Film “The Illusion of a Quiet Night” by Olha Chernykh Receives Special Mention at Visions du Réel Festival in Switzerland

The Ukrainian documentary film “The Illusion of a Quiet Night” by director Olha Chernykh has received a Special Mention at the international film festival Visions du Réel in the Burning Lights competition program.

This was reported by Suspilne.

The film, commissioned by Suspilne in collaboration with the “Tabor” team, was presented at the 57th edition of the festival, which took place in Nyon from April 17 to 26. The film is part of the Burning Lights competition, which focuses on innovative documentary cinema.

“The Illusion of a Quiet Night” is a large-scale collective project: it was filmed over a single night in July 2025 with the participation of more than 40 camera operators and hundreds of people from different regions of Ukraine.

The film captures the night of July 27–28, 2025 — from northern forests to southern steppe regions, from frontline areas to cities that experienced air attacks. People of different ages, professions, and backgrounds took part in the filming, documenting their own reality during the war. The result is a collective portrait of a country at war, combining wide-scale imagery with intimate observations.

According to the team, the project became an experimental and at the same time emotional expression of life in the country during curfew hours.

How the film is being received internationally

International critics have already noted the scale and concept of the film. Reviewers highlight its multilayered narrative and the combination of different experiences — from everyday scenes to life shaped by war.

“Although the film shows how Ukrainians steadfastly continue to live their lives, there is an eerie undertone in the storytelling. As we learn from the titles, most Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure take place at night. In July 2025 alone, 286 civilians were killed. Over the past three years, more than 15,000 civilians have been killed,” Business Doc Europe reports.

At Cineuropa, the film is described as a collective portrait of people who, despite the war, “are searching for even a little hope” and preserving their sense of humanity:

“The lightness associated with everyday activities has given way to fear, as they anxiously await a future marked by destruction and chaos: a resigned dog lies in an apartment waiting for the bombing to stop, a giraffe stares blankly in an empty zoo, and a mother tries to comfort her child by telling them that the sounds they hear are just familiar air raid sirens. But despite everything, the desire to live and resist never leaves this wounded people, who have no intention of giving up.”

Meanwhile, the International Cinephile Society described the film as “a stark reminder that when war becomes everyday life, no night is ever truly quiet again.”

“The film has neither a narrative nor a stylistic line, which makes some episodes difficult to watch, but it conveys the unbreakable spirit of the Ukrainian people. They have accepted this as part of their lives, at least temporarily, because they know that their country’s freedom is more important than their temporary discomfort,” the review stated.

The film’s world premiere took place on April 21 as part of the festival. For Suspilne, this is only the second time a documentary has participated in an event of this level.

The television premiere of “The Illusion of a Quiet Night” for a wider audience is scheduled for the second half of 2026 on Suspilne’s TV channels and digital platforms.

EMPR