my grandmother
is a skydiver
the film has been chosen for the official cannes selection la cinef in 2025
synopsis: alfyia, a joyful young woman in 1960s central asia, is actively parachuting and studying to become a midwife, when she receives an extraordinary phone call from her granddaughter in 2022. she is worried about her grandmother's safety amid the invasion of ukraine. in this intergenerational conversation across time and space, the granddaughter tries to restore and rethink family memory and her own ethnic identity, break the endless cycle of collective trauma, and reflect on the meaning of human life
musical concept: for this film, i used bashqort and tatar folk music as well as ukrainian folk lullaby for inspiration.
orchestral cues were recorded with the german film orchestra babelsberg (deutsches filmorchester babelsberg)
2025
director: polina piddubna
music: ilja gussarov
credits:
written, directed and produced by polina piddubna
editor - jin ju lee
sound design and mix by danylo okulov
lead animator and layout artist - yulia khivrina
animators - daria sherstiukova, emilien bremaud, oleksandr chub, lera belkevych, lino held, emily worms, polina piddubna, sofia ostaltseva, nathalie kretschmer, sofiia buchko
background design by anna lutsiuk
graphic design by yulia saatova, dariia yudina
compositing artist - nikita savenko
voice actors - mahla mosahaneh, polina piddubna, boshra alkasir, victoria kosorukova, dinara rasuleva, alfiya popowichenko