Program of the V edition of the OKO International Ethnographic Film Festival
This year, 10 films will compete for a prize in the section NASHE OKO, which we will show to our viewers in both Ukraine and Bulgaria during the festival's film week.
The program department of the ОКО International Ethnographic Film Festival has spent a lot of days reviewing numerous applications for participation in the Film Festival, and now we are going to announce the films of the feature competition program NASHE OKO which is a national competition program.
The following films were selected to participate in the competition:
1) Axe / Bartka / Бартка, 2022, Ukraine, dir. Volodymyr Bakum.
2) Breathing / Дихання, 2022, Ukraine, dir. Viktor Petrenko, Maria Pankova.
3) Cupressus/ Кипарис, 2024, Ukraine, dir. Mykola Nosok.
4) Dear Odesa / Одеса уві сні, 2022, Italy / Ukraine, dir. Kyrylo Naumko.
5) Demiurge / Деміург, 2023, Ukraine, dir. Olga Semak.
6) Kilometre / Кілометр, 2024, Ukraine, dir. Hanna Tykha.
7) The Light Slipping Through / Проникаюче світло, 2024, Ukraine, dir. Volodymyr Kliuiev.
8) A Poem for Little People / Поема для маленьких людей, 2023, Ukraine / Lithuania / Great Britain, dir. Ivan Sautkin.
9) Rule of Two Walls / Правило двох стін, 2023, Ukraine, dir. David Gutnik.
10) War Tails / Хвостики під час війни, 2024, Canada / Ukraine, dir. Olha Byrledianu.
These films will compete for a sectional prize of 600 euros. The jury will select and announce the winner during the closing ceremony in Sofia.
The films of the feature film national competition program will be screened offline from September 8 to 15 in Bolhrad (Ukraine) and from November 8 to 15 in Sofia (Bulgaria). Ukrainian and Bulgarian viewers will be able to watch some of the films during online screenings on the platforms of our partners — MEGOGO and Neterra.TV. We would like to remind you that the winner of the audience award will be selected based on the results of all online screenings.
This has never happened at the OKO Film Festival in its five years of existence.
This year, the organizers of the OKO International Ethnographic Film Festival decided to experiment. Instead of traditional documentaries, which have always been the basis of our program sections, we made a decision to accept fiction and animated films for the competition and not to segregate them by genre or any other criteria. The main condition is ethnographic elements and the so-called "post-ethnography". This innovation promises to open new perspectives both for the Festival and for the audience. The jury members will certainly have a slightly more difficult task, but we are sure that they will appreciate the presented films and make a fair decision. We expect the same from the audience. We are sure that such diversity is not only a new experience, but also new horizons for conducting Ukrainian-Bulgarian cultural dialogue.
The following films were selected for NASHE OKO Short Film Competition Program:
1. And that’s for this Christmas / И това е за тази Коледа, 2024, dir. Peter Vulchev, Bulgaria – Fiction
2. Ballad of Ferris the Self-appointed Knight and Smokie the Fire Breathing Dragon / Балада за самозвания рицар Желязко и огнедишащия дракон Димчо, 2024, dir. Penko Gelev, Bulgaria – Animated
3. Blackthorn Blossom / Fleurs d'épine / Цвіте терен, 2023, dir. Olga Stuga, France, Ukraine – Non-Fiction
4. COMMA / Комма, dir. Sonia Leliukh, 2023, Germany, Ukraine – Animated
5. Damore — About Love / Damore — За любовта, 2023, dir. Nicola Zambelli, Bulgaria – Fiction
6.! (Exclamation Mark) / ! (Знак оклику), 2023, dir. Orest Smilianets, Ukraine – Non-Fiction
7. Giorgos Gounaropoulos from Sozopol / Йоргос Гунаропулос от Созопол, 2023, dir. Elisaveta Stantcheva, Bulgaria – Non-Fiction
