Coming to film festivals in Belfast, Brighton, Leeds and Cornwall, Ukrainian Films Month featured some of the best Ukrainian films of the year, as well as internationally recognised classics of Ukrainian cinema. Alongside this rich touring programme, films from the Ukrainian archives were also screened in Cambridge.
Ukrainian Films Month in the UK
Coming to film festivals in Belfast, Brighton, Leeds and Cornwall, Ukrainian Films Month featured some of the best Ukrainian films of the year, as well as internationally recognised classics of Ukrainian cinema. Alongside this rich touring programme, films from the Ukrainian archives were also screened in Cambridge.
Highlights included Ukraine’s Oscar contender, Klondike – a hard hitting depiction of the traumatic realities of war. There was also the British and Irish premier of Luxembourg, Luxembourg by Director Antonio Lukich, which told the story of twin brothers who were trying to cope with their own lives when their long-lost father suddenly appeared. The film Pamfir is the debut of Ukrainian director Dmytro Sukholytkyy. It premiered this year at the Cannes Directors’ Fortnight and is a crime drama masking as a dark fairy tale.
Ukrainian Films programme:
When: 3 – 12 November
Screenings:
- British premiere of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, dir. Antonio Lukich (followed by Q&A session with the Director)
- Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, dir. Serhiy Paradzhanov
- Klondike, dir. Maryna Gorbach
- Brief Encounters, dir. Kira Muratova
- Pamfir, dir. Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
Leeds International Film Festival
When: 3 – 17 November
Screenings:
- Pamfir, dir. Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
- Brief Encounters dir. Kira Muratova
- The Hamlet Syndrome, dir. Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski
Cinecity Brighton Film Festival
When: 11 – 20 November
Screenings:
- Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors, dir. Serhiy Paradzhanov
- Klondike, dir. Maryna Horbach
- Brief Encounters, dir. Kira Muratova
- Pamfir dir. Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk
When: 14 – 20 November
Screenings:
- Klondike, dir. Maryna Gorbach
- Stop-Zemlia, dir. Kateryna Gornostai
Ukraine’s Pioneering VUFKU Studios: One Hundred Years On
When: 3 November
Where: Museum of Technology, Cambridge
In the Museum’s first exhibition room, Dziga Vertov’s Man with a Movie Camera was projected on a large screen. Clips of Vertov’s overlooked documentary The Eleventh Year and Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s epic Zvenyhora were also screened along routes through the Museum. The final film in the Pye Building was a screening of Oleksandr Dovzhenko’s Earth with a new soundtrack by internationally acclaimed band Dakha Brakha. Additionally, there was an exhibition of VUFKU Film Posters in the city centre.