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This year, The Odesa International Film Festival will present the retrospective programme «Unforgotten History». The program includes 9 movies reflecting on important pages of Ukraine's history.
The list of films from the «Unforgotten History» retrospective:
«Anton», directed by Zaza Urushadze, 2018
Historical drama «Anton» describes the events in southern Ukraine in the 1920s, when the Bolsheviks began their terror in Ukraine. The film is the latest work by Georgian director Zaza Urushadze and is based on real events, which were described in the book «Anton, a young boy, his friend and the Russian revolution». The film «Anton» depicts the friendship of two boys who live in a carefree world of children's adventures, until their families face the cruelty of the Red Army.
«Eurodonbas», directed by Kornii Hrytsiuk, 2022
Donbas, Eastern Ukraine, known globally for war with Russia, was once a hub of Belgian, German, French, British, and American settlements in the late 19th century. Foreign entrepreneurs developed architecture and technology until the USSR seized their assets after the 1917 revolution, erasing their history. «Eurodonbas» uncovers this past with experts and archival footage. It highlights European legacies in cities like Mariupol, Lysychansk, Druzhkivka, and New York village before the Russian invasion devastated them.
«Famine 33», directed by Oles Yanchuk, 1991
First film produced in Ukraine, by Ukrainians, on the subject of the 1932-33 famine & 7 million deaths (officially unacknowledged until 1990). A dramatic story detailing the lives of a Ukrainian family during the historic, forced collectivization and crop seizure by Stalin. Film shot in the regions of the 30s famine; based on the novel, «Yellow Prince» by emigre writer Vasyl Barka.
«Haytarma», directed by Akhtem Seitablayev, 2013
Based on real events, the historical drama tells about Stalin's deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944. In the center of the story is the story of the pilot and national hero of the Crimean Tatars, Amet-Khan Sultan, for whom the forced deportation of his compatriots became a personal tragedy. The tape won several awards at international film festivals and the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine award as the best Ukrainian film.
«House «WORD»», directed by Taras Tomenko, 2017
Story is about the extermination of Ukrainian intelligentsia on the background of peasants’ annihilation. All of them were specially gathered under one roof of House of Writers «Word» in Kharkiv. This is the story of people of art, and how their paradise turns into hell when the system breaks an creator.
«Kruty 1918», directed by Oleksii Shapariev, 2019
Historical drama about the events of January 1918. As a Bolshevik army of about 4.000 men, commanded by General Muravyov, advances towards Kyiv, with the aim of capturing the city, a small Ukrainian unit of 400 soldiers -about 300 of which are students- is resisting near the railroad station of Kruty. The clash between the opposite and unequal forces rages, with terrible fury. Young people, like Spartan soldiers, sacrifice themselves in a struggle against aggressors.
«Mr. Jones», directed by Agnieszka Holland, 2019
In 1933, Welsh reporter Gareth Jones is looking for his next big story. The job assignment brings him to Moscow, where he meets American journalist Ada Brooks who reveals to him the truth about the «Soviet utopia» and Jones starts to put all the pieces together. Hiding from the Soviet intelligence agencies and facing deadly threats, bit by bit he uncovers the truth about the tragedy of the Ukrainian people: the Holodomor, censorship, conspiracies and mass repressions. Later Gareth's work finds a home as the basis of scathing allegory Animal Farm by the famous writer George Orwell.
«The Gide», directed by Oles Sanin, 2013
Ukraine, 1930s. American engineer Michael Shamrock arrives in Kharkiv with his ten-year old son, Peter (Anton Greene) to help «build socialism». He falls in love with an actress Olga (Jamala) who has another admirer, Communist Commissar Vladimir. Under tragic circumstances, the American is killed and his son is saved from his pursuers by a blind «Kobzar». With no other chance to survive in a foreign land, the boy becomes his guide. Their journey, full of dangerous adventures, unfolds against the background of one of the most dramatic pages of Ukrainian history and human destruction. The film about love, loyalty, betrayal and infamy is based on true events.
«Voices from Chornobyl», directed by Pol Cruchten, 2016
About Chornobyl, thousands of feet of videotapes have been shot. However, this film is not talking about Chornobyl but of a world which we know almost nothing. Some people from everyday life are raising their voices to testify. Through their supplication, the film takes us on a journey into the human soul.
The 15th Odesa International Film Festival will take place from July 12 to 20, 2024, in Kyiv.
The 15th Odesa International Film Festival is supported by the Ukrainian State Film Agency and the Creative Europe Program.