“With Viktor I Approached Sign Language Just Like Any Other Language”: Olivier Sarbil on His TIFF-premiering doc Viktor

One of the cinematic highlights of this year’s TIFF, Olivier Sarbil’s Ukraine-set (and Darren Aronofsky-produced) Viktor follows the titular protagonist, a Kharkiv resident who lives with his widowed mother and faces a most unusual conundrum. Desperate to defend his country, Viktor — a sword-loving giant of a man whose bible is Miyamoto Musashi’s The Strategy of the Samurai — is nevertheless blocked from joining the war effort because he just so happens to be Deaf. Fortunately, Viktor possesses the dogged determination of a noble warrior and manages to convince the local army to take him on as a volunteer photojournalist since he also happens to be an artist behind the lens, stunning B&W images his specialty. It’s a talent he shares with the film’s director/DP, a veteran conflict photojournalist who likewise has a knack for coloring in B&W; and like his riveting star has a hearing disability, having lost the use of his right ear while covering the civil war in Libya over a decade ago. A few days prior to the doc’s September 8th debut in the Platform section Filmmaker reached out to the Corsica-born, NY-based director to learn all about the intricate crafting of this “audiovisual experience,” a process that included members of the Sound of Metal team along with “Ukrainian-speaking Ukrainians, Russian-speaking Ukrainians, as well as individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Hearing.”

To read my interview visit Filmmaker magazine.