The official opening ceremony of the Ukrainian-Bulgarian International Ethnographic Film Festival “OKO” took place on November 8 at the National Palace of Culture in the Lumiere Cinema.
More than 200 people who care about Ukraine, including representatives of embassies of a number of countries in Bulgaria, Bulgarian journalists, public figures and cultural activists, gathered in the cinema hall.
The Ukrainian ethno-electronic project GG GulyaiGorod sang Ukrainian folk songs in original arrangements.
Then, Boriana Cherkelova (representative of the Sofia municipality), Petyr Todorov (executive director of the National Film Center of Bulgaria) and Alek Alekseev (jury member and producer) expressed their sincere admiration and wished the festival success.
Serhii Dymytriev, the mayor of the city of Bolhrad, where the first part of the film festival took place in September, sent his greetings from Ukraine in a video message.
Olesia Ilashchuk, Ambassador of Ukraine to Bulgaria, noted that we were witnessing and participating in a unique cultural exchange between Ukraine and friendly countries.
Ms. Ilashchuk noted that in the coming days Bulgarian viewers would be able to watch more than 100 films, more than half of which are Ukrainian films.
These films are testimonies. They tell the story of Ukrainians who are fighting for their country, for the right to live on their land, for the right to say “No!” to the Russian imperial genocide that has been going on for over 300 years. For more than 3 centuries, the Russian Empire, the Bolshevik Empire, the USSR, and the Kremlin regime not only distorted our history, but also appropriated it, destroyed, robbed, and killed our people. This is what Russia is doing today.
However, after 2014, and especially after February 24, 2022, Ukrainian culture is experiencing a new renaissance. We are reviving our traditions, telling the world about them, glorifying the names of Ukrainian writers, artists, scientists, thinkers, and patriots. Our pride is our culture and multiethnic identity. The Bulgarian community in Ukraine consists of people who have every right to be proud of their language and identity. They are fighting for their homeland because they know very well what the Russian occupation brings,” added the Ambassador of Ukraine to Bulgaria and called for a minute of silence to honor the memory of all those who gave their lives in the struggle for freedom and independence of Ukraine.
Director of the OKO Film Festival Tetiana Staneva said: I know that there are many problems on the planet, so we have included in our international program films that somehow highlight them. But now we can't talk about anything else except our pain. Recently, a journalist has asked me if there were any films in Ukraine that were not about the war. I started to list the films that are currently available and realized that we have practically no films that are not about the war. However, how can we talk about anything else? Attempts to sing, dance, and show our culture are an opportunity for us to talk about our pain, about who we are. When the full-scale invasion began, I realized that many people in Bulgaria did not know where Ukraine was. I was often asked if Bessarabia bordered on Russia. They knew almost nothing about Ukrainian Bulgarians. So one of the big goals of the film festival was to do this educational work, to tell them about us, about who we are, through culture. Along with films about the war, we have fiction films that tell the viewers about our history, that answer the question of why we fight, why we don't give up, why the Ukrainians die for freedom. You may switch off the TV, tear yourself away from the news and forget about the war in Ukraine. You don't have to watch our movies, it's your right. But we cannot forget. We cannot turn it off. Why are we fighting? Because a lot of our heroes have already died for freedom. Because freedom for Ukraine is a religion. Because we have a choice - bread or freedom. If we choose bread, we will lose everything. If we choose freedom, we will get everything back. Not a single centimeter of Ukraine's territory is safe. No one knows when she or he might die. Please, give us a chance to talk about our pain.
I don't believe we will ever be able to stop talking about the war. We have lost too much. In every village in Ukraine, including the Bulgarian villages, of which there are more than 70 in Bessarabia, we have several dead, dozens of those who serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There is not a village in Ukraine that has not been affected by the war. There is not a single family that has not lost. I hope that someday, when the war is over, we will find an opportunity to make other films, to tell about our humor, for example. I hope we will bring such films very soon. But now we have to share our pain. We see your support, your hugs, and it is very important for us. Thank you for being ready to hear the truth from the horse's mouth! Thank you for trusting us! Thank you for being with us, said the director of the film festival.
After the speakers' moving words, the Bulgarian premiere screening of the opening film “A Poem for Little People” by the Ukrainian director Ivan Sautkin began.
The guests of the event expressed their sympathy not only with words, but also helped the 11th Brigade of the National Guard and especially our Oleksandr Baron, a Ukrainian photographer of Bulgarian origin and a member of the OKO team, by participating in the auction:
A flag signed by the soldiers of the Lastivka UAV unit of the 11th Brigade of the National Guard – 600 BGN Levs;
A drone that was used in the Zaporizhzhia sector – 1000 BGN Levs;
Trophy dry rations and chevrons of the Russian occupier – 400 BGN Levs;
Photo “Ritual of the fallen hero in the village of Chushmeliy” – 350 BGN Levs;
Photo “New Year in Ukraine” – 600 BGN Levs;
Photo “A soldier with a dog” – 450 BGN Levs.
Then everyone moved to the foyer, where the organizers prepared a cocktail party with a charity fair with souvenirs, festival paraphernalia and craft Bessarabian delicacies.
In addition, the guests had the opportunity to view an exhibition of 40 photographs by Oleksandr Baron (Ukraine) and Rumen Sarandev (Bulgaria) - “War through two lenses: where silence screams”.
The OKO IEFF team would like to thank the co-organizers, the Sofia Municipality and the National Film Center in Bulgaria.
The Embassy of Ukraine in the Republic of Bulgaria, Neterra TV PLUS, Netpeak Bulgaria marketing agency, Manol Peikov and Friends Foundation, Idea Comm, Release BG, Center of Bessarabian Bulgarians in Bulgaria, Orlivka-Isakcha ferry complex, Bessarabian Front, Bolgrad TM and Victor Kurtev, a Bessarabian Bulgarian from the village of Krynychne, also provided their support and assistance.
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