ECHOES OF CHORNOBYL

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What emerges is an intimate historical document about photography as proof, the dangerous proximity to the incomprehensible, and voices that must not be lost.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.