“'OKO' Travels”: Festival announces screenings in Finland, Bulgaria, and Ukraine
After the third edition that this year is taking place in November in the Polish city of Toruń, the “OKO” film festival will travel with special screenings to Finland (Helsinki), Bulgaria (Sofia), and finally home, to Ukraine (Bolhrad).
The “'OKO' Travels” program will be composed of Ukrainian films that show the varied aspects of the “OKO” native country and its rich culture and history. From traveling back in time to Kyivan Rus to fighting for life in modern times, from music revelations to national tragedies, from talking about griefs to discovering beauty: the viewers will get a chance to look at Ukraine from a new perspective, and to fall in love with it.
Festival director Tetiana Stanieva:
“If you cannot come to Ukraine now and see everything with your own eyes, Ukraine will come to you. With films, stories, culture, pain, and joy so that you look at Ukraine with other eyes. Our film trip aims to strengthen the voice of Ukraine, implement the ideas of cultural diplomacy and demonstrate the power of media resistance. Our culture is our weapon and movies are our ammunition. This is what Ukraine is fighting with and fighting for on the cultural front.
The Ukrainian films of our program, our 'cartridges' hit straight in the head and show the documented truth from the inside about the history of Ukraine, about the present and about hopes for the future”.
Screening program
Helsinki, Finland
November 20th, 2022
Thus they will sing
18 min
dir. Diana Gorban, Anna Yutchenko
Shameful songs are songs with erotic motifs that were sung at weddings, parties, and feasts. And although it was a shame to sing these songs in everyday life, their content broadcast models of the behavior of men and women. The tradition of composing songs still exists. Ostap Bogoslavets from Nadvirna rethinks the modern world of youth in his own songs.
Mustache Funk
70 min
dir. Oleksandr Kovsh
In the late 1960s, the Soviet politburo directed the creation of musical groups analogous to those of the West in a bid to sway the youth from western music. These groups, known as Vocal and Instrumental ensembles, went on to usher what some call the "golden era" of Ukrainian pop music.
Own
28 min
dir. Myroslav Lutsyk
On February 24, 2022, a full-scale war was launched, which completely changed the lives of all Ukrainians. The question arose of the survival and preservation of the culture and independence of the entire nation. The film uses footage taken in the occupied towns of Bucha, Irpin and Borodyanka, which are located in the suburbs of Kyiv, showing the terrible consequences of the war, as well as footage of what Ukraine was like before the war.
The Stronghold
111 min
dir. Yuriy Kovalyov
The Stronghold is a Ukrainian adventure/fantasy film based on the book of the same name. A present-day schoolboy Vit'ko goes a thousand years into past.
Sofia, Bulgaria
November 25th, 2022
The Wormwood Star
14 min
dir. Adelina Borets
The "Wormwood Star" is a 14-minute documentary film about choices and values. The film shows the village of Mali Klischi, which has existed since 1790. In 1972, there were 200 houses and 530 inhabitants. Residents of the village have been displaced due to radioactive contamination. The Regional Council removed the village from the register on June 21, 1991. Today, only two inhabitants remain in what used to be the village of Mali Klischi. The Leading characters of the film are a mother and son - Nina (79 y.o.) and Alexander (62 y.o.). There is a great misunderstanding between them, despite the fact that they live together for many years. In order to remain in their houses, they have paid the highest price – loneliness.
The Living
74 min
dir. Sergei Bukovski
They were children when everything was taken from their parents. Peasants who lived and worked on the most fertile soil in the world were exposed to starvation and slow death. From those who survived, they formed an army of slaves... Only now are these people telling about what they experienced. About how their parents were driven to a "bright future". How they took the last one. How villages died out. How they survived... "It would be better if we weren't born..." says one of the witnesses. The Holodomor tragedy is woven into the plot of the world drama of the early 1930s.
November 26th, 2022
Peacekeepers: In the Svaneti Mountains
25 min
dir. Andriy Kirshin
Shortly after the Ukrainian crews returned to their motherland, a telegram from the Georgian leadership came to the then president of Ukraine: "We regard your unselfish help as the extension of the historical traditions of brotherhood and mutual respect of two fraternal peoples. Our gratitude for the rescue of the doomed refugee army, who were caught in the mountains of Svaneti is enormous. We are deeply convinced: those who were connected with pain and joy, will live forever, this will be passed from generation to generation.
The Stronghold
111 min
dir. Yuriy Kovalyov
The Stronghold is a Ukrainian adventure/fantasy film based on the book of the same name. A present-day schoolboy Vit'ko goes a thousand years into past.
November 27th, 2022
Own
28 min
dir.Myroslav Lutsyk
On February 24, 2022, a full-scale war was launched, which completely changed the lives of all Ukrainians. The question arose of the survival and preservation of the culture and independence of the entire nation. The film uses footage taken in the occupied towns of Bucha, Irpin and Borodyanka, which are located in the suburbs of Kyiv, showing the terrible consequences of the war, as well as footage of what Ukraine was like before the war.
Terykony
80 min
dir. Taras Tomenko
Nastya was ten when a missile fired by Russian terrorists on New Year's Eve changed her life forever. It took her father's life and destroyed their house. Nastya's school is only in 500 meters from the front line. War has become commonplace. Just a part of the landscape. The only means for Nastya's family to survive is the scrap metal they scavenge while under fire. Senya is seven years old. He is a first-grader. In the seven years of his life, he has seen seven years of war and not a day of peace. Senya likes to climb on the boney pile to watch the sunset. His stepfather dig graves to earn money for a new suit and backpack for Senya. This is a film about the children who live in the war zone in Ukraine.
Bolhrad, Ukraine
December 2nd
Own
28 min
dir.Myroslav Lutsyk
On February 24, 2022, a full-scale war was launched, which completely changed the lives of all Ukrainians. The question arose of the survival and preservation of the culture and independence of the entire nation. The film uses footage taken in the occupied towns of Bucha, Irpin and Borodyanka, which are located in the suburbs of Kyiv, showing the terrible consequences of the war, as well as footage of what Ukraine was like before the war.
Terykony
80 min
dir. Taras Tomenko
Nastya was ten when a missile fired by Russian terrorists on New Year's Eve changed her life forever. It took her father's life and destroyed their house. Nastya's school is only in 500 meters from the front line. War has become commonplace. Just a part of the landscape. The only means for Nastya's family to survive is the scrap metal they scavenge while under fire. Senya is seven years old. He is a first-grader. In the seven years of his life, he has seen seven years of war and not a day of peace. Senya likes to climb on the boney pile to watch the sunset. His stepfather dig graves to earn money for a new suit and backpack for Senya. This is a film about the children who live in the war zone in Ukraine.
December 3rd
Peacekeepers: In the Svaneti Mountains
25 min
dir. Andriy Kirshin
Shortly after the Ukrainian crews returned to their motherland, a telegram from the Georgian leadership came to the then president of Ukraine: "We regard your unselfish help as the extension of the historical traditions of brotherhood and mutual respect of two fraternal peoples. Our gratitude for the rescue of the doomed refugee army, who were caught in the mountains of Svaneti is enormous. We are deeply convinced: those who were connected with pain and joy, will live forever, this will be passed from generation to generation.
The Stronghold
111 min
dir. Yuriy Kovalyov
The Stronghold is a Ukrainian adventure/fantasy film based on the book of the same name. A present-day schoolboy Vit'ko goes a thousand years into past.
December 4th
Screenings of the best "OKO" 2022 films at home (TBA).