EQUINOX
experimental film, 24:34
As winter and spring meet in the Carpathian Mountains, Mavka awakens. She wanders through the woods in search of those who speak with serpents, seeking an answer to a question: when will the birds return from Vyriy?
Statement:
Equinox is an experimental film shaped by ethnographic research, field recordings, oral histories, and folklore sources. Set in the Ukrainian Carpathians in early spring, the project grew out of my interest in an old ritual of making and hanging bird-shaped bread in trees to call the birds back from Vyriy. This image became a starting point for my research into the idea of returning and belonging, and the fragile boundary between human and natural cycles.
I am interested in ritual as a living practice — one that connects generations, creates a sense of belonging, carries collective knowledge, and fosters resilience in times of uncertainty. What could bring people together? How do birds know when it is time to return? What could connect those who stayed and those who left?
The film combines elements of documentary observation with an experimental and poetic visual language, allowing ethnographic material and fictional imagery to coexist. The figures of Mavka, Shum, and the presence of the molfars (folk sorcerers) become ways of entering a world where traditional beliefs, nature, and the unseen remain intertwined.
The sonic landscape brings together field recordings, Carpathian musical traditions, cello, bandura, drymba, piano, and handmade ceramic whistles and ocarinas.