Everybody Knows stands as a statement by a group of artists from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus all of whom have fled their home countries in the wake of the war. Directed by Russian-Ukrainian filmmaker Daria Geller, Everybody Knows is a short film, a music video and a political action about a terrible reality that many are now too afraid to speak about openly: so long as Russian society remains apathetic to what is being done in its name there can be no peace, and nothing will change. Set to the words of Leonard Cohen, the film shows us what happens when everybody knows, but no one does anything.

The video addresses the apathy and willful ignorance that has afflicted Russian society for too long. In it, a group of women stand and watch as a young man lies naked on the floor, ready to give himself up to false promises. Representing the individual, and therefore a meaningless number in the eyes of the regime, he finds himself being lifted up to the skies hoping to fulfil his duty, only to realise that he is nothing but a resource to be selfishly exploited. Shot on 16mm film using only natural light, the film’s seamless long shots are set against a motionless dark colour palette enhancing its eerie feeling of stillness. As these images repeat again and again, the repetition deepens our understanding not only that everybody knows that things will seemingly never change – but that they don’t even care.

Original music and words by Leonard Cohen 

Composer Roi Keidar (@roikeidar)

Vocals Roi Keidar & Daria Geller Violin Alina Maslennikova

Recording engineers Eldy and Ben K

Director and Cinematographer Daria Geller (@daria.geller)

Executive producers Daria Geller, Yuval Orr

Line producer Sonya Goryacheva (@sonyaagain)

Art director Yulia Gavrilova

1AD Katrin Tublin

2AD Anna Pereleshina

1AC Pasha Adler (@pappolokk)

2AC Naama Bernstein

Gaffer Ilya Pliatskovskii

Grip Lev Arpishkin

Steadicam Gilad Porat

DP assistant Yan Yasinski (@yan.dop)

Special make up effects artist Kseniya Malkina

PA and Make Up Valeriya Moysak

Spark Nikolay Platonov

PA Leonid Fridman

PA Timofei Stelmah- Darevsky

Driver Nazar Harhun

Equipment Rental Utopia

Backstage photographer Eitan

VFX: Editit Studio (@editit.studio)

VFX Supervisor: Itay Assouline

DMP: Tomer Nakash, Ofek Ben Shitrit

Compositing: Itay Assouline

Roto: Furkan Abdani

VFX of the hand and birds shots: Boris Lutsiuk

VFX Supervisor Max Polinsky

Colorist Andrey Garny (@andrey_garny)

Film Lab Kodak UK

Shot on 16mm (@kodak_shootfilm)

Actors:

Vladislav Zalivanski (ZAVA) Main actor (@zavaaaa)

Anna Pereleshina Weeping woman @42kg

Bruria Rabiner- Mother

Michael Gluz- Monster

Women:

Polina Pakhomova

Tanya Kupavyh

Olga Yovov

Lena Turevskaja

Hawlee No

Elina Shusterman

Thea Spector

Anna Karmelitski

A No Man’s Land production (@nomansland.film)