“When the Chair Fell into the Void” is a hybrid film that combines two genres: documentary and dance. Anonymous migrants are forced to escape their homeland and in doing so voice their feelings of disconnection. These feelings are accompanied by questions about notions of identity and belonging. Untold stories emerge in the maze of an urban landscape. Masked dancers explore the city, their movements motivated by emotional fragments, seemingly animated by the flow of words articulated by cathartic memories.

Director: Julia Kushnarenko

Julia Kushnarenko is a filmmaker and editor originally from the North Caucasus, currently based in Belgium. After more than a decade working as a documentary editor, she directed Terra, a mid-length film that received over 15 awards at international film festivals. In 2022, she was awarded a scholarship by the DocNomads International Master’s Programme in Documentary Film Directing, through which she made films in Portugal, Hungary and Belgium.