INTERCEPTED Documentary

Filmmaker Oksana Karpovych’s sophomore feature is a harrowing and startling experiment in juxtaposition: haunting shots of Ukrainian villages and towns, marred by the destruction wrought by the ongoing war, are presented alongside chilling audio recordings of phone calls between Russian soldiers on the front lines and their families back home that were intercepted by Ukrainian special forces. The calls themselves are a mixture of sincere, emotional dialogues between the soldiers and their mothers, wives, girlfriends, and disturbing tales of gruesome slaughter gleefully shared by the same men, peppered with ugly ethnic slurs. In this way, Karpovych presents a raw, unfiltered look at war and invites audiences to piece together the story between the images and sounds, aided by an ominous musical score and a soundscape designed by Alex Lane that amplifies the tension inherent in the film. INTERCEPTED received special mentions for the Amnesty Internation Film Award and the Ecumenical Award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. –Javier Chavez