Svitlana Lishchynska
Director/ Screenwriter · Documentary Feature
My motivation for my project “A Bit of a Stranger“
When I hear an old Soviet song or see a movie, I have controversial feelings. On the one hand, I have rejection, and on the other hand, nostalgia for that state of „happy ignorance“.
For many years I have lived with an uncertain identity, because I was born and raised in the USSR. When Russia started the war against Ukraine, I clearly defined myself as a Ukrainian. But over time, I realized that all my memories, all my experience, all that I loved, have nothing to do with Ukraine and its culture. That is why I often feel like a stranger among authentic Ukrainians. But I don’t want to identify myself as Russian. So who am I? I know that I am not the only one, many people from the east of Ukraine have a similar problem. I really want to start the search for a new identity for the residents of the Russified part of Ukraine, so that Russia can never manipulate the consciousness of the eastern Ukrainian population for the sake of its aggressive ambitions. I want to find something to cling to, where to start the revival, what mistakes we need to correct, what to forget, what to build on.