8. Heart Hug / Обіруч, 2023, dir. Rimma Gefen, Nika Zhukova, Israel – Animated
9. Hut / Хатка, 2024, dir. Kate Tiuri, Ukraine – Non-Fiction
10. Kalyna Malyna / Калина Малина, 2023, dir. Pauline Zapolska, Ukraine, Latvia – Animated
11. Mokosh / Мокош, 2023, dir. Anna Dudko, Ukrane – Animated
12. Mother / Мама, 2023, dir. Mariia Felenko, Ukraine – Fiction
13. My Dad is a Lightning Researcher / Мій тато — дослідник блискавок, 2023, dir. Iryna Shostak, Ukraine – Non-Fiction
14. Security Council Presidency / Голова Ради Безпеки ООН, 2024, dir. Kyrylo Naumko, Ukraine – Non-Fiction
15. The Soldier / Солдатик, 2023, dir. Danyl Dedkov, Ukraine – Fiction
16. Spirit, 2024, dir. Mariia Khomutina, Ukraine – Non-Fiction
17. La Terreur, 2024, dir. Mykhal Talkovskyi, Ukraine – Fiction
18. Trace / Следа, 2022, dir. Asparuh Petrov, Bulgaria – Animated
19. Tutti, 2023, dir. Alla Savytska, Ukraine – Non-Fiction
20. WAR 24, 2023, dir. Tetіana Peresunko, Dmytro Shyshko, Ukraine – Non-Fiction
21. We Are Home / Ми вдома, 2024, dir. Roman Krasnoshchok, Anton Chistyakov, Great Britain, Ukraine – Non-Fiction.
The winner of the Jury Grand Prize in "national" short film competition will be announced at the closing ceremony of the Film Festival in Bulgarian and will receive a prize of 600 euros. Besides, in this section, professional experts will also award Jury Special Prizes for the best fiction, non-fiction, animated short films and ethnographic representation. All winners will also receive a diploma and a festival trophy “Cehlynka”.
Despite the genre mix of the selected films and a slight rebranding of the name for the international competition - OKO GLOBAL - our love for cinema and desire to share it with the audience remain unchanged. Although it is said that cinema is not a sport, the element of competition is the best way to stimulate and keep filmmakers in a good shape so that they can delight us with their creations. The main arbiter in this competition is the audience. However, the marks from a professional jury are no less important.
This year's international feature film competition program includes 8 fiction and 8 non-fiction feature films, 11 of which will have their premiere screenings in Ukraine!
The following films were selected to participate in the competition:
1. Archive of the Future / Archiv der Zukunft, dir. Joerg Burger | 2023, Austria – Non-Fiction
2. The Cigarette Surfboard, dir. Ben Judkins | 2024, USA – Non-Fiction
3. Diagnosis: Dissent / БожеВільні, dir. Denys Tarasov | 2023, Ukraine - Fiction
4. KIX, dir. Dávid Mikulán, Bálint Révész | 2024, Hungary, France, Croatia – Non-Fiction
5. Life and Death of a Christmas Tree / Kalėdų eglutės gyvenimas ir mirtis, dir. Arturas Jevdokimovas | 2023, Lithuania, Denmark, Georgia – Non-Fiction
6. Mountain Boy, dir. Zainab Shaheen | 2024, United Arab Emirates, Great Britain - Fiction
7. Mountains, dir. Mónica Sorelle | 2023, USA - Fiction
8. My Place Ozerna / Moja Ozerna, dir. Karina Bedkowska | 2022, Poland – Non-Fiction
9. No Winter Holidays / Dhorpatan, dir. Rajan Kathet, Sunir Pandey | 2023, Nepal, South Korea, Romania – Non-Fiction
10. Once Upon a Time in the Andes / Érase una vez en los Andes, dir. Rómulo Sulca Ricra | 2023, Peru - Fiction
11. Oxygen Station / Киснева станція, dir. Ivan Tymchenko | 2023, Ukraine, Czechia, Sweden, Slovakia – Fiction
12. Plague / Чума, dir. Ivan Vladimirov | 2023, Bulgaria - Fiction
13. Rap and Reindeer / Revontulten räppäri, dir. Petteri Saario | 2023, Finland – Non-Fiction
14. Seven Blessings / Sheva Brachot, dir. Ayelet Menahemi | 2023, Israel - Fiction
15. That They May Face the Rising Sun, dir. Pat Collins | 2023, Ireland, Great Britain (Northern Ireland) - Fiction
16. Weightless / Невагома, dir. Marta Hryniuk, Nick Thomas | 2023, Netherlands, Ukraine – Non-Fiction
The winner of the Jury Grand Prize in OKO GLOBAL International Feature Competition will be announced at the closing ceremony of the Film Festival in Bulgaria and will receive a prize of 1000 euros. Besides, in this section, jury members will also award Jury Special Prizes for the best fiction & non-fiction feature films and ethnographic representation. All winners will also receive a diploma and a festival trophy “Cehlynka”.
The OKO International Ethnographic Film Festival team has prepared a lot of surprises for this section. There are participants of world-famous film festivals, debutants in the film industry, and competitive films of previous editions.
The International Short Film Competition Program has traditionally been the largest section at our festival in terms of the number of films presented. The record was held by the first edition of 2020 with 30 films in the program slot.
