"WOUNDED" is a powerful artistic documentary based on the stage play directed by Marta Pysanko. This film, directed by Marta Pysanko and Mykhailo Mastierovyi (mindik), captures the raw and heartfelt experiences of Ukrainians affected by the war, brought to life through real stories, modern poetry, and songs.

Featuring a versatile cast, "WOUNDED" portrays multiple perspectives of refugees, highlighting their resilience and emotional journey. The minimalist stage design and evocative visuals create an immersive experience, blending documentary filmmaking with artistic expression.

"WOUNDED" seeks to bridge the gap between those who have lived through war and those who have not, fostering empathy and understanding through the enduring power of storytelling and art.

No metaphors work against an armed soldier. No poetry can save you from a tank that runs over your car as you are trying to take your kids away from the war. There is no room for poetry in the wreckage of your apartment block, where you were staying for days, incapable of saving your children from the basement underneath.

With each day, I find it harder to explain to outsiders how the war feels to us here, from the inside. Our very intention to explain fades. Our language loses clarity. Poetry is not for us anymore. When your husband is fighting at the war, your relatives suffer horrible occupation and your other relatives live under constant shelling in Kharkiv, it’s hardly possible to prove superior to all of that. In such a case, poetry takes on strange forms of either spontaneous prayers, sparing testimony, or even a curse upon the enemy. These are not the forms of poetry, the modern European culture is used to. They are ritualistic and functional, way too primitive in their emotion, way too subjective, pathetic, and intolerant. It’s hardly possible to be tolerant towards your enemy, because after having killed once, he’ll continue with the next. You could hardly prove superior to this.

I don’t know any poetry that could heal this wound. This war is killing us all, each in their own way. Though we may look safe and sound, but we can’t get through life in brief dashes between air alarms and funerals. We startle from loud sounds. Our little kids have a background in hiding from bombs, and they no longer cry out of fear. In their childhood, they have already learned that the cry can cost their lives. And this is still not a metaphor.

War makes everything so straightforward that almost no room remains for poetry, only for testimony — "Slava"Ukraini!".

Many thanks to our crew and everyone who participated:

A FILM BY

Pysanko Marta & Misha Mindik @marpholomia @mind1k

A STAGE PERFORMANCE DIRECTED BY

Pysanko Marta

Okhrytkova Polina @marpholomia @okhrytkova

STARRING

ACTORS

Sofiia Kroshka @sofia_kroshka

Polina Kundirenko @polinakundi

Yelyzaveta Khaleska @li.khaleska

DANCERS

Vlada Bilovodenko @vlada.blw

Milena Pysareva @milenapysareva5

MUSICIANS

Dmytro Gavryliuk @dmitriy.ga_

Tymofii Hrynkivskyi @tima_churai

Tymofii Medoliz @mdlz_tm

SINGER

Sofiia Matsyshyna @vpalaa

CINEMATOGRAPHY BY

Michael Mastierovyi @mind1k

Corey O‘Connor

Illia Zhukovin

Nadiia Daus @krapli_art

LIGHT TECHNIQUE BY

Zaiats Mykhailo

SOUND ENGINEERING BY

Aleksei Makarevich @alex.vixh

Ostap Matviyiv @vidsutnist

MUSIC COMPOSING BY

Tymofii Hrynkivskyi

SOUND COMPOSING BY

Aleksei Makarevich

COSTUME DESIGN BY

Mykola Kravchenko @catative

STAGE DESIGN BY

Studio Ukraine @studioukraine

Mykola Kravchenko

ARTWORK “HOME” BY

Sofiia Holubeva @sofiia_holubeva

GRAPHIC DESIGN BY

Sofiia Zibareva @sophpiece

ASSISTANCE BY

Yerofieienko Ihor

Maksym Kochkarov

Maksym Husar

ANIMATION BY

Kamyanska Аlyona

ASSEMBLY AND INSTALLATION BY

Lindenpark crew

SPECIAL THANKS TO

Ukraine-Hilfe Potsdam e.V. and Lindenpark Potsdam @ukraine_hilfe_potsdam @lindenpark.potsdam