorska, Kelly Cameron

Cinematographer

Andrey Stefanov

Amidst the chaos and destruction of the brutal Russian invasion of Ukraine, three artists defiantly find inspiration and beauty as they defend their culture and their country. In a war waged by professional soldiers against ordinary civilians, Slava Leontyev, Anya Stasenko, and Andrey Stefanov choose to stay behind, armed with their art, their cameras, and, for the first time in their lives, their guns. Despite daily shelling, Anya finds resistance and purpose in her art, Andrey takes the dangerous journey to get his young family to safety abroad, and Slava becomes a weapons instructor for ordinary people who have become unlikely soldiers. As the war intensifies, Andrey picks up his camera to film their story, and on tiny porcelain figurines, Anya and Slava capture their idyllic past, uncertain present, and hope for the future. Co-directed by Leontyev and Brendan Bellomo, with extraordinary footage from first-time cinematographer Stefanov, Porcelain War embodies the passion and fight that only an artist can put back into the world when it’s crumbling around them.

Post-screening discussion with co-directors Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev, participant and associate producer Anya Stasenko, and Frodo, moderated by Anne Applebaum, Staff Writer, The Atlantic.

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Slava Leontyev

Co-director, Porcelain War 

Slava Leontyev is a first-time director born into a family of biologists in Ukraine. Merging his love of nature and art, Leontyev has spent his life studying painting, photography, graphic design, and art theory. Alongside his wife and longtime collaborator Anya Stasenko, Leontyev now creates the porcelain sculptures as featured in the film Porcelain War. He is also a former soldier of the Ukrainian Special Forces and a highly regarded weapons instructor for civilians who are currently defending their country against Russian aggression.

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Brendan Bellomo

Co-director, Porcelain War 

Brendan Bellomo is the recipient of a 2009 Student Academy Award® for Live Action Narrative. Bellomo’s passion for storytelling was first sparked when he was a child. Beginning his career in visual effects, he supervised the 2012 Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner and Oscar® nominee for Best Picture, Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight). Most recently, Bellomo was the executive producer of the Netflix original film Chupa. Bellomo worked closely with Annie Leibovitz on the global exhibit, “Women: New Portraits” and designed the curriculum for the first visual effects course at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, which led him on the path to eventually meet his directing partner, Slava Leontyev.