Wheelchair accessible, English subtitling (not for Q&A)
This screening is part of Samizdat’s Ukrainian cinema strand.
Samizdat Eastern European Film Festival presents a showcase of documentary/experimental film art by the Ukrainian NGO cinemovement Freefilmers. All proceeds from this event will be transferred to the artists, who will use it for charitable causes in Ukraine.
Freefilmers is a collective of filmmakers and artists, originally from Mariupol, Ukraine. For the past five years, they have been exploring urban transformations in East Ukraine, researching working-class creativity and the industrial past and present of post-socialist cities, and exploring memories and archives extending beyond official historical narratives. Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Freefilmers have been actively involved in all kinds of essential work, transporting humanitarian aid such as medical supplies and equipment to regions most affected by the war, helping refugees reach safer places, and keeping visual war diaries. This event will include a screening of several of short films produced by the collective and an online conversation with its members.
Please bear in mind that, because of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the Q&A element of the event may be rescheduled or cancelled at any moment prior to the event.
Films to be shown at the event:
Khayt, 9 min, dir. Sashko Protyah. A visual diary of a musician travelling to Mariupol in 2068 to take part in an art residency in the painfully relevant Azovstal’. Notes on an imaginary music style rooted in the traditional music of the Azov Greeks.
My Cosmos, 10 min, dir. Natasha Tzeliuba. An attentive personal exploration of a place through memories, this film focuses on coming back to childhood turf, the Cosmos district in Zaporizhzhia, against the background of scenes and recollections of growing up.
Intermutation. Neither a Fairytale nor a Musical, 23 min, dir. Oksana Kazmina. In a second-hand store, in front of a kitsch wallpaper of a tropical beach, four people are putting up a play. Discussions on queer penguins, ritualistic dances in the forest, and radiant walks by the sea, ensue. This film is a highly experimental research of sexuality and identity.
I, 3 min + We, 7 min, dirs. Sashko Protyah and Vasyl Lyah. Experimental beatboxed music videos inspired by graffiti on tree bark. The life of a city gets pieced together through passing inscriptions.
Content notes (to be updated closer to the event): Depictions, discussions of or references to war.
Access notes (to be updated closer to the event): Bright images, quick editing.
Curated by Natalia Guzevataya