This year, as we decided not to set genre restrictions, we received a huge number of submissions with unique films. The program department could hardly decide on 41 films, including 19 live-action, 14 non-fiction and 8 animated films.
In the International Short Film Competition Program OKO GLOBAL, almost all continents are represented to some extent. This applies to the place of action, the directors' personalities, the local traditions shown, as well as the countries of filming and production.
The following films were selected to participate in the competition:
1. 2720, dir. Basil da Cunha | 2023, Portugal/Switzerland — Fiction
2. About Happy Hippos and Sad Peacocks, dir. Elkin Calderon Guevara, Johannes Förster | 2024, Germany, Colombia – Non-Fiction
3. Abel, dir. Dekel Berenson, Paul Wesley | 2024, USA, Great Britain, Mexico - Fiction
4. Almost Forgotten / Quase Me Lembro, dir. Miguel Lima, Dimitri Mihajlovic | 2023, Portugal - Animated
5. Aqueronte, dir. Manuel Muñoz Rivas | 2023, Spain - Fiction
6. Balcony Cacophony, dir. Quentin Haberham | 2023, Netherlands - Animated
7. Been There, dir. Corina Schwingruber Ilić | 2023, Switzerland – Non-Fiction
8. The Big Day / Schützenfest, dir. Lennart Hüper, Lennart Miketta | 2024, Austria, Germany – Non-Fiction
9. The Blanket / Шобрет, dir. Regina Vitányi, Karl Kaisel | 2024, Estonia - Animated
10. Blood / Ratthum, dir. Vathana Suganya Suppiah | 2023, Great Britain - Fiction
11. Bye Bye Benz Benz, dir. Mamoun Rtal Bennani, Jules Rouffio | 2023, France, Morocco – Non-Fiction
12. Comrade Poopy, dir. Anonymous "M" | 2024, Myanmar, France, Japan – Non-Fiction
13. Cross My Heart and Hope To Die, dir. Sam Manacsa | 2023, Philippines - Fiction
14. Dreams Like Paper Boats / Des rêves en bateaux papiers, dir. Samuel Suffren | 2024, Haiti - Fiction
15. Duck Roast / Sorsapaisti, dir. Jelica Jerinić | 2023, Finland - Fiction
16. Fár, dir. Gunnur Martinsdóttir Schlüter | 2023, Iceland - Fiction
17. Forgetting Lenin / Hyvästit Leninille, dir. Inka Achté, Einari Paakkanen | 2024, Finland – Non-Fiction
18. Further and Further Away / Chhngai dach alai, dir. Polen Ly | 2022, Cambodia - Fiction
19. The Goat, dir. Reza Mirzaei | 2024, IRI - Fiction
20. Greylands / Die graue March, dir. Charlotte Waltert, Alvaro Schoeck | 2023, Switzerland - Animated
21. Group Picture / Foto di gruppo, dir. Tommaso Frangini | 2023, Italy - Fiction
22. Holy Water / Swiataja Wada, dir. Andrei Kutsila | 2023, Poland – Non-Fiction
23. Invisible Border / Die unsichtbare Grenze, dir. Mark Gerstorfer | 2022, Austria - Fiction
24. Light of Light / Fos ek fotos, dir. Neritan Zinxhiria | 2023, Greece – Non-Fiction
25. Mariupol. A Hundred Nights / Маріуполь. Сто ночей, dir. Sofiia Melnyk | 2023, Ukraine, Germany - Animated
26. Meet Daniel, dir. Aris Katsigiannis | 2024, Greece – Non-Fiction
27. Memories of the Foreign, dir. Tolga Karaaslan | 2023, Austria – Non-Fiction
28. Nothing Special, dir. Efrat Berger | 2024, France, Israel - Animated
29. Old Summer / Starsza Pani szuka, dir. Maria Wider | 2023, Poland – Non-Fiction Krystyna is 72 years old, but she
30. Our Uniform, dir. Yegane Moghaddam | 2023, IRI - Animated
31. Phool Dei, dir. Kartik Mahajan | 2024, India - Animated
32. Saturn / Saturno, dir. André Guiomar, Luís Costa | 2022, Portugal - Fiction
33. The Shell Covered Ox / Boi de Conchas, dir. Daniel Barosa | 2024, Brazil, USA - Fiction
34. Sisters of Wind / Hermanas del Viento, dir. Julia Carrizo Solanas | 2024, Argentina – Non-Fiction
35. Spring 23 / Chūn èrshísān, dir. Zhiyi Wang | 2024, China - Fiction
36. Tell Me About the Burryman, dir. Julia Parks | 2023, Great Britain – Non-Fiction
37. Tits, dir. Eivind Landsvik | 2023, Norway - Fiction
38. Tradition / Teamül, dir. Ali Rıza Bayazıt | 2023, Turkey - Fiction
39. What the Soil Remembers, dir. José Cardoso | 2023, Ecuador, South Africa – Non-Fiction
40. Where No Ships Go / Acolo unde bărcile nu ajung, dir. Vlad Buzăianu | 2023, Romania - Fiction
41. Why Did You Leave the Horse Alone? / Pourquoi As-Tu Laissé le Cheval à sa Solitude?, dir. Faouzi Bensaïdi | 2024, France - Fiction
The winner of the Jury Grand Prize in OKO GLOBAL International Short Film Competition will be announced at the closing ceremony of the Film Festival in Ukraine and will receive a prize of 600 euros. Besides, in this section, jury members will also award Jury Special Prizes for the best fiction, non-fiction and animated films and ethnographic representation. All winners will also receive diplomas and a festival trophy “Tsehlynka”.
