Olivier Sarbil’s “Viktor,” opening in Los Angeles October 3, is a war documentary unlike any other. The title subject is a deaf Ukrainian man who wants to enlist in his country’s armed forces in 2022 when Russia launches its full-scale invasion. But as he notes right away in the trailer for “Viktor,” which IndieWire is proud to exclusively debut below, “The deaf are set aside. Out of touch with the hearing world.”
Instead, he becomes a war photographer documenting Ukraine‘s fight. Sarbil, the director, wanted to tell a story about the deaf community in Ukraine and how it was dealing with the war. The filmmaker was inspired by how he himself had lost hearing in one of his ears while making a previous war documentary in “Libya.” Sarbil, who serves as cinematographer on “Viktor” as well, shooting the film in striking black-and-white monochrome, ultimately realized that Viktor should be his subject. It’s a startling war film as character study, and builds off Sarbil’s previous work directing war documentaries for “Frontline,” including 2017’s “Mosul.”
“Viktor” premiered in the Platform section of TIFF 2024, and has since played the Hamptons International Film Festival, Deauville, and Camerimage, where it played in the documentary features competition.
The film has many unique stylistic choices. Deaf people still feel vibrations, of course, so it has a sound design that tries to replicate Viktor’s point of view, including being very vibration-heavy.
Giving the film a rave “A” review out of TIFF 2024, IndieWire said, “One of the unexpected gems of this year’s fest, ‘Viktor’ is a (Darren Aronofsky-produced) doc from the multi-award-winning director/DP Olivier Sarbil, a globetrotting conflict photojournalist who’s now chosen to set his latest in Ukraine. (Sarbil is also behind the 2019 Frontline doc ‘On the President’s Orders,’ co-directed with James Jones (‘Antidote’), a nail-biting investigative look at the former Philippines strongman Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly ‘war on drugs’ through both its mostly addict victims and chillingly remorseless perpetrators.) But what makes the film so extraordinary is that the ongoing invasion is not the focus but merely backdrop for a window into a truly unique POV on the Russian assault.”
“Viktor” opens October 3 at the Cinelounge Hollywood in Los Angeles. Its opening weekend will feature Q&As with Sarbil conducted by filmmakers Ondi Timoner and Amy Berg.
