After Ukrainian actor Bohdan Stupka celebrated his 70th birthday in late August, a retrospective of Stupka’s movie started to honor actor’s life stage and show his fans his best achievements.
The retrospective started on Sept. 29 and will continue until Oct. 5. Seven movies representing several decades of Stupka’s career were chosen by actor himself.
Stupka is a Soviet and Ukrainian film and theatre star. His first movie “Peace for Huts, War For Palaces” was released in 1970, when the actor was 29. During his 40-year career, Stupka played in 104 movies.
“Not all of my movies are worthy, in some of them I was engaged in real art, but some roles were just money making,” Stupka confessed at the opening. “When somebody asks me why did I take part in a poor movie, I answer that I would gladly abandon the part if somebody paid me for doing so. I had to earn a living, you know.”
Stupka’s choice for the opening night was “Heart On The Palm,” Ukrainian-Polish movie directed by Krzysztof Zanussi that won a prize at Rome Film Festival in 2008.
The film gathered three generations of Stupka family: Bohdan in a main part was followed by his son Ostap and grandson Dmytro with cameo parts.
The first night of retrospective gathered hundreds of Stupka’s fans and movie lovers. A couple of the most persistent ones crashed the press conference and shouted cheering words to Stupka.
“I’ve been following Bohdan Stupka’s career for decades,” said Lydmila Demchenko, one of the most emotional fans. “It hurts me so much when I hear criticism about him getting undeserved title of Hero of Ukraine for his birthday this year. He deserves it more than anyone!”
Stupka’s retrospective takes place in Ukraine movie theater at Gorodetskogo St. 5, every night until Oct. 5.
After the film retrospective ends, Stupka plans to perform a recital at the Kyiv Ivan Franko theatre.
