Registration REQUIRED by 4pm on February 3, 2026 in order to attend this event.
Please join the Ukrainian Film Club for a preview screening and discussion of “Mama’s Voice.” The preview screening will be introduced by Yuri Shevchuk who will also moderate the post-screening discussion with director Ganna Yarovenko and producer Larysa Yarovenko.
In the early days of Russia’s full scale invasion, film director Ganna flees with her children and elderly mother from Russian gunfire near Kyiv. Amidst the chaos, they find shelter in Poland with Kaja, an artist, singer, and mother of five, who welcomes them as a family. Despite the language barrier, the Ukrainian and Polish mothers form a deep bond that helps Ganna confront trauma, loss, and the terrifying new reality of war. Ganna’s family is torn between those who left and those who stayed. Her father, Petro, refuses to abandon his land near Bucha, surviving the Russian occupation while stubbornly tending to his garden. Her young daughter Malva quickly adapts to life in Poland, while her teenage son Orest struggles with loneliness. Meanwhile, Malva’s father—a renowned folk musician—promises to reunite with them at a music festival in Poland, though wartime restrictions rarely allow Ukrainian men to leave the country. What will it take for his family, fractured by war, to come together again? Told through the lens of a refugee, the film captures the experiences of Ukrainian women and children.
Director’s Statement: I have lost my voice twice—first after throat surgery, and again on February 24, 2022, during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. As the occupying forces closed in on our home, I grabbed my children and fled to Poland fearing for their safety. There, I met Kaja, an artist, singer, and mother of five, who welcomed us as a family in their home. Through her friendship, I found my voice again. This film is my diary of those first months of war.
Ganna Yarovenko, born in 1974 in Kyiv, Ukraine (then USSR), is a Ukrainian director, screenwriter, journalist, cinematographer, and editor. She graduated from the Institute of Journalism at Taras Shvechenko National University of Kyiv (1996), and from the Karpenko-Kary State Institute of Film and Theatre Arts (1999), with a degree in documentary film directing. Since 2000, she has been a member of the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine, and since 2016, a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy. Since February 26, 2022, Ganna has been living in Poland with her mother and children.
About the Yarovenko Sisters’ Production: This film began as a family project with a minimal budget after Ganna became a refugee in Poland. Her sister Larysa, based in Canada, took on the role of producer. In March 2024, the project won the Grand Prix in the pitching competition at Artdocfest in Riga, Latvia. Filmed in Mława, Poland, and Zabuchchia, Ukraine between April and June 2022, “Mama’s Voice” is an intimate portrait of a displaced Ukrainian family during the first months of the Russian invasion.
