You're reading: Kyiv Film Festival coming

Kyiv International Film Festival debuted in Ukraine last spring. With the second festival running from May 25 to June 1, it’s starting to rival Molodist, which was previously the only major international film festival in Ukraine. The Kyiv fest promises an impressive program of 100 films from 40 countries and a Grand Prix of $20,000 for the winner.

The festival jury will be headed by Otar Ioseliani, a famous Georgian-born director and a prize winner at Cannes, Venice and Berlin film festivals. Other film industry representatives who have already confirmed their attendance at the Kyiv Film Festival include Kyiv-born American director Vadim Perelman, Ukraine-born Hollywood star Olga Kurylenko, American actor Casper Van Dien, French actor Robert Hossein, iconic Russian actor Stanislav Govorukhin and comedian Gennady Hazanov, among others.

Apart from the movies fighting for festival prizes, the viewers will have a big selection of non-competing films. The most significant of those form part of the “Special Program.” The American film “Precious” by Lee Daniels collected three major awards at the Sundance Festival which were followed by a great many more nods including Independent Spirit Awards, a Golden Globe and, finally, two Oscars. “Precious” is a shocking drama about an overweight, illiterate and angry teenager from Harlem, abused by her mother, raped by her father and ignored by everyone else. While pregnant with her second child she’s invited to enroll in a special school, which could be a way to turn her life around.

Among the festival films are:

1) “Precious” by Lee Daniels (USA, 2009)
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2) “Eastern Plays” by Kamen Kalev (Bulgaria, 2009)
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3) “Dogtooth” (Greece, 2009)
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4) “Katalin Varga” by Peter Strickland (Bulgaria/UK,2009).
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Greek film “Kynodontas” (Dogtooth) by Giorgos Lanthimos received Un Certain Regard Award at last year’s Cannes. It’s also an incredible drama about three teenagers, living in a country estate, terrorized into submission by their parents and completely isolated from the rest of the world. They spend their days listening to numerous homemade tapes that teach them new family vocabulary, in which common words are assigned new meanings. But it’s not long before this way of life gets disrupted.

“Rewers” is a movie by Polish director Borys Lankosz set in Warsaw in the present day and the 1950s. It tells a story of 30-year-old Sabrina, who is in need of a husband, her mother and grandma.

Bulgarian director Kamen Kalev explores the themes of racism and ethnic intolerance in his movie “Eastern Plays.” A brutal accident affects lives of very different people – 17-year-old skinhead George, his older brother Itzo, a sculptor and drug-addict, and Turkish girl Izil, traveling through Bulgaria to Berlin with her parents.

In “Katalin Varga,” a woman is rejected by her husband after being raped in the woods while hitchhiking with two men. Now a mother to a small boy, born after the rape, she’s traveling through the Carpathian Mountains, seeking revenge on those who abused her. This British and Romanian collaboration received a Silver Berlin Bear in 2009.

Other films to be shown out of competition are divided into several categories: “New Russian Cinema,” “New Turkish Cinema” and “New Argentinean” cinema, as well as “Ukrainian Premieres.” Other categories are “Female View,” “Sports Screen,” “Persona” and “Social Program/Ecology.”

Also not to be missed is the “Night of the Short Meter” and retrospectives by three of the world’s most prominent directors – Hungarian Istvan Szabo, Ukrainian Sergei Bondarchuk and Japan’s Akira Kurosawa. The latter retrospective is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Kurosawa’s birth.

Among other new interesting films to be shown out of competition is “His & Hers,” an Irish documentary that retells a 90-year-old love story through the voices of 70-year-old ladies. The Iranian film “About Elly” tells the story of three Iranian families traveling north of Iran to introduce Elly, a young teacher of one of the families’ daughters, to a divorced friend of theirs. But en route Elly disappears, leaving others to discuss her fate and her personality.

“Which Way Home” is a touching American documentary that follows unaccompanied child migrants from Latin America on their difficult journey from Mexico to the United States. “Last Train Home” is another travel documentary that recounts the tormenting annual trip of a Chinese family which travels together with another 200 million peasant workers to reunite with their distant family.

The films competing for the top prizes at the Kyiv Film Festival come from various countries. Among them are “Seker” (Kazakhstan), “Bomber” (USA/UK), “Kandagar Break” (UK), “Mommo” (Turkey), “Wine” (Argentine), “The Wish Tree” (Estonia), “Ivanov” (Russia), “Abadnoned” (Chile), “Altiplano” (Belgium, Germany), “To Love or to Kill (Shoot Immediately)” (Ukraine) and others.

There is a separate competition called “Mirror,” featuring films to be judged by a jury of film critics. The list of movies includes “Low Light” (Germany), “A Man Who Ate His Cherries” (Iran), “Nomads Camp” (Russia), “Starring Maja” (Sweden), “Emperor Who Knew His Fate (Russia), “The Edge of Dreaming” (Scotland) and “A Step into Darkness” (Turkey), among others.

Butterfly Ultramarine (1 Uritskoho, 206-0370, www.kino-butterfly.com.ua);
Butterfly DeLuxe (50 Gorkogo, 206-1322, www.kino-butterfly.com.ua);
Zhovten (26 Konstyantynivska, 417-2702, www.zhovten-kino.kiev.ua). May 25-June 1.

All movies to be shown in the original language with Ukrainian/Russian subtitles. Please call and check online for dates and show times. www.kievfilmfest.com