Today at 12:31
The opener of the festival will be a restored poetic masterpiece by Sergei Paradzhanov – the movie “Shadows of forgotten ancestors,” which is a screen version of the story by the classic work of Ukrainian literature by Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky. In Brussels, the film is presented by the Actress Larysa Kadochnikova. Created in the age of socialist realism, the film became the embodiment of the innovative style of Paradzhanov. The film occupies a special place in Ukrainian history. During the premiere of the film in the Ukrainian cinema, literary critic Ivan Dziuba, writer Vasyl Stus and journalist Vyacheslav Chornovil called on the audience to stand up to protest against the arrests of Ukrainian intellectuals organized by the Soviet authorities in the summer of 1965.
The “Level of Black” will be shown in Brussels too. It is an experimental drama by Valentin Vasyanovich. In 2017, it was elected as a national candidate for the Oscars for the best film in a foreign language. The movie about a wedding photographer, who is experiencing a middle-aged crisis, was also awarded the FIPRESCI Prize of the Odessa International Film Festival and participated in the main Cottbus Film Festival competition.
The world premiere of a psychological drama by Maryna Stepanska “Headlong,” takes place at the 52nd International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary. The film explores the relationship of a young couple. At the center of the plot is “the attitude of non-heroes in heroic times” – in modern Kyiv, after the events of the Maidan.
Part of the festival program is a box office record holder, the fantasy “The Military Outpost.” The debut feature film by Yuri Kovalev concerns the adventures of the schoolboy Vitka, who travels to the past through a mysterious time portal- one thousand years ago. Large-scale shoots were held in the Carpathian Mountains and in the Kyiv region.
Documentary film, “The process: the Russian state against Oleg Sentsov” is about the trial of Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov, sentenced by the Russian Federation to 20 years in prison for fabricated allegations. The name of the film – “Process” – refers to Kafkaan absurdity, showing how anyone in the bureaucratic machine can become a victim of a totalitarian state. The world premiere of the film took place in the non-competition program of the 67th Berlin Film Festival. The show was organized jointly with the European Film Academy, which has repeatedly called for the liberation of Sentsov.
In addition to the shows during the festival, DISCOVER UKRAINE will be presented for the benefit of leading Belgian film companies. The program will highlight the benefits of co-productions in Ukraine.
The annual “Days of Ukrainian Cinema in Brussels” represents the most powerful new movies, as well as the cinema classics. In previous years, the films “Eleven” and “Earth” were shown. They were accompanied by live music from well-known Ukrainian musicians. In 2018, a movie review will be held for the third time.
This year, the Ukraine On Film Festival became part of the project “Bridges. East of West,” which unites film, shows, and cultural events of the Eastern Partnership countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine. The event organizers are The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, The State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema, the BOZAR Center for Fine Arts, Arthouse Traffic with the support of the National Center of Oleksandr Dovzhenko and the Ukrainian Society of Belgium. The festival will take place from January 17 to January 21.
