How to recruit the International Molodist Festival in Kyiv amid the war

Ukraine’s fight for survival against the Russian war machine is not just taking place in the frozen trenches on its eastern front. Away from the front lines around Kharkiv and Kherson, in the capital of Kyiv, a cultural front is at work, too.

On December 1 – officially the first day of winter – in a snow-covered city under a clear blue sky, the 51st Molodest International Film Festival opens.

The esteemed International Festival of Narrative and Short Films was originally established as an exhibition of student films in the Soviet 1970s. Now, despite concerns earlier this year that it would have to be cancelled, organizers have put together a short three-day festival program in Kyiv, a month after showing some sections under the auspices of the Hamburg Film Festival in Germany.

Andrei Khalbakhchi, the festival’s longtime artistic director, said the event – which usually begins in early summer – was originally scheduled to take place in Kyiv in October, but a series of Russian missile attacks on the city left dozens of civilians dead and injured, forcing organizers to cancel. those plans.

“Originally, we weren’t sure we were going to work in Kyiv at all — but it was a good sign that we were able to stage sections of it in Hamburg, which sent a positive message to the international film community,” Khalbakhshi said. , Talking to diverse at the opening of the festival.

“We really want to show that the cultural front is open, that this culture still exists in Ukraine. It is a message to our international partners that we continue our cultural life.”

Holding a film festival with an absent international jury (chaired by the Berlinale’s executive director, Mariette Rissenbeck), in a country where Russian missile attacks have destroyed 40% of its electricity-generating capacity, and at a time when frequent blackouts at night Kyiv plunges into darkness, was difficult. , at least. Millions have fled and the remaining six million are without regular electricity, heat or water – not to mention those who die daily on the front lines or by bombed homes and infrastructure.

“We wanted to do our opening in a metro station, but we had to change plans because it was not practical,” Khalbakhshi said, adding that when US TV host David Letterman performed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a Kyiv subway station earlier. This year, it was impossible to hear anything without headphones.

Inviting international guests was also a challenge.

“We wanted Sean Penn—whom we’re giving an honorary award—to come, but he couldn’t come at this time; he proved a great friend to Ukraine and finished the movie he was making here, and lent an Oscar to the President’s office for the duration of the war.”

Despite the absence of the jury and Ben, the festival made arrangements for about four foreign guests, from Germany, Poland, Belgium and the UK, who were willing and able to make the grueling train journey from neighboring Poland.

At Thursday’s opening at the Zhovten Cinema in Kyiv, where the Ukrainian premiere of the Polish-Ukrainian co-production “Tata” (directed by Anna Maliszewska, starring Eric Lupus) was shown, the audience was advised to head to the basement shelter, or to a nearby subway station, If an air raid alarm sounds. If the lights went out but there was no air raid siren, the public was instructed to wait five or ten minutes for the generators to start.

The films shown at the festival include films from the national program (Stop-Zemlia by Katerina Gornostay in Hamburg has already been announced as the festival’s Grand Prize winner), the traditional Scandinavian panorama of the festival, the International Festival of Festivals, and – for those wishing to stay in the cinema During the 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew – midnight shows program.

Clemens Paul is a Kyiv-based programmer and arts director from New York whose film “Dima, Dmitry, Dmitro – Glory to the Heroes” is on the festival programme. I told diverse Creating spaces for cultural life to continue during wartime is an essential part of maintaining morale.

A series of additional screenings to the general public of the festival titles are scheduled for this week.

Despite other smaller art events, including festivals of documentaries and short films, since Summer, as one of the oldest international festivals in Ukraine, Molodist was an important event for the artistic community in Kyiv.

“It is important for us to send a message to the international community that life goes on,” he said.

Cinema and the arts continued almost uninterrupted, not only in Kyiv but in other cities, said Igor Savchenko, who produced the BBC-acquired Volodymyr Tikhi documentary on the early days of the war, “One Day in Ukraine.” Like Kharkiv, which was heavily bombed, despite the war.

“It’s a normal life for us. We shouldn’t stop going to the movies, drinking champagne, or celebrating anything.” diverse.



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