You're reading: Kyiv to host first offline film festival since pandemic started

The 9th Kyiv International Short Film Festival, or KISFF 2020, will take place in the Ukrainian capital on Aug. 5–9 at the Kyiv Rus cinema on Sichovykh Striltsiv Street.

KISFF 2020 will be the first film festival held in Ukraine after the government started to ease the coronavirus quarantine restrictions, including allowing cinemas to resume their work.

This year’s festival will have only 12 screenings of international and Ukrainian filmmakers and everything will be livestreamed.

The short films will be mostly about contemporary environmental threats, global consumption and overproduction, gentrification and urban spaces, excessive access to information and the impact of digital life.

For security reasons, the organizers limited the number of visitors to 300 people, which is 25% of the cinema’s capacity. Also, there will be hand sanitizers at the entrance of this 7,200-square-meter cinema and all the staff will work in protective masks.

In addition, the organizers of the festival extended the breaks between screenings, so that there’s no crowds and all spectators can leave the room through three exits.

Offline, there will be only two shows a day.

Film lovers can see a listing of all the movies scheduled to be shown at the festival on its official website.

Cinema tickets are available for $2–3. The films will be screened in their original language with Ukrainian and English subtitles. Online screenings will be free, but only available only in Ukraine.

KISFF 2020, Aug. 5–9, the Kyiv Rus cinema on Sichovykh Striltsiv Street. Find out more here: kisff.org/welcome-en