Thanks to the joint efforts of the state, representatives of Ukrainian film community and the support of international partners, Ukraine will be represented at one of the world's major film events - both competitive and industrial program - which is extremely important in the context of cultural diplomacy and resumption of industry during the war.
This year, in the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival, Ukraine presents two debut films by young Ukrainian directors - both films created with the support of Ukrainian State Film Agency. A feature film «Pamfir» by director and screenwriter Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, produced by BOSONFILM, will be presented in the program "Directors' Fortnight". The competition section of the official selection "Un Certain Regard" includes a film "BUTTERFLY VISION" by director and screenwriter Maksym Nakonechnyi, produced by TABOR Production.
Alongside the festival program, from May 17th to 25th there will be one of the most prestigious international film markets Marché du Film, where Ukraine will be represented by the National Pavilion.
This year the Ukrainian National Pavilion in Cannes was organized by joint financial efforts of the state and representatives of the film industry: Ukrainian State Film Agency, Film Industry Association of Ukraine, Odessa International Film Festival, FILM.UA Group, Solar Media Entertainment, UkrKinoFest, Kinokvartal, Trident Production Network, Prime Story Pictures and UNION OF TELEVISION AND FILM INDUSTRY ENTREPRENEURS.
The work of the pavilion will be focused on presenting Ukraine's opportunities for cooperation in the audiovisual industry, projects and services that we can offer to international partners.
An important event of this year's Cannes will be the program "Ukraine in Focus" at the Marché du Film market, which the Cannes Film Festival is organizing in support of Ukraine. On May 21, we will have the Day of Ukraine at the Cannes Film Market, organized by the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), the Ukrainian Institute and the International Documentary Film Festival – Docudays UA. The main market initiatives Goes to Cannes, Cannes Docs Showcase and Producers Network will be aimed at projects and film professionals from Ukraine.
Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will dedicate its full selection of Work In Progress 5 to Ukrainian unfinished works - projects "The Editorial Office" by director Roman Bondarchuk, "The Glass House" by Taras Dron, "Do you love me?" Tonia Noyabrova, "Demons" by Natalya Vorozhbit and "Chrysanthemum Day" by Simon Mozgovy. Tallinn Black Nights will also present 4 Ukrainian projects in the Ukrainian Features Preview - “ROCK. PAPER. GRENAGE” directed by Iryna Tsilyk; “When we were fifteen” by Anna Buriachkova, “La Palisiada” directed by Filip Sotnychenko, “Lucky Girl (Ya, Nina)” directed by Marysia Nikitiuk.
In the Short Film Corner section of the Marché du Film of the Cannes Film Festival. Will be presented film "Tierce" the debut of director Nika SHOVA.
In the documentary section of the Marché du Film market, at Docs in Progress, with the support of Docudays UA, 4 Ukrainian documentary projects will be shown - “Company of Steel” directed by Yulia Gontaruk; “Lagoons. Battle for Paradise” by Serhii Lysenko; "Listening to the World" by Liza Smith and "Peace for Nina" directed by Zhanna Maksymenko-Dovhych.
Producers Network will present 6 Ukrainian producers: Darya Bassel from Moon Man, Denis Ivanov from Arthouse Traffic, Natalia Libet from Digital Religion, Sashko Chubko from Pronto Film, Olga Beskhmelnytsina from ESSE Production House and Volodymyr Yatsenko from ForeFilms. And in the program La Fabrique Cinéma 2022 of the festival the project “Ground ZERO” directed by Zhanna Ozirna will be presented.
"Having an official representative office in Cannes this year is more important for Ukraine than ever before. After all, we desperately need the world to see our culture and identity in order to be able to resist the influence of Russian propaganda in the cultural space. Since the beginning of the war, the Ukrainian State Film Agency, with the active support of the Ukrainian film industry, has been defending the interests of our state, calling on the world film community to boycott the aggressor country." – Maryna Kuderchuk, the Head of Ukrainian State Film Agency
Many European film festivals have already listened to Ukraine and removed Russian films from their programs. Cannes, however, leaves the film of Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov "Tchaikovsky's Wife" in the main competition program, arguing that the director's in opposition to the Russian government. Owing to the pressure from the Ukrainian film community, the opening film of the festival, the zombie comedy “Z” (Comme Z) by French director Michel Hazanavicius, has been renamed on “Coupez!”. The festival's organizing committee has also decided not to accept official delegations or representatives associated with the Russian government.
The Ukrainian delegation at the festival will continue to advocate the need to cancel now - during the war between Russia and Ukraine - screenings of Russian cinema in the programs of the 75th Cannes Film Festival. And the organizing committee of the Ukrainian pavilion is ready to worthily represent our country at one of the main film events in the world.
"The Ukrainian industry is actively working on an international direction now - stories, projects and services that we can present to the foreign market. We have something to offer the world, to Europe first and foremost, to create content together. We have enough creative resources to make a significant contribution to the development of the European audiovisual market. We will talk about this in Cannes and prove it with examples of projects developed in Ukraine." – CEO of FILM.UA Group and Head of Ukrainian Motion Picture Association Victoria Yarmoshchuk.
**
Ukrainian Pavilion: Program of events
**
May 19, 2022. Presentation Canceling Russian Culture: Cinema as an Instrument of Russian Propaganda and War.
For almost two decades, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014, the Russian film industry played a significant role in dehumanizing Ukrainians, denying our existence, our language and culture, portraying us as "Nazis" and Russia's enemies. This presentation will give an idea of how Vladimir Putin dehumanized Ukrainians through Russian cinema and will show vivid examples of xenophobia directed at Ukraine in Russian films.
May 20, 2022. Discover Ukraine presentation.
One of the main missions of the Ukrainian Pavilion this year is to inform the world film community about the existing opportunities for cooperation with our country, even in times of war. This will be a key vector of the event with the participation of Marina Kuderchuk, The Head of Ukrainian State Film Agency Maryna Kuderchuk, Artem Koliubaiev, Head of Council for State Support of Cinematography, Victoria Yarmoshchuk, CEO of FILM.UA Group and Head of Ukrainian Motion Picture Association, and other industry representatives. The guests of the event will be told about Ukrainian capacities in industry of post-production, animation, VFX, film services, which are currently relocated from dangerous regions and available for work. They will get acquainted with Ukrainian film projects in the final stages of production, looking for co-production partners. And also to present a Special Donation Account, created to save the Ukrainian audiovisual industry and provide work for Ukrainian filmmakers.
May 22, 2022. Discussion Women In Industry. Despite considerable attention to these issues, the global film industry still has a significant gender imbalance. As part of an international movement to achieve gender equality and protect women's rights, the Ukrainian film industry will join the search for ways to address these issues in the Women In Industry debate, which is fueled by the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The work of the Ukrainian Pavilion in Cannes will end with a Charity evening, to which the organizers of the Pavilion will invite guests of the festival to join. All funds raised will be used to support Ukraine.
**Ukrainian cinema in the program of the Cannes Film Festival
Full-length feature film "Pamfir". Director and screenwriter: Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk. Ukrainian partner: BOSONFILM, with the support of Ukrainian State Film Agency. Ukraine / France / Poland / Chile, 2022**
The film is about a good family man, Pamfir, who commits a crime for the sake of his family. A biblical story about Abraham, set in the canons of Greek tragedy against a background of the traditional Ukrainian feast of Malanka. The world premiere of the film will take place in the competition program "Directors' Fortnight" at the Cannes Film Festival
Full-length feature film "Butterfly Vision" (working title - "Savior"). Director: Maksym Nakonechnyi. Screenwriters: Maksym Nakonechnyi, Iryna Tsilyk. Ukrainian partner: TABOR Production, with the support of Ukrainian State Film Agency. Ukraine / Croatia / Czech Republic / Sweden, 2022
After spending months as a prisoner in Donbass, Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance expert Lilia returns home to her family. But the trauma of captivity continues to torment her and surface in dreamlike ways. Something growing deep within Lilia will not allow her to forget, yet she refuses to identify as a victim and will fight to liberate herself. The world premiere of the film will take place in the competition program "Special Look" at the Cannes Film Festival.
The 75th anniversary Cannes International Film Festival will take place from 17th to 28th May 2022.
Ukrainian State Film Agency: https://usfa.gov.ua
https://www.facebook.com/TheUkrainianPavilion/
