ECHOES OF CHORNOBYL

Directors:

Writers:

Lana Delaroche

Producers:

Lana Delaroche

Run Time:

1:00:00

Awarded for the following Category(s):

Awarded Category(s)

Igor Kostin’s sudden death shatters a plan. Two photographers and a sound designer race to protect the last witnesses. Every image speaks, the silence between images tells the truth.

Echoes of Chornobyl is a documentary about memory, witness, and the cost of telling the truth. Planned around legendary photographer Igor Kostin, the project collapses when he dies just before shooting begins. The director starts over, filming key witnesses in 2016. A year later, photographer Naumov dies. Then Russia’s full-scale invasion severs contact with others -among them Vasyl, who could not reach a shelter when the war began. A small team fights to preserve what remains. Photography becomes evidence, sound becomes memory, and silence becomes the film’s core language.

Echoes of Chornobyl chooses an unusual perspective on the inexplicable. The documentary tells the story of two photographers and a sound designer who directly witnessed and documented the Chornobyl disaster. Driven entirely by their personal accounts and haunting photographs, the film serves as a deeply moving homage to courageous media workers.

The production itself became a test of resilience for director Lana Delaroche. Originally conceived as a multilingual portrait of the legendary Ukrainian photographer Igor Kostin, the project was intended to bridge the tragedies of Chornobyl and Fukushima, drawing on Kostin’s personal connection to Japan. However, the project took a devastating turn when Kostin died in a fatal accident the night before the director and producer arrived in Kyiv. With its main protagonist gone, the Japanese storyline collapsed. Faced with this sudden narrative void and the financial blow of forfeited flights and hotels for the Japan shoot, the production company withdrew from the film. Refusing to let the project die, Delaroche took matters into her own hands, pushing the documentary forward entirely independently.

Filmed before the outbreak of the current war, the documentary carries a heartbreaking new urgency today. The relentless passage of time has already claimed the life of one of the featured photographers. Furthermore, Russia’s full-scale invasion has severed contact with the remaining witnesses - among them Vasyl and the sound designer Jury. Because of this tragic reality, the film transforms into a vital act of preservation.

What emerges is an intimate historical document about photography as proof, the dangerous proximity to the incomprehensible, and voices that must not be lost. The film weaves together personal memories, striking imagery, and meticulous sound design. This human tragedy is juxtaposed with the landscapes and wildlife of the Exclusion Zone, serving as a silent, natural counter-movement to the destruction caused by man.

Submitter Statement

I realised Echoes of Chornobyl because the first witnesses are falling silent. I knew Igor Kostin and helped prepare his planned exhibition in Vienna as an interpreter. When he died just before a shooting, a plan became a promise. I was fourteen during the disaster in Lviv and, like many, carried invisible consequences I only understood years later. A private memory now meets the public record these photographers created. In 2016 I filmed key witnesses. A year later, Naumov was gone. Then the full-scale invasion cut contact with others - among them Vasyl, who could not reach a shelter when the bombing began. This film is guided by a simple idea: photography is not illustration, it is survival. I work with long silences that say more than speech. Sound treats the Exclusion Zone as an instrument. The closer we listen, the clearer it becomes that every image tells a story, and the silence between images tells the truth. Why now: access is shrinking, disinformation is growing, and nuclear power is again central to public debate. This film is an act of care for those who gave the world proof. My task is to help that proof endure.

Lana Delaroche (Ruslana Berndl) is a documentary filmmaker, producer, and researcher born in Lviv, Ukraine, and based in Vienna, Austria, since 1995. Her work stands at the distinct intersection of cinema and historical inquiry, focusing on memory, displacement, and the impact of totalitarian regimes. She holds a Master of Arts in TV and Film Production from Danube University Krems and a Master of Philosophy in Translation Studies from the University of Vienna. Her background also includes extensive research at the Institute of Contemporary History (University of Vienna), where she focused on WWII prisoners of war and the "Ostarbeiter" experience. Ultimately prioritizing cinematic expression over academic theory, she channeled this expertise into her filmmaking. She was a fellow of the research seminar at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and co-authored the book The Prisoners from Ukraine in the Concentration Camp Mauthausen. As a filmmaker, Lana combines this rigorous investigative approach with artistic storytelling. Her acclaimed documentary Sunday in Strasbourg (2019) depicts the fate of Ukrainian forced laborers and won awards at the Essex Doc Fest and Beyond Time Ukraine. Her filmography also includes The Austrian Road (2016) and The Source (2021). She has participated in leading European industry labs. A true explorer, she has also undertaken expeditions to the North Pole and Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, documenting these experiences.

Key Cast

Naumov Naumov, Vasyl Pyasetskyi, Yuriy Ponochevnyi

Other Credits