With the recent escalation of Russia’s war on Ukraine, the seemingly unbreakable bond of a vibrant cheerleading team of 50+ year old women called ‘Nice Ladies’ is challenged. They face impossible choices between motherland and grandmotherhood, between staying and leaving. Core team member Sveta flees with her family to the Netherlands, while captain Valia and coach Nadia stay behind in the repeatedly bombed city of Kharkiv. Torn apart, the ladies try to keep contact to hold on to their sanity amid terror, heartbreak, and the plague of Sveta's survivor’s guilt. Will the team be able to reunite, save their sisterhood, and find a common language through the emerging scars of war?
Content warning: depiction of war
CREW:
Director: Mariia Ponomarova
Producer: Rogier Kramer, Laura Bouwmeester, Alina Gorlova, Maksym Nakonechnyi
Cinematographer: Sveta Aparina, Niels van Koevorden, Lola Mooij
Sound: Kamila Wojcik
Director
Mariia Ponomarova
Mariia Ponomarova is a Ukrainian film director, screenwriter and creative producer based in The Netherlands. Mariia studied directing at Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv National University of Theatre, Cinema & Television in Ukraine graduating cum laude in 2013. In 2016 Mariia completed the Master of Film artistic research programme at the Netherlands Film Academy. The fiction and documentary films Mariia worked on were screened at such international festivals as HotDocs, IDFA, DokLeipzig, Sarajevo FF, Sheffield DocFest, Chicago IFF, Krakow FF, Clermont-Ferrand ISFF, Go Short ISFF, Palm Springs SFF and more. She is a member of the Ukrainian Film Academy and a Senior Consultant at the Documentary Association of Europe.
Selected Filmography
Nice Ladies (2024), Three Windows On South West (2023), Family Hour (2018), May 9th (2016)
