Buckhead filmmaker’s documentary creates human connection.
Danny Tirmizi was calling a friend in Ukraine in spring 2022 when he heard loud noises in the background. She told Tirmizi to hold on: The building next door was being bombed by Russia.
That incident inspired Tirmizi, who isn’t Ukrainian, to make a 30-minute documentary, Ukraine: Hope Amidst Chaos, after he moved from New York to Buckhead Village last year. In the film, three women and a teen girl tell their stories of fleeing Ukraine to find temporary homes in metro Atlanta.
Tirmizi, Buckhead Business Association vice president and head of marketing firm The Paradox Agency, directed and co-produced the film through his production company, House of Paradox. He worked with the Georgia Chapter of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America. The film is on the festival circuit, not in general release or streaming, but he is providing it to nonprofits supporting Ukrainians.
The documentary includes two Chamblee residents: Mayor Brian Mock and Yuriy Babak, the UCCA’s Georgia president.
Mock led Chamblee into a Sister City relationship with the northwestern Ukrainian city of Kovel in September 2022 and visited the next month. Chamblee has collected books and money for an English-language library in Kovel.
Tirmizi and Mock spoke with Simply Buckhead about the film.
What do you hope this film accomplishes?
DT: All our participants spoke decent English, so the film is for the American audience and Western audiences just to create awareness in terms of what is happening because there’s a lot of misconceptions.
BM: There’s a lot of propaganda out there. To have someone like Danny doing a story and talking to folks that have firsthand knowledge, you’re getting something that is factual, that you can put in front of people and keep it on the front burner.
How did the mayor get involved?
BM: After getting a little press coverage on the initiatives that we had started, a lot of the Ukrainian population here in Georgia, and it is quite a big population, started reaching out to us. Through these connections, I met Danny.
DT: Sharing an American perspective on this situation is important. That’s why Mr. Mock’s story is critical to our film, where we have the Ukrainian part of the narrative and then an American point of view, a person who actually went there and saw the war.
How do you avoid the politics around Ukraine?
DT: Making a story of people brings a human connection. People can relate to families being split because of war. These are ordinary people. They had ordinary jobs and ordinary lives, and I feel like that’s very relatable.
BM: I believe the only folks that really see this as political are those sitting in Washington. I don’t encounter [politics from] people in my own community or even folks that have reached out from other cities. They’re more interested in how we can help those who are suffering.
What does it say about metro Atlanta that these women came here?
DT: It’s very accepting. They found refuge here. They started making friends here, and there’s a big Ukrainian community here. Also, it’s not as chaotic as living in New York. Coming from a war-torn country, you don’t want to deal with another hectic life.
BM: Everyone is welcome here, and I jokingly say that I’ve been made an honorary Ukrainian because they have returned that hospitality. The folks that have come here are just as hospitable to me as we are to them.
@Paradoxfilmco
ucca.org
@uccaorg
PHOTO: Joann Vitelli
