Screening + Q&A: Match in a Haystack

What happens when war renders your life's pursuits seemingly meaningless?

The documentary Match in a Haystack follows eight members of Ukraine’s most innovative female contemporary dance group as members navigate being young artists when their country is at war.

For many Ukrainian artists, Russia’s invasion is about more than just territory—it’s an attempt to erase Ukrainian identity. However, artists are divided on how to respond. While some believe it’s their duty to continue creating, others feel that self-expression is futile in the face of war.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, some dancers practiced their art alone, out of desperation for an emotional outlet. Others abandoned dance completely in exchange for volunteer work or the armed forces. As the war dragged on, though, dance began to take on a new meaning: resilience, support, release.

In Match in a Haystack, members of the dance group decide to perform together for the first time since the war began. The women provide a tangible, multifaceted portrait of how it feels to cope, adapt, and grow when war threatens not only their country, but also their identity.

Joe Hill (Director) is a 5x Emmy-Award winning director and producer best known for his work on the VICE News international team. For seven years, he was tasked with reporting from the frontlines of the most unseen and underreported conflicts. He was the one riding around in an ambulance during the first weeks of COVID. His team was the first to film mutinous soldiers in Burkina Faso in their fight against the Islamic State group after they overthrew their government in a coup-d'etat. His embed with a hostage negotiator exposed the moral grey zone in the kidnap-for-ransom industry in Nigeria, and his investigation into police impunity in Indonesia exposed the inner workings of a brigade whose tactics killed scores of civilians. He made films in dozens of countries and published them on platforms such as HBO, Showtime, Hulu and VICE TV. His videos amassed over 36-million views on YouTube alone.

"I’ve risked my life ten times over to do what I do, I believe that holding a mirror to society isn’t good enough. Stories are more than a reflection of the world, they are our fundamental tool to navigate. They provide us with a deeper sense of meaning and truth that the world around us rarely offers. I strive to create projects that feel visceral, intimate and immersive in an attempt to create an emotional record of what it means to be alive today."

Alec Luhn is a journalist focused on climate, conflict and migration who’s reported for The Atlantic, National Geographic, The New York Times, Scientific American, TIME, CBS News Radio, VICE News TV and more. He is currently an Ocean Reporting Network fellow at the Pulitzer Center. Based in Moscow, Istanbul and now London, he broke stories internationally including deadly anthrax infections from thawing permafrost, the identity of the second Skripal poisoner and how Russia spills two Deepwater Horizons of oil each year. From Alaska to Somalia, he's covered wildfires, droughts, earthquakes, melting glaciers, sea ice geoengineering, a polar bear “invasion” and COP27-29. He's received awards from the National Academies, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Covering Climate Now and the Milwaukee Press Club in my home state of Wisconsin, as well as a Scripps environmental journalism fellowship and two Emmy nominations. He's also been a mentor for the Society of Environmental Journalists.