"When Lightning Flashes Over the Sea"

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Film still from "When Lightning Flashes Over the Sea" directed by Eva Neymann (Ukraine, Germany, 2025).

Day laborers smoke while looking at the Black Sea, workmen stretch out on the roof of the damaged cathedral, a boy maneuvers us through the sunny streets and courtyards of Odesa while he dreams of a medium-size chocolate cake for his birthday and a job on a cruise ship. Yet this cheerful everyday life is tempered by a feeling of unease, for the many gaps—the holes in the historical facades, the absence of family members and the darkness caused by the power blackouts—render the omnipresence of the war far more shocking than its deceptively far-off rumblings.

The memories, experiences and dreams of the astounding people that Eva Neymann shows on her extended, attentive expedition through the harbor city become a means of survival. A refugee from Abkhazia, a nomadic clergyman, a widow who takes care of street cats, a single father whose sons live on different sides of the front, a Shoah survivor and many more give us seldom insights into the reality of a place surrounded by myths, a poetic space full of resilient humanity.

Film will be screened in original version with subtitles in Catalan.

A film in the 2025 edition of the Barcelona Jewish Film Festival.

October Film Festivals in and around Barcelona

October’s calendar is packed with an impressive list of film festivals in and around the city. Check out our article October Film Festivals in and around Barcelona where you'll find gritty investigative documentaries, hair-raising fantasy and horror flicks and everything in between!

For more events check our online events calendar.