The film project was presented at the Baltic Sea Docs 2019.

A tragicomic musical documentary depicting modern-day expressions of the cabaret genre by following seven female artists from the intellectual freak cabaret, the Dakh Daugthers Band. Close-ups of each of them reveal seven different roles, seven ways of individuality and seven different life mottos. During the historically pivotal Maidan Revolution of 2014, they use art as a way to reflect upon the events and perceive modern-day Ukraine’s harsh reality with wisdom and hope. This political cabaret gains its magical strength by combining joie de vivre and the horrors of the destructive war – even though it may not be in the frame, the war is always in the background.

“Roses. Film-Cabaret” is director Irena Stetsenko’s first feature documentary. The director followed the troupe for five years, starting with their first show “Roses”, which was named after the group’s song “Rozy / Donbass” with lyrics from Shakespeare’s 35th sonnet and Ukrainian folk songs. The cabaret’s home is the Dakh Theatre – Centre of Contemporary Arts in Kyiv. The popular ethno-music group, “DakhaBrakha”, that has performed in Latvia several times, was also created under the auspices of the Dakh Centre.

In Ukrainian, Russian, English, French and German with Latvian or English subtitles.