Honeymoon (LUXFILMFEST)

..Zhanna OZIRNA, 84 min, 2024 - Ukraine
In February 2022, Taras and Olya spend their first night in their new flat near Kyiv only to be awoken at dawn by explosions: Russian troops have invaded. The couple soon find themselves trapped in the flat. Cut off from the world and without basic amenities, they must find a way to survive.
This audacious debut film quickly transitions from a story of domestic intimacy to a tightly wound thriller. Its pared-down approach–two actors, one setting, and a restricted use of non-diegetic sound–enables Ozirna to focus her attention on the interiority of her two characters, who, caught in the midst of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, must grapple with crises both immediate and existential.