‘Porcelain War’ Screening and Q&A at the Journalism School

Director of the duPont-Columbia Awards Lisa Cohen (left) converses with ‘Porcelain War’ co-directors Slava Leontyev (middle) and Brendan Bellomo (right).

by Laine Immell, 2024-25 duPont Fellow

On January 23, 2025, Columbia Journalism School and the Harriman Institute co-hosted a screening of the duPont-Columbia Award-winning documentary Porcelain War. Following the screening, the film’s co-directors, Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev, had a conversation with duPont Director Lisa R. Cohen with questions from the audience. To celebrate the occasion, Ukrainian dumplings were served.

The film had won a 2025 duPont-Columbia Award the previous evening, and just hours before the screening Porcelain War was nominated for “Best Documentary Feature” in this year’s Academy Awards competition.

Porcelain War follows a trio of Ukrainian artists who have become soldiers, and now first-time filmmakers as they work to preserve the culture of Ukraine with their art, while defending their nation against Russia. The film follows co-director Slava Leontyev, his wife Anya Stasenko, and their friends in battle and life. The couple’s longtime friend Andre Stefanov acts as both subject and first-time cinematographer in the film. 

During the Q&A, Bellomo and Leontyev discuss the unorthodox production. Prior to this project, Leontyev and his team had never used film equipment before. What’s more, they didn’t speak each other’s languages. The two directors communicated via translator so that Bellomo could teach Leontyev’s team how to film. “We were on Zoom every day figuring out, okay, how can we do this? How can we empower them to tell the story in their voice? And we become so frustrated, we begin to sketch,” Bellomo said of the teaching process. Forgoing language, the two teams began to use drawings, and eventually storyboards, to communicate and build the doc. “And so the universal language of art was our greatest friend, our greatest ally in making this film.”

Even after learning how to use the gear, Leontyev and his military unit “Saigon” had to jump another hurdle - filming in an active warzone. Leontyev explained that it was only possible because of the faith his team had in the project: “They thought it's so important to share our story. And when I picked up my camera, someone picked up a rifle in my place.”

Learn more about Porcelain War and the other 2025 duPont-Columbia Awards winners and finalists here.  Watch the trailer for the film here.