The fourth anniversary of the full-scale war in Ukraine once again brings us back to the personal stories of those who lived through the first months of the invasion at home — to the sound of sirens, explosions, and anxious news reports. Among them is filmmaker Sia Titova, who remained in Kyiv from the very beginning of the invasion and began making a film as a way to cope with fear and uncertainty. This is how the documentary «How Are You?» came into being, completed in 2023 with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. The film is dedicated not to heroes, but to children and ordinary people whose lives changed completely in a single day.
The director’s home is located on the outskirts of the capital — between the edge of Kyiv and the direction of Bucha and Hostomel, where heavy fighting took place during the first weeks of the war. This area stood between frontline events and the constant threat of missile attacks. It was here that Sia Titova spent the most тревожні months of the early invasion.
During that time she remained in the house with her seventeen-year-old son. Together they lived through the war in a space that was at once a home and a place of danger. The camera became a way of capturing a reality that changed from day to day, while at the same time helping to maintain a sense of inner balance.
Most of the filming took place at home. Gradually, the film took on the shape of a personal diary — an attentive observation of life during wartime. Everyday domestic scenes appear on screen: conversations, silences, and pauses between news updates and air raid sirens. The calm tone of the film creates a powerful sense of presence, as if the viewer were standing beside the characters at the very moment when history is changing before their eyes.
Sia attempts to continue teaching animation classes online, but the lessons turn into conversations with students who share their own wartime experiences. Some of these stories eventually became part of the film itself.
The title «How Are You?» echoes a simple question that after February 24, 2022 became a meaningful expression of mutual care. In the film, the question becomes a quiet leitmotif — an address to friends, strangers, and loved ones alike, to everyone living through the same wartime reality.
One of the central figures in the film is the director’s son. His presence gives the story a particular sincerity and a strong sense of time — a moment when youth unfolds alongside war. The camera captures not only tension and anxiety, but also fragments of ordinary life: conversations, waiting, and shared silences that reflect an effort to preserve normality despite constant danger.
For Sia Titova, working on the film became a way to endure a difficult period. In a situation defined by uncertainty and continuous threat, filming created a sense of forward movement and a way to reflect on personal experience. The camera became not only a documentary tool but also a source of inner support.
Part of the filming took place in Kharkiv, where the director recorded an interview with the violinist Vira, who remained in the city despite constant shelling. Her story became an important element of the film — a testimony to the resilience of artists who continued to live and work in immediate proximity to the front line.
A separate episode of the film is devoted to the stories of people who managed to escape from wartime Mariupol, which at that time stood at the epicenter of the war. Their testimonies convey the experience of a city that lived through one of the most tragic chapters of modern Ukrainian history. These accounts sound like living voices of the war — direct and powerful in their truthfulness.
How Are You? was completed in 2023 with the support of the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation. What began as a personal necessity to document events and emotions gradually evolved into a fully realized documentary project.
After completion, the film began its international festival journey. It was screened at film festivals in Sweden,the United Kingdom, and the United States, offering international audiences an opportunity to encounter the war not through news reports but through immediate human experience.
At the American Feedback Film Festival, «How Are You?» received the award for Best Social Film, marking an important moment of international recognition for the director.
Abroad, the film has often been received as an intimate testimony of life during wartime. Its boutique approach creates a strong sense of closeness to the characters and allows viewers to understand how everyday life changes under the pressure of constant danger. You can watch the film immediately on the Ukrainian platform Megogo, for the Ukrainian viewer it’s costless.
Working on the film became an important creative milestone for Sia Titova. She made the documentary at a moment when art became a way to process traumatic experience and preserve the memory of events unfolding nearby.
«How Are You?» is a film about presence and endurance — about people who remained in their cities and homes and continued to live through the most uncertain of times. There are no grand declarations in the film — only an attentive gaze directed at life as it continues despite war.
Today, four years after the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the film is perceived as a document of its time — a testimony to the first months of the war, when Ukrainians were learning to live within a new reality and to find support in the routines of everyday life.
