After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, efforts to cinematize Ukrainian perspectives on history, current events, identity and heritage gained visibility on the international stage on an unprecedented scale. Such works by Ukrainian and international filmmakers have been recognized at the most prestigious international festivals, and featured in leading media resources and publications. Among them — American magazine The New Yorker, which reached out to Ukrainian filmmakers, beginning a yearlong collaboration documenting the reality of Russia’s war.
Join us on April 4 at 19:00 for a special film screening and discussion in Kyiv, featuring documentary short films produced by The New Yorker magazine, and other short films exploring Ukraine through cinema:
“I Didn't Want to Make a War Film” (2022). Directed by Nadiia Parfan.
A full-scale invasion found the Kyiv director in a small Bedouin village in the Middle East. It was warm, safe, and unbearably far from home. Once the director had a prophetic dream. She decided to return to Kyiv, still the hostilities were unfolding. Despite the condemnation of relatives and the long journey, she finally managed to cross the threshold of her home. But the house itself has now become forever different.
“Liturgy of Anti-Tank Obstacles” (2022). Directed by Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk.
In the nationwide resistance, every citizen tries to be helpful. Ukrainians change professions and adapt to the wartime needs. Sculptors fabricate anti-tank obstacles in their art workshops. Just like the Terracotta Army, silent figures of angels, and multiple copies of Jesus Christ froze in anticipation of new creations. Craftsmen weld metal defenses items for the Armed Forced of Ukraine.
“It’s a Date” (2023). Directed by Nadiia Parfan.
Kyiv in 2022. A car races at breakneck speed through the city at dawn. Filmed from a subjective camera angle in a single unedited shot, this film captures the emotions in a state of emergency caused by the war.
“Peace & Tranquility” (2022). Directed by Myro Klochko, Anatoliy Tatarenko.
When Russian troops were entering Ukraine, the famous playwright Andriy Bondarenko wrote a play about life interrupted by the war. To accompany this screened version of the play, filmmakers Myro Klochko and Anatoliy Tatarenko use photos from Bondarenko’s life, imagining people who inhabited it and thus the people of Ukraine. The result is an act of artistic expression, memory and, in the end, resistance. The film was made in March 2022 during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territory. It is simultaneously a lively emotional response to the events of today and a history of a family which the authors successfully set in the context of the history of Ukraine.
“Dima, Dmitry, Dmytro. Glory to the Heroes” (2021). Directed by Clemens Poole.
The film uses archival footage and semi-historical narrative to weave a complex exploration of identity, culture, and the power of archives in contemporary Ukraine. The video follows a young boy's 1995 outing with his family in Luhansk in eastern Ukraine (occupied by Russian proxy forces since 2014), while the adult voice of the child narrates his story from the present. His voice, however, is not his own. The story that he tells about Ukraine and Luhansk is explicitly framed as a narrative perceived by an American artist whose grasp of the situation is subject to media sensationalism, dramatic flourishes, and personal fetishism. Ultimately the film undermines its own authorship and our engagement with its drama, while also producing the story of a child who becomes a hero in a nation searching for hope.
Rating for screening: R (War Content)
Genre: Documentary
Total Runtime: 1 hour 10 minutes
Discussion length: 1 hour
After the screening, participate in a discussion and Q&A with invited speakers and directors about the films, their experience collaborating with The New Yorker and other international media and productions, and how Ukraine’s image of a country in war is created and communicated to the world. Participation is free, with preliminary registration.
The films will be screened in English and Ukrainian with English subtitles. The discussion will be in English.
Confirmed speakers: Nadiia Parfan, Ukrainian Filmmaker, Director “I Didn’t Want to Make a War Film.”
This event takes place within the American Film Nights. AHK x KINO42 program.
About The New Yorker:
In 1925, Harold Ross established The New Yorker as a lighthearted, Manhattan-centric magazine—a “fifteen-cent comic paper,” he called it. Today The New Yorker is considered by many to be the most influential magazine in the world, renowned for its in-depth reporting, political and cultural commentary, fiction, poetry, and humor. In addition to the weekly print magazine, newyorker.com has become a daily digital destination for news and cultural coverage by staff writers and contributors. In print and online, The New Yorker stands apart for its commitment to truth and accuracy, for the quality of its prose, and for its insistence on exciting and moving every reader.
About the organizers:
America House Kyiv (AHK) is a cultural center and your main resource for American culture, education, and information in the Kyiv region. AHK organizes a wide range of activities, including English-language programs, skill-building workshops, cultural events, art exhibitions, concerts and more. Work and think creatively, build cultural bridges and become a changemaker at our network of America Houses in Kyiv, Lviv and Odesa.
KINO42 is an independent cozy cinema of 42 seats in a historical building in the Podil neighborhood.