Adelina Borets
Film Director · Documentary Feature
My motivation for my project „Flowers of Ukraine“
I was born and raised in Mariupol. I was 16 in 2014, when missiles fell on my city and my parents decided to send me to Kyiv to protect me from the war. During my trip there, I met Natalia, the protagonist of the film. Her life story aroused amazing emotions in me. The old lady (68) lives on a small plot of land surrounded by large blocks of flats and does not want to leave this place for anything in the world. I remembered the history of my family, which, however, had no choice, we had to leave our place of birth (first – Chernobyl and then Mariupol).
Natalia doesn’t have an easy life, but she is very happy because she is at home, in her world, in her place, surrounded by nature. She is free. She is the Queen in her territory with wonderful nature and flowers.
In the first days of the war in Kyiv, I was with her. For me, these nights were the scariest of my life. Even then, Natalia kept her steadfast spirit, she applied for civil defense, but they did not accept her. She began her fight, as best she could. She makes Molotov cocktails and weaves camouflage nets for the army. We observe it all with the camera.
When helplessness is on fire from within, the only way to escape is to speak up about your pain. I feel needed and fulfilled because the film „Flowers of Ukraine“ is not only about Natalia. I believe, her private history could be a true metaphor for the entire Ukrainian nation that is fighting for its Independence.
