“I am interested in what happens to a person when the life they knew is no longer possible. This is what led me to The Fatigued. I wanted to look not at extraordinary events, but at the quiet, confusing period that comes afterwards — when a person has to learn how to live with a different body, different relationships and a different sense of themselves. Liuba became important to me because she does not have all the answers. She is trying to understand who she is now. Her relationship with Andriy is part of this search. I see their connection as a chance for two people to recognise themselves in someone who has also changed. They do not save each other. They simply make each other less alone. I do not want to explain my characters to the audience. I want to watch them closely — their silences, awkwardness, humour, desire and small everyday gestures. As a director, I am drawn to cinema that trusts observation. I want the audience to spend time with these people rather than be told what to think about them. For me, The Fatigued is a very personal film about the difficulty of accepting change, and about the fragile possibility of finding a way forward.”