The Ukrainian Film Festival Berlin 2024, under the theme "The Art of Being Free," will take place from October 23 to 27, marking its fifth anniversary.
The festival celebrates the latest Ukrainian auteur cinema and focuses on liberation from external control and internal erasure. This year's festival highlights decolonization processes in Ukraine and other former Soviet states like Armenia and Georgia.
Maria Stoianova's father was a figure skater with the Soviet-Ukrainian “Ballet on Ice”. In 1986, he bought a camera and began documenting his tours in the West and his family life. The director weaves the nostalgic footage and commentary into a fascinating film essay about the nature of memory and the ability of images to capture it.
Greatness paired with modesty: 93 years old and a daughter, world-famous director Lana remembers her mother Nutsa, Georgia’s first female filmmaker. A cinema legacy that revolves around being human in dark times: feminist, loving, critical of violence.
With Q&A after the screenings
I Died in Irpin / Я померла в Ірпені
24th February 2022, my boyfriend and I fled Kyiv to go to Irpin. We spent 10 days in a blockaded city and just managed to escape with the last evacuation convoy. Time passed, but the feeling that I died in Irpin has never left me since.
Beware of a Good dog! / Увага добрий пес!
Stepan, who finds solace in adopting old shelter dogs, dreams of a peaceful end amidst the chaos of the war in Ukraine. But peace is a privilege stolen by the young boy Gogo. What happens when two enemies of different ages but equally lonely meet at the cemetery at night?
Voice messages from Bakhmut / Войси з Бахмута
Bakhmut, Donetsk region, 2022. A story about an attempt to restore intimacy amidst the distance imposed by war. It unfolds through the voice messages of a foreign correspondent stationed in a front-line city.
In Paris No One Thinks About Tomorrow / В Парижі ніхто не думає про завтра
Alissa is a Ukrainian model who has taken refuge in Paris. Having just lost someone close to her, she finally gets her first contract for a fashion show. Traumatized by war and exile, Alissa seems indifferent to everything around her, and now seeks only one thing: harmony.
Dovecotes of Kyiv / Голубівники Києва
From late 1940-s to late 1980-s doves were an obsession for boys in Kyiv. This is a film about how a hobby from childhood becomes a meaning of life.
"Intercepted" erforscht, was Menschen antreibt, in einem fremden Land Krieg zu führen, und zeigt zwei parallele Welten. Die Kamera fängt ruhige Bilder zerstörter ukrainischer Dörfer und Städte nach ihrer Befreiung ein, wo das Leben langsam zurückkehrt. Diese Aufnahmen setzen der medialen Normalisierung des Grauens etwas entgegen. Der schockierende Kontrast dazu ist die Tonspur: Abgehörte Telefongespräche russischer Soldaten mit ihren Familien aus dem Jahr 2022, in denen Geständnisse von Gewaltverbrechen und die von Hass geprägten Reaktionen von „zu Hause“ erschüttern. Bild und Ton stehen fassungslos nebeneinander.
Surrounded by social and political chaos in Lima during the summer of 1992, Lucia, Aurora, and their mother, Elena, plan to leave and seek opportunities in the United States. Their farewell involves reconnecting with their estranged father, Carlos, adding turbulence to the regrets, hopes, and fears of their emotional departure.
