James Marcus Haney’s ‘Black Sunflowers’ Boarded by Charades and CAA Media Finance Ahead of TIFF Docs Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

Charades and CAA Media Finance are launching sales on “Black Sunflowers,” the timely new feature documentary directed by James Marcus Haney (“No Cameras Allowed”) which will premiere at Toronto.

Slated to premiere in the TIFF Docs section, “Black Sunflowers” portrays a young generation of Ukrainians, soldiers and civilians, whose coming of age is shaped by martial law and duty on the front lines. As another year of conflict stretches on, Haney captures the ordinary moments amid the war, moving between fast cars, underground clubs and conversations about the future.

The American filmmaker closely collaborated with a Ukrainian production team led by Volodymyr Yatsenko at Limelite (“To the Victory!”), alongside a local crew.

The film is produced by Pedram Rezaee and Vlad Bolyelov and co-produced by Yevhenii Zdorovylo, Samy Mosher, Eric Maldin, Volodymyr Yatsenko and Anna Yatsenko, with Mikayla Jean Miller serving as creative producer. Sean Penn has joined the film as an executive producer, alongside Jay and Cameron Bush, Adam Tudhope, Anna October and Dianna Agron. Charades handles international sales and co-reps North America and global rights with CAA Media Finance.

The film boasts a powerful soundtrack with music from British record producer Fred again.. and Brian Eno’s Secret Life project, as well as an original score by Brad Oberhofer and Ukrainian electronic composer Koloah. Also featured in the soundtrack are Aphex Twin, Four Tet, Idles, Sega Bodega, Nastya Vogan, Два Два Дев’ять, Ann Annie and Morwan. The film closes with a version of Morphine’s “Do Not Go Quietly Unto Your Grave” sung by a traditional choir based in Kyiv.

“Upon arriving to Ukraine, I was surprised to see how much normal life carried on, despite the war,” Haney said. “While the scenes we see in Western media (bombed out villages, injured soldiers, etc) are true and must be seen by the world, I couldn’t help but think that mainstream media is missing half of the story.”

“While the front lines footage is harrowing and necessary to show, the things, places, and people worth fighting for, and their everyday stories in extraordinary circumstances, are generally omitted from Western news,” he continued.

Emphasizing the universality of their experiences, he said young people, who’ve already gone through the pandemic, are now forced to join the front lines to protect their own.

“I’ve met an electronic DJ who enlisted in the army and still performs back home when he is on leave. A nature photographer turned war journalist. Teenagers who now already have 2.5 years of combat experience at the zero line. Lovers pulled apart to different battlegrounds. And as I looked into these faces, I couldn’t help but see parts of myself,” he said.

Haney said he recognized himself in many of the young Ukrainians he met, who shared the same dreams, musical tastes and youthful impulses as people elsewhere their age, even as they faced both the realities of war and its psychological toll. He said he hoped the film would bring a more human dimension to the conflict and remind audiences how much people across the world have in common.

Charades’ co-founders Carole Baraton and Pierre Mazars said, “Black Sunflowers shows us with stunning subtlety a reality that we, as Europeans, tend to forget: the portrait of a generation of young people whose lives are being shaped — and sacrificed — by the war in Ukraine.”

“We are proud to support the film and to see the resonance it is already generating across the international art scene,” added the pair.

A music photographer and filmmaker, Haney is best known for the 2014 documentary “No Cameras Allowed,” which grew out of his experiences sneaking into major music festivals including Coachella and filming artists backstage. He also directed the music-tour documentary “Austin to Boston.”