1. Once Upon a Time in Ukraine / The Inglorious Serfs / Безславні кріпаки, dir. Roman Perfilyev | 2020, Ukraine — Fiction | 90
2. Taras. Return / Тарас. Повернення, dir. Oleksandr Denysenko | 2019, Ukraine, Kazakhstan — Fiction | 120
OKO RETROSPECTIVE == Taras Tomenko`s Retrospective ==
1. Boney Piles / Terykony / Терикони, dir. Taras Tomenko | 2022, Ukraine — Non-Fiction | 80
2. “Slovo” House. Unfinished Novel / Будинок «Слово». Нескінчений роман, dir. Taras Tomenko | 2021, Ukraine — Fiction | 120
3. Slovo House / Будинок «Слово», dir. Taras Tomenko | 2017, Ukraine — Non-Fiction | 81
4. The Shooting Gallery / Тир, dir. Taras Tomenko | 2001, Ukraine — Fiction | 10
5. The Slouther House / Бойня, dir. Taras Tomenko | 1998, Ukraine — Fiction | 10
== OKO - Best Of - Retrospective ==
1. A Portrait on the Background of Mountains / Портрет на тлі гір, dir. Max Rudenko | 2019, Ukraine — Non-Fiction | 85
2. The Building / Das Haus / Будинок, dir. Tatyana Kononenko, Matilda Mester | 2019, Ukraine, Germany — Non-Fiction | 93
3. The Devil Deer / Iwianch, el diablo venado, dir. José Cardoso | 2021, Ecuador — Non-Fiction | 94
4. I am Chance, dir. Marc-Henri Wajnberg | 2022, Belgium, Congo — Non-Fiction | 105
1. Four Daughters / Les filles d'Olfa, dir. Kaouther Ben Hania | 2023, France,Tunisia, Germany, Saudi Arabia — Non-Fiction | 108
2. Porcelain War, dir. Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev | 2024, USA, Ukraine, Australia — Non-Fiction | 88
3. La Palisiada / Ля Палісіада, dir. Philip Sotnychenko | 2023, Ukraine — Fiction | 100
4. Zinema, dir. Kornii Hrytsiuk | 2024, Ukraine, Luxembourg — Non-Fiction | 82
OKO SPECIAL
1. (Im)possible to Stay / Лишатися (Не) Можна, dir. Serhii Zeinalov | 2023, Ukraine — Non-Fiction | 104
2. Save / Врятуй, dir. Serhii Zeinalov, Msksym Khotilenko | 2024, Ukraine — Non-Fiction | 52
3. Almanac «Five Films From the War — A Ukrainian Danish Cross Border Collaboration», dir. various directors | 2023, Ukraine, Denmark — Non-Fiction | 56
3.1. Looking at Someone Looking at War, dir. Adda Elling, Tetiana Buialo
3.2. War Poem, dir. Ida Grøn
3.3. For the Love of Kira, dir. Kenneth Sorento
3.4. Surviving, dir. Anita Mathal Hopland
3.5. Broken Windows, dir. Troels Hansen
4. War Letters. Letter 1. Pulse of Ukraine / Листи з війни. Лист 1. Пульс України, dir. Tetiana Stanieva | 2024, Ukraine, Bulgaria — Non-Fiction | 55
5. Military Chaplains. Pray in Hell / Капеланки. Молитва у пеклі, dir. Olena Kryvenko | 2024, Ukraine — Non-Fiction | 67