Alice wants to live

"Alice Wants to Live" is an intimate, Kyiv-set drama. After a drone strike destroys her home, Alice, a graphic designer, meets Vadym, a soldier on leave. In a city marked by war, silence turns to tenderness as two wounded souls seek connection in a world urging them to stay numb.

"Alice Wants to Live" is an intimate drama set in Kyiv, where war has become part of daily life. After a drone strike destroys her home, Alice – a graphic designer in her thirties – finds an unexpected connection with Vadym, a soldier briefly on leave. What begins as shared silence turns into cautious intimacy, as two wounded people try to reclaim the right to tenderness.
The city around them breathes with threat and beauty, holding both trauma and resilience. This is a story of post-traumatic presence – of two people choosing closeness in a world that keeps urging them to stay numb.

Director's note

In this film, music is silence. We deliberately avoid conventional scores because this is a film about how silence sounds in a city under threat. Where other films might use violins or piano, we use breath, the splash of water in a bathtub, the sound of wind through a cracked window. A distant rumble – not seen, but felt in the body like a wave of tension. Today’s Kyiv doesn’t need embellishment. Its soundscape teaches us to listen – to the small, the real.

That's why, when music does appear, it cuts through everything. It’s not background, not ambience – it’s rupture. A moment when something shifts inside the character. A scream, a touch, a flight. Music here doesn’t accompany emotion – it is emotion. You don’t hear it – you’re inside it. And in a film like this, music is not an aesthetic choice. It’s a responsibility. It must only appear when the character has no other way – and when the audience can't stay on the outside anymore.

We deliberately chose the chamber form. One space isn’t a limitation – it’s a strength. It lets us stay inside the character without distractions, creating a closeness where every glance and sound carries weight. This doesn’t require a large crew or expensive tools - but it does demand total precision, concentration, and honesty. That’s what we do well. Our team knows how to work with limited resources and build tension from the simplest frame. This isn’t formal minimalism ' it's trust. Trust in the viewer. In the story. In the truth that’s louder than words.
The world is looking at Ukraine now. But it's not just looking at the frontline. It's searching for human stories – raw, fragile, unpolished. And this is exactly what our film offers. Ukrainian women’s cinema - sincere, deep, unafraid – is more needed than ever. We're ready to make this film the way it feels: a breath of truth, filmed with care.

Subjects:
sexuality, war, soul searching, mental health, tragedy