Looking at / with / for Cheerleaders

A Film Disrupted” is an artist book publication based on the creative journey of crafting the ‘Nice Ladies’ feature documentary that happened under life-changing circumstances. ‘Nice Ladies’ tells the story of the vibrant cheerleading team of 50+ y.o. women from Kharkiv called Nice Ladies, who compete in the 25+ age category. The team’s seemingly unbreakable bond gets challenged by the russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Despite the successful completion of the film in 2024, which was in pre-production from 2019 on, an outstanding violent disruption by the full-scale invasion happened not only in the life of its characters, but it shook to the core the filmmaking itself. Through the carefully designed flow of text and imagery, the publication will give space to the artistic examination and documentation of this irreversible disruption. Narrated from Mariia Ponomarova’s director’s perspective, it will account for the cost of persevering and reflect on ways to preserve the film’s feminist core despite the lasting impact of war.