NEWSA Film by Elena Oskolovich That Can Open the Eyes of the Masses
July 20 2023, Published 4:00 p.m. ET
Perhaps the most important relationship we will hold in our lives is that which we create with our family. Family relationships are uniquely important, built to be long-lasting on a foundation of love and respect. However, people grow and feelings change, and relationships – including those with family members – can become unrecognizable. Elena Oskolovich found herself in such a situation but managed to persevere. An immensely successful woman, Elena managed to escape a toxic relationship and wants to help all women who have faced similar abuse and gaslighting.
Elena felt her relationship with her spouse change as he began humiliating her, violating personal boundaries and allowing cruelty in the relationship. Her point of no return, however, was reached when he began to psychologically abuse the three children that they share. Watching such scenes is an impossible task for any loving mother.
Life with an abuser and a gaslighter consisted of constant stress caused by regular attacks and insults. At one point, Elena realized that her husband was making her doubt her own adequacy, memory, and feelings, and the children felt similarly. They were strongly feeling the effects of gaslighting, which is not merely a form of ridicule, but one in which the initiator specifically emphasizes an imaginary immaturity or stupidity, distorting the reality of the victim. For example, a victim might be told, “How could you forget – you put your keys in your purse yourself,” when in reality she never even took the keys in her hands that day. How can one not feel crazy when assertions like this are made consistently?
With such regular, dismissive claims, women can lose themselves, becoming puppets in the hands of a psychological abuser. Victims of gaslighting experience strong and detrimental effects on their sense of self.
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Needless to say, it is most common that the victims of such relationships are women, and the abusers are men. The gaslighter attempts to suppress the will of the victim, making them feel insecure, weak, and helpless. For this reason, many women find it difficult to leave abusive relationships. In order to solve this problem, it is imperative that the issue be brought to the public and widely discussed. With this aim, Elena Oskolovich made a film “The Shadow of the beast” based on her own family history called “Our Broken Family.” The script was written by Elena and inspired by her own experience of abuse, so it honestly depicts the struggles of coexisting with a gaslighter partner. Most importantly, the film depicts how to escape from such a relationship. Conveying all the “colors” of life in an abusive relationship, the film depicts a mother, a father, and their children as their relationships drastically change.
Elena notes with special pride that, thankful for this film she became the winner of the famous NYFA award and received an award in the nomination "Best Producer". The New York International Film Awards is a film and screenplay competition that is publicly screened in Manhattan in New York City every three months. The mission is to glorify films and filmmakers from all over the world and become the next step in their careers.For Elena, this is the first film job, she did not hope that she would be so highly appreciated the first time, however, this once again proves the fact that talented people are able to achieve goals despite any difficulties.
Elena shared that the main purpose of producing the film and putting an effort into its publicity is to help solve the issue of gaslighting by giving a voice to victims with experiences like hers. With her story, she hopes to show “behind the scenes” of family dramas. After all, such stories of abuse are more common than we might expect, and people are often told to tolerate violent domestic situations and keep them to themselves.
The film shows that toleration is not an option. Elena Oskolovich has set her sights on Hollywood, with the goal of releasing her film internationally. Globally, the film promises to shine a light on victims like Elena, giving hope that citizens and governments will work together to stop domestic abuse.
