Institute History
Description
Directing Award: World Cinema Documentary
This place is not what you think of when you hear the word “orphanage.” A temporary house for abandoned children near the front line in eastern Ukraine is run by a small group of social workers determined to provide comfort and safety. It may be humble and somewhat run-down, but this house is filled with love and offers up to nine months of refuge to kids whose fate will be determined by the system. During this short time, the caretakers try to nurture within them a sense of stability and normalcy.
Following up on his acclaimed first feature, The Distant Barking of Dogs, Simon Lereng Wilmont goes back to exploring the impact that conflict has on children’s developing identities. The burden they carry, not just that of war but also of abandonment and violence, is profound and palpable here. In A House Made of Splinters, Wilmont listens carefully and achieves a striking level of intimacy and urgency that exposes the cycle of dysfunction and systemic failure. These kids don’t always have a say, but at least here they have a voice.