Not a single generation of Ukrainian artists escaped Russian repression. Films that did not meet the Soviet regime's requirements were subject to destruction or gathered dust on the shelves for decades, and talented and authentic directors were forced to film party propaganda. Artists' lives were ruined, they were not allowed to work, and the most disobedient ones were thrown into prisons, taken to Siberia, and murdered.
This program is a visual demonstration of the horror of repression and a reminder that culture has never been outside of politics.
For the festival screening, the films "Stozhary" and "The World of Paraska Horytsvit" were digitized by the Dovzhenko Center, which is currently undergoing repressions and needs our support.
STOZHARS
Ivan Kavaleridze
Ukraine | 1939, 31 min
A tractor driver Andrii Stozhar decides to go to the Far East instead of his brother Maksym, who was kiiled on the border.
KYIV FRESCOES
Serhii Parajanov
Ukraine | 1966, 15 min
Parajanov assembled this “film collage” from the rushes and tests that remained unscathed after the Soviet authorities halted the production of "Kyiv Frescoes" and ordered the negative to be destroyed.
The director himself said, "Time has turned our ideas into a film, and I want you to see it."
THE WORLD OF PARASKA HORYTSVIT
Pavlo Fareniuk
Ukraine | 1992, 30 min
A short documentary about the Hutsul artist Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit. She personally experienced the horror of Soviet oppression, but despite this, her work became one of the leading symbols of the region.