EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based MMM Films has acquired international sales rights for Ukrainian director Mykyta Gibalenko’s drama Camouflage and released a first clip for the film ahead of its world premiere in Venice parallel section Giornate degli Autori.
Arthur Aliiev, who was in Venice in 2023 with Forever Forever, stars as 22-year-old Vitaly who leaves his native Ukraine for German in search of a new life just one year before the 2022 Russian invasion. He leaves behind his mother, a teacher shaped by the Soviet era, and his sister, who is deeply worried about her girlfriend working as a journalist on the eastern front.
Basing himself in Munich, he joins a student theatre group where, for the first time, he feels free to be himself. When Russia’s full-scale invasion breaks out, his mother and sister flee Ukraine and join him, bringing with them family conflicts and feelings of guilt that distance cannot silence.
Gibalenko, who had been living in Germany for close to a decade when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, told Deadline the film is inspired by his own experiences..
“For years, I had an urge to tell a story about migration and identity in the context of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The process began in 2022 with a couple of short films exploring these themes. Over time, the material gradually grew into a feature film,” he said.
“On the one hand, the film is closely tied to my own experience: migrating to Germany in 2013, searching for a new home, and developing a growing urge to reconnect with my Ukrainian roots. Camouflage explores the dilemma of living between identities through the journey of its main character, Vitaly. At the same time, this is not an individual coming-of-age story. Much of the film is research-based and aims to depict a bigger picture, following four main characters who have very different perspectives on war and migration.”
The feature is produced by Katharina Kolleczek and Leu Neu under the banner of the Munich-based company kalekone film, in co-production with ZDF.
“Mykyta approached us with Camouflage already backed by ZDF, who’d come on board based solely on the strength of the treatment. We knew Mykyta’s work well: his drive, his artistic vision, and what he had already achieved with his short films. It was a no-brainer,” Kolleczek and Leu Neu said of their involvement in the film.
“Camouflage is exactly the kind of story why we started kalekone film: personal, political, ambitious, and shaped by the people this story belongs to,” they continued. “Working with Mykyta from day one only deepened our confidence in the project. He genuinely values what cast and crew bring to the process, and has a rare instinct for knowing exactly which ideas complete his vision, and which ones may push it even further.”
Camouflage is among 10 features competing in Giornate degli Autori’s main competition which include Mia Wasikowska-starring drama Agata the Writer by Kuba Dorabialski and the section’s opening film, Lili Horvát’s My Notes on Mars with Mackenzie Davis and Rupert Friend.
“We were deeply impressed by the strength of what initially appears to be an intimate story about a young man trying to build a life away from home, a journey that will resonate with anyone who has left home to find their place elsewhere, and by Mykyta’s ability to gradually broaden this personal story into something much larger, set against one of the greatest tragedies of recent history,’ said MMM Films.
“Despite the gravity of the situation in the protagonist’s home country, we found the overall tone of the film remarkably balanced, never allowing the weight of its subject matter to overwhelm the deeply human story at its core.”
