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Greek “Politiki Kouzina” will be shown at the European Film Festival Coming along with summer – hurray – are two major movie festivals to be held in Kyiv.

The Kyiv International Film Festival will take place between May 29 and June 3. No sooner than the first festival ends, does the second one start. The European Film Festival will run June 3-9. So, unless you are out at the beach, why not stroll to a movie theater.

Bohdan Stupka, Ukraine’s most internationally famous and beloved actor, took everyone by surprise this spring when he unveiled plans to hold the brand new Kyiv International Film Festival. If things go according to plan, it will be held annually. Cult British film director Peter Greenaway will open Stupka’s new festival. He will present his new documentary, “Rembrandt’s J’Accuse,” as a part of an out-of-competition program.

Stupka’s festival will feature a lot of must-see movies, including “Che,” a biopic by Steven Soderberg. Shot almost entirely in Spanish, the film is not a chorographical narration of Ernesto “Che” Guevara’s biography. Rather, it’s a portrait of an outstanding personality with his aspirations, ideas, victories and failures. Guevara is brilliantly portrayed by Benicio del Toro, whose remarkable likeness to Che is well-matched with great acting skills. The first part of the movie shows how Che becomes the driving force behind the Cuban revolution, propelling to power his friend and ally, Fidel Castro. In the second part, the hero refuses a chance to live luxuriously in Cuba. Rather, he opts to spread his revolution to Bolivia, where he finds little support, gets captured and killed.

“Control,” by music video maker Anton Corbijn, is black-n-white story about Joy Division band leader Ian Curtis. It has already been shown in Kyiv theaters, as has “Kantoku Banzai!” (Glory to the Filmmaker) – a Takeshi Kitano movie about his own struggles as a filmmaker. “Frei Nach Plan” (According to the Plan) by Franziska Meletzky is a German tragicomedy about three sisters who recall old insults at their mother’s 70th anniversary.

“Sveitabrukaup” (Country Wedding) by Icelander Valdis Oskarsdottir – a debutant director and editor of the wonderful movie “Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind” – evolves around two buses filled with relatives of a bride and groom desperately looking for a country church.

Belarussian “Insight” by Renata Gritskova stars Bohdan Stupka himself as an old man in the retirement home. He confesses to a psychologist about an accidental affair he had with his own daughter many years ago. “Cyprien” is a silly French comedy about a 35-year-old virgin working in IT. He gets his hands on a magic perfume that helps him transform into a sex god.

Other movies shown out of competition include a retrospective of Turkish director Nuri Bilge Ceylan featuring three films: “Uzak” (Distant) about a lonesome photographer whose wife left him; “Iklimler” (Seasons) about an inattentive and self-absorbed husband and his desperate wife and “Uc Maymun” (Three Monkeys) about a family suffering a communication breakdown. The latter won a Best Director prize at Cannes 2008. Also the program offers a selection of impressive documentaries.
In “Nos Enfants Nous Accuseront” (Our Children Will Accuse Us) Jean-Paul Jaud tries to show that due to chemical-poisoned food our children will never be healthy. Two more environmental-disaster movies to be shown include “Addicted to Plastic” exploring plastic’s harmful influence on our planet; and “Age of Stupid” by Fanny Armstrong offering an original view of global warming. In it, an archivist from the future (Pete Postlethwaite) tries to understand the climate change problem by viewing old footage.

“Tyson” by James Toback presents a mix of interviews and archive footage telling the story of legendary boxer Mike Tyson. “Annie Leibovitz: Life Through a Lens” is a biography of a famous American photographer who captured great many celebrities on film, and still shoots for Vanity Fair and Vogue. Finally the most talked about documentary at the festival is “I Am Because We Are” written by Madonna and directed by her former gardener, Nathan Rissman. It focuses on Malawi with its millions of orphans and AIDS pandemic.


Best of Europe

The European Film Festival in Ukraine is organized by the European Commission in Ukraine together with Arthouse Traffic film company. Naturally the films come from European Union member states and candidate countries. The collection of films to be shown looks like a retrospective. Some of the movies were made over 5 years ago, but are still popular and loved in their native countries.

The festival will open with Czech “Pribehy Obycejneho Silenstvi” (Wrong Side Up), written and directed by Petr Zelenka. It received a Czech Lion movie award for Best Supporting Actor, Miroslav Krobot. It’s a black comedy about a truck driver whose girlfriend left him. He does his utmost to bring her back, but madness takes over everyone around him.

Hungary presents “Hukkle” (Hiccup) by Gyorgy Palfi, a drama about a quiet bucolic life in a small community in Hungary with its old man suffering from hiccups and a shepherdess with her sheep. It seems like the most unlikely place for a gruesome murder to take place, but that’s what happens. The film received a number of awards including European Discovery of the Year from European Film Awards and a Special Mention at Paris Film Festival.

Estonian “The Class” directed by Ilmar Raag is set in a common Estonian high-school where a war begins between a 16-year-old and a leader of the class. This work was marked by Fipressci Prize and Special Jury Award at Warsaw International Film Festival.

Greek entry “Politiki Kouzina” (A Touch of Spice) by Tassos Boulmetis came out in 2003 and still remains one of the most popular films in Greece. It received the Audience Award and Best Directing award at Thessaloniki International Film Festival. A Greek boy lives in Istanbul with his grandpa, who teaches him that both food and life require “a touch of spice” to obtain a real flavor. He grows up to be a successful cook, but once he returns to see his grandpa after many years he realizes that a certain flavor is still missing from his life.

Neighboring Cyprus presents “O Teleftaios Gyrismos” (The Last Homecoming) by Korinna Avraamidou. It tells the story of a menage-a-trois, two brothers and one woman, amidst an unstable political situation.

“Zift”, which won the Best Director award for Javor Gardev at Moscow International Film Festival, is called the best Bulgarian film of the last ten years. A man is jailed in 1944 for a murder he had not committed. Released in the 1960s, he finds himself in totalitarian Sofia.

Romanian tragicomedy “Restul e Tacere” (The Rest Is Silence) by Nae Caranfil is also based on historical events. In the beginning of the 20th century, a Romanian film director and a rich tycoon complete a movie: “Romania’s Independence.” It is said to be a faithful portrayal of the country’s big war in 1877. “The Rest Is Silence” presents a half-fictionalized narration of the film making process.

All movies are to be shown in their original languages with Russian or Ukrainian subtitles.


Kyiv International Film Festival.

Zhovten (26 Konstyantynivska, 417-2702, www.zhovten-kino.kiev.ua);

May 29 till June 3. For details go to kievfilmfest.com.


European Film Festival.

Kyiv (19 Chevonoarmiyska, 234-7381, www.kievkino.com.ua). June 3 till June 9.

Dates and show times for both festivals are available at www.kyivpost.com/guide/sevendays/movies