The main cinema event of the year in Ukraine – the International Film Festival will soon take place in Odesa. The festival team has finally announced films, which will be shown at the Odesa Theatre of Musical Comedy and the “Rodina” cinema. Even though gala premiers are still unknown, there are many films to choose from.
As always, a special attention is caught by the International Competition. The point is that big world premieres, which are brought from the Cannes festival, will be available online soon. But as for masterpieces of independent cinema, it will be hard to watch them somewhere else.
Of course, it is exciting to be one of the first who will watch new films of Jafar Panahi or Serhii Loznytsia. However, the Film Festival is an opportunity to dive deep into cinema waters, a chance to see what only some cinema gourmets can see, to see what life on the outskirts of cinema is like, where there are no great juries, producers and high paid actors. It is a little life of people who shoot films not for a box-office. They don’t feel pressure from fans who are constantly waiting for a masterpiece. These are artists who love cinema more than anything, and who can’t imagine their lives without it.
There is the list of the most interesting films of the International Competition. It was far more difficult to get to this list than to pass the entrance examination to the most of the world universities. The audience will see only 12 out of 1011 films applied for the competition. Obviously, each of the films is special, but we were very captious to choose 5 of them which are essential to watch. Let’s go:
‘Wajib’ by Annemarie Jacir (Palestine / France / Colombia / Germany / UAE / Qatar / Norway)
It is a family drama film about father and son. The son is arriving from Italy to Palestine to help his father arrange his sister’s (Amal) wedding. They both travel from house to house to deliver the wedding invitations as per local Palestinian custom.
Why it is interesting: “Wajib” has the biggest amount of awards among other films of the International competition. It was awarded in Locarno, London, Dubai and got nominated at other cinema festivals as well. What is more, the film is built on the border of cultural contradictions (the father is traditional (let us say, old-school) Muslim, his son lives in Italy and leads more liberal and free life) and a certain road-movie – it is a road of searching the common ground which we are lack of today.
‘Pororoca’ by Constