Silent Flood
Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk / Ukraine & Germany / 2025 / 90 min
A festival hit that uses dazzling, hypnotic images to tell the story of a deeply religious and pacifist community whose way of life is threatened by the Russian invasion.
Along the Dniester River in western Ukraine, a small, strictly religious and pacifist minority lives in close harmony with nature. They cultivate the land with horses and carts, bake their own bread, and gather in the evening for candlelit dinners, as there is no electricity in the village. For decades, their peaceful existence has only been threatened by floods, storms, and destroyed fields.
When Russia’s invasion reaches even this remote area, everything changes. The men are called up, families are torn apart, and a way of life built on pacifism is challenged by the realities of war. Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk showed with his fiction film ‘Pamfir’ (2022) that he is a true visual artist, and in his almost tragically beautiful images, we experience a whole new side of Ukraine. ‘Silent Flood’ is a rare and thoughtful look at war from the sidelines and a unique insight into a fragile and timeless way of life.