{"id":839,"date":"2022-07-04T17:45:37","date_gmt":"2022-07-04T17:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kinotabs.com\/?p=839"},"modified":"2022-07-28T19:18:45","modified_gmt":"2022-07-28T19:18:45","slug":"perspectives-of-ukrainian-cinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kinotabs.com\/en\/perspectives-of-ukrainian-cinema\/","title":{"rendered":"Perspectives of Ukrainian Cinema"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

12\u201330 June, 2022. Deutsche Kinemathek<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The screenings took place in Berlin (Delphi Lux, City Kino Wedding), Hamburg (Abaton) and Leipzig (Schaub\u00fchne Lindenfels).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Main photo: a still from the film<\/em> Volcano<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Archival link to the program.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

War broke out in Central Europe on 24 February 2022. The Russian invasion of Ukraine shocked the world, including Germany, to the core. Many people are gripped by feelings of solidarity, and by the desire to help. At the same time, it has suddenly become apparent that in Germany we know only little about Ukraine and its culture. There is so much to learn about Ukrainian self-perceptions, discourses, perspectives, people, and places in the country. And how better to contextualize the war reporting that so often arrives as images, than with moving images themselves?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From 12 to 30 June 2022, the Deutsche Kinemathek, working with cinemas in Berlin, Hamburg, and Leipzig is mounting a multi-faceted Ukrainian film series, complemented by introductions to the films, as well as discussions with Ukrainian filmmakers and professionals from the cultural sector. The series has been curated by Victoria Leshchenko and Yuliia Kovalenko, whose initiative slo\u00efk film atelier<\/a> provides a space for underrepresented voices and fosters them internationally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Russian war rhetoric propagates that Ukraine is an artificial state, with no culture or history of its own. This film series proves the opposite. Since the inception of cinema, Ukraine has been steeped in a passion for that art form. Over more than a century, Ukrainian filmmakers have repeatedly and enthusiastically sought to develop and experiment with the language of moving images to rethink the history and present of their country and to dream of the future \u2013 even in the face of great adversity. Modern-day Ukrainian cinema is experiencing a real boom, with a new generation of directors following in the tradition of the country\u2019s rich cinematic legacy, testimony to a vivid, independent film culture in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a wide variety of films, the series provides not only a very specific map of recent Ukrainian cinematic art, but also of Ukrainian geography, history, and society. The spectrum of films in the series encompasses a comedy set in Ukraine\u2019s west (\u2018My Thoughts are Silent<\/em>\u2019), a dramedy from the south (\u2018Volcano<\/em>\u2019), documentaries about family life in the country\u2019s eastern region (\u2018The Earth is Blue as an Orange, Territory of Empty Windows<\/em>\u2019), a remarkable documentary experiment straight from the front line (\u2018War Note<\/em>\u2019), a drama set in a village in the Donetsk region that became the epicenter of the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (\u2018Klondike<\/em>\u2019), a reconstruction of Ukraine\u2019s recent past (\u2018Nail<\/em>\u2019), and a drama set in the near future, cast entirely with veterans and volunteers from the war in eastern Ukraine (\u2018Atlantis<\/em>\u2019).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series will open with a classic of Ukrainian cinema directed by Oleksandr Dovzhenko (\u2018Arsenal<\/em>\u2019). Taken together, these stories weave a bright polyphony \u2013 a unique sound from the heart of Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The films will be screened with English subtitles and the film talks will take place in English. Admittance to all screenings is free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The series is mounted by the Deutsche Kinemathek with the support of the Federal Agency for Civic Education (bpb). We thank our partners, the City Kino Wedding and Delphi Lux in Berlin, the Abaton Kino in Hamburg, and the Schaub\u00fchne Lindenfels in Leipzig.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Program<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal, dir. Oleksandr Dovzhenko, USSR, 1929, 93\u2019<\/strong>
(sound by Guy Bartell and Bronnt Industries Kapital)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This epic film tells the story of the suppression by Central Council troops of the Bolshevik uprising in 1918 at the Arsenal factory in Kyiv. In Soviet mythology, the uprising at the Arsenal is nothing less than the key episode in the scenario of Bolshevik martyrdom in Ukraine. However, it should be remembered that the uprising was not so much a citizen rebellion of the Kyivans against the Central Council, as a protest against it by Russian workers and instigated by the Bolsheviks, who were competing for power in Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Arsenal\u2019 is considered one of the outstanding expressionist films in the Ukrainian cinema canon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oleksandr Dovzhenko, fascinated by the idea of national liberation and social revolution, placed the events of the uprising at the margins of the narrative, ultimately creating a flagship political film for the Ukrainian intelligentsia on both sides of the civil war. The film describes the chaos of war rather than pressing a clear political message. The film was released in 1929. Almost a hundred years later, Ukraine is enmired in another war. Current affairs are not only related to the events of the early 20th century, but also to the way they were perceived and rethought by Ukrainian filmmakers. \u2018Arsenal\u2019 will be screened with music by Bronnt Industries Kapital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n