Landscapes, occasional conversations and encounters, and sounds that weave in and out of the frame compose Songs of Slow Burning Earth. Captured in varying proximities to the frontline over two years, the audiovisual diary of Ukraine’s immersion into the abyss of total war traces the subtle changes in Ukrainian society. The ragged chords of panic and horror of the first weeks of the Russian invasion slowly morph into the numb stillness of the acceptance of death and destruction, which eventually becomes the tragic normality for the local population, but just an afterthought for the rest of the world. Against the backdrop of the (meta)physical landscape of collective disaster, a new generation of Ukrainians aspires to imagine the future.

The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.

“Olha Zhurba seeks to tell the story of the war in Ukraine through the eyes of ordinary people (…) Despite the horror, every scene is filmed with an eye to beauty”
Nick Holdsworth, Modern Times Review