Focus on Ukraine at the 41st Munich Film Festival: Ukrainian filmmakers presented current film projects

The 41st Munich Film Festival took place from June 28 to July 7, 2024. Under the motto “Defending Democratic Values”, the film festival was dedicated to contemporary Ukrainian filmmaking as part of the “Focus Ukraine” program. Five film projects in production and two current feature-length films from Ukraine were presented at the festival.

When?

June 28 – July 7 2024

Where?

Munich

The program was curated by international award-winning directors Mila Zhluktenko and Daniel Asadi Faezi, in collaboration with the legendary Ukrainian film collective Babylon ’13, which gained notoriety during the Revolution of Dignity in Kyiv in 2013 for its authentic short documentaries and has since been considered a chronicler of historical change in Ukraine.

Two feature-length films from Ukraine were screened in this year’s festival program:

  • “Fragments on Ice” (2022) by Maria Stoianova is the winner of the proMOTION program, hosted by the Ukrainian Institute. The film uses old VHS tapes of her father, a former competitive athlete, to tell the story of a generation’s transition from the Soviet empire to the independent Ukraine of the 1990s. The film, which explores the fragile and unclear phase of the young independent state, will premiere on June 29, 2024 at 18:30 in the presence of producer Maksym Nakonechnyi. Maksym is also a jury member of the Cinevision Competition.
  • “A Poem for Little People” (2023) by Ivan Sautkin sheds light on the consequences of the Russian war in Ukraine for senior citizens. The film shows the topic from the perspective of volunteers who evacuate elderly people from the war zones and through the friendship of two elderly women. Sautkin’s work highlights the often overlooked consequences of war for unprotected groups such as the elderly, animals and nature.

On July 1, the presentation of five more ongoing film projects from Ukraine took place as part of the professional market at Amerikahaus. Filmmakers Roman Liubyj (“Iron Butterflies”) and Philip Sotnychenko (“La Palisiada”) presented the projects. The list of films:

  • The Shot at Success (director: Sergiy Kulybyshev, producer: Olga Matat, Evos Film, Fiction)
  • Times New Roman (Director: Philip Sotnychenko, Producer: Valeria Sochyvets, Contemporary Ukrainian Cinema (CUC), Fiction)
  • Fucking Sensitivity (Director: Tetiana Symon, Producer: Alexandra Bratyshchenko, Eleron Pictures, Fiction)
  • Unholy Power (Director: Roman Liubyi, Production: Bohdanna Semen, Babylon’13, Benedetta Films, Hybrid Animation)
  • My Dear Vira (Director: Maryna Brodovska, Olga Chernykh, Production: Olga Chernykh, Cosmos Agency, Hybrid)

Photos: Sophie Mahler – Filmfest München