Under the Volcano: Damian Kocur reimagines the Ukraine war drama

This week on the Klassiki Podcast, host Sam Goff sits down with Polish filmmaker Damian Kocur to discuss his new Ukraine war drama Under the Volcano, which recently premiered in Toronto and is Poland’s nomination for the Best International Feature Oscar. The film follows a Ukrainian family who are vacationing in Tenerife when the full-scale war breaks out back home, leaving them stranded on the island, and confirms Damian’s position as one of the most astute directors in Poland today. 

Ahead of the film’s screening at the London Film Festival, Damian returns to Klassiki to discuss how he applied his idiosyncratic filmmaking technique to this story of grief and dislocation, and how the war has affected both Ukrainian filmmakers and their neighbours in eastern Europe.

Watch Damian’s debut feature Bread and Salt on Klassiki now and read an interview with the director about the tragic real-life story that inspired the film here.

Listen above or head to your favourite podcast app to subscribe now. The Klassiki Podcast is available on all major podcasting platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, Audible, and more.

Intro music by Juliet Merchant.