Somewhere in the Carpathians between Ukraine, Slovakia and Poland lies the village of Stuzhytsia. In Ukrainian the name of the village means something like 'cold place'. The film tells the stories of three women: the farmer Hanna, the postwoman Maria and the biologist Nelya. In the middle of the mountains, they have to cope with social reality and loneliness. The colder the Carpathian winter gets, the more human warmth the film team finds. In a tiny kitchen Hanna shares her loneliness with the filmmakers, who remind her of her deceased sons. In the villages post office, postwoman Maria has neither stamps nor heating, but customers are warmed with liquor and songs. Somewhere in the woods and caves, biologist Nelya looks for the animal droppings that are a treasure to her. The film portrays an unknown place in the middle of Europe, where people have to decide daily between leaving and staying.

Dir. Maksym Melnyk - 75min - 2022 - Germany, Ukraine

"Very few documentary filmmakers today see themselves as a “fly on the wall”. But gifting a pig to a protagonist in front of the camera or letting her cut the camerman’s hair? That’s rather unusual...the film portrays a rural lifestyle full of privation that seems to be in decline in the mountain region near the EU border." - DOK Leipzig, Audience Award Winner

"an intimate exploration of the hopes, dreams and loneliness that swell in a place seemingly forgotten by the outside world...A biologist, a postal worker and a farmer are a charismatic trio at the heart of a documentary that builds an emotional connection between film-maker and subject" - Guardian

"Three Women goes beyond rural micro-ethnography to become a tender comedy on the relationship between filmmaker and subject(s)." - Visions du Reel

"Melnyk sees the beauty where routine has hardened his subjects’ view, warming the heart even when all they see is the ice. “Three Women” is as generous in spirit as the people it follows, assuring a place in the heart when the community’s place in the modern world may be less clear." - The Moveable Feast

"Through close perception and gentle provocation, Melnyk uncovers the vivid spirit of a sleepy mountain town." - Reverse Shot

"The opposite of a detached portrait, Three Women freely engages and communes with the village, capturing the warmth of the place and its people." - Museum of the Moving Image

"At first, Makysm takes an outsider’s approach to filming the place, asking questions off camera as he documents horoscope readings or a priest blessing a car in need of repair. Gradually, Maksym and his cameraman find themselves in the frame, as they become enmeshed with the community. " - True/False