Bleeding Blue Bird

Overview

Bleeding Blue Bird is a feature film written and directed by Lev Prudkin, produced by Mirage Adventures Studios and Sterling Pictures. The film runs 1 hour 43 minutes and is a United Kingdom production shot on location in Kyiv. It is presented in English with select Ukrainian elements and will have its world premiere at the Chelsea Film Festival in New York in September 2025.

Synopsis

A travelling international theatre troupe prepares an English-language performance of Maurice Maeterlinck’s play The Blue Bird in Kyiv. When the lead performer playing The Cat is abducted, the director takes over the role. Outsiders soon infiltrate the production with hidden intentions. The search for Maeterlinck’s symbol of happiness takes a darker turn as rehearsals and performances begin to blur into real life. Actors slip between stage personas and private selves until illusion and reality become inseparable. The repetition of rehearsal, the tension of performance, and the pursuit of artistic rapture push the troupe into a descent of corruption, madness, and unsettling visions of what may lie ahead.

Director’s Statement

Lev Prudkin grew up surrounded by actors, musicians, and theatre professionals. His grandfather, Mark Prudkin, was a leading actor of the Moscow Art Theatre and a protégé of Konstantin Stanislavski. Lev recalls watching countless performances of The Blue Bird as a child, and this connection shaped the film deeply.

Bleeding Blue Bird is not an adaptation of Maeterlinck’s play. It is a meditation on art, illusion, and transformation. The film draws on Maeterlinck’s fables and essays such as The Life of the Bee and The Life of the Ant to create a world where art is tested against repetition and fanaticism. Prudkin calls the film a “director’s script” because of its visual detail, dreamlike tone, and its focus on the boundaries between theatre and cinema, imagination and reality.

Production Context

The film was shot at the Theatre on Podil, a contemporary venue located on the historic Andriivskyi Descent in Kyiv, one of Europe’s most atmospheric streets. The cast includes both British and Ukrainian actors, and two versions of the film were created, one in English and one in Ukrainian. The project was conceived and completed before the current war in Ukraine. It is not a political commentary but a Symbolist exploration of performance, imagination, and cultural legacy.

Cast Highlights

• Arthur Darvill (Doctor Who, Legends of Tomorrow, Broadchurch) plays The Director, who also takes on the role of The Cat. His performance explores the collapse of control between stage and life.
• Hannah Arterton (Walking on Sunshine, Safe, The Peripheral) plays The Queen of Night, a commanding presence who addresses the audience in the climactic performance.
• Iryna Kudashova (The Taste of Freedom) plays Sonya, a young woman drawn into the troupe’s mysterious final performance.

Credits

• Written, Directed, Edited by Lev Prudkin
• Produced by Vladimir Prudkin
• Executive Producer Michael Riley
• Cinematography by Boris Litovchenko
• Production and Costume Design by Olena Drobna
• Makeup by Tetiana Tatarenko
• Music by Jim Cornick and Matt Loveridge