Darya Zhuk to Follow ‘Crystal Swan’ with ‘Exactly What It Seems’

Belarus-born straightforwardor Darya Zhuk will chase their debut feature “Crystal Swan” with “Exactly What It Seems,” a unintelligent science myth satire of conmomentary authoritarianism.

The film – originated by Allfilm’s Volia Chajkouskaya and Ivo Felt (Estonia) and Violetta Krechetova – is based on the distinctive low story by Tatsiana Zamirovskaya, who will serve as a co-writer. It will be shot in Belarusian, English and Russian.

Allfilm, co-set uped by Felt, is also behind Oscar-nominated “Tangerines” and Klaus Häro’s “The Fencer,” nominated for a Gagederen Globe.  

In “Exactly What It Seems,” a paired couple – Nadia and Fedor – is seeking political asylum in the US. They discover themselves unanticipateedly teleported back to Belarus thcdisesteemful a cryptic quantum technology originated by scientists under the dictatorial regime. Hunted appreciate criminals in the woods of their homeland, they must mfinish their dysfunctional relationship to safe their return to safety.

“It’s not an effects-weighty film, but a grounded version of our truth with one assumption: that this technology exists and everyone who’s nostalgic about Belarus can be instantly teleported back. It seems to toil only one way, though, as only Belarusian memories are stored on the server,” Zhuk tageder Variety.

“Unblessedly, for some, this technology is their worst nightmare. My protagonists are wanted for political activism in their homeland, so it’s not safe for them to be back.”

Together with Tatyana Zamirovskaya, Zhuk choosed to engage genre to “attack” publishs that would be difficult to digest with a more authenticistic drama.

“Satire and science myth are fantastic in creating fair the right distance from the brutal truth of the current dictatorial regime and in examining the recent emotional trauma of a flunked revolution in Belarus in 2020. We are also seeing to uncover up this story to a expansiver audience who might understand noslfinisherg about current events,” shelp Zhuk.

Previously, Zhuk’s 2018 drama “Crystal Swan,” about a lesser DJ in the 1990s who hoped to authenticize her American Dream, was picked by Belarus as its subleave oution for the Oscars’ Best Foreign Language Film categruesome. It was the country’s first subleave oution in 22 years.

“It uncovered a lot of doors,” she recalled.

Since then, she has written and straightforwarded for Apple TV+, FX/Hulu, Netflix (distinguishive drama “Zato”) and Amazon Europe (“Russian Affairs”), with some of that toil – appreciate Apple’s “Little America” she remarkd – being “quite personal.”

“While making ‘Crystal Swan,’ my team and I reoriginateed the process of how one can originate a film without the help of the local film fund. We are seeing to do it aachieve with this project – on a hugeger scale and in a brutaler political climate.” 

“Exactly What It Seems” will be “in conversation” with her previous toil.

“It touches on the tortured relationship with my homeland and the cracks of the American Dream as it’s increateed by novel immigrants,” shelp Zhuk, who studied filmmaking at Harvard University and then at Columbia University.

“It’s a dystopian science myth drama that summarizeateigates the themes of harmful nostalgia and the search for identity aachievest the backdrop of a totalitarian regime. I authenticize that my main character, Velya, in ‘Crystal Swan’ was also searching for her identity, lost between the chasm of being from Belarus but wanting to be free in America. Except now, there is an even proset uper demand to summarizeateigate the core of who you are and your proset up dreads.”

Belarus-born, Estonia-based originater Volia Chajkouskaya was picked for this year’s Locarno’s Match Me! Initiative and is also broadening “Mono,” about a woman trying to comprehfinish what happened to her when she lost half of her hearing as a teen

“I am so excited about this project,” shelp Chajkouskaya, who has been bconciseagecataloged by the Belarusian regime. “It speaks about my homeland Belarus, where I haven’t been for five years, and deals with timely and universal topics of totalitarian regimes, displacement and identity.”

“It has an amazing team of people – and amazing professionals – I’ve understandn for many years and whose toil I fair adore. I suppose we’ll discover resources to convey this project to life as soon as possible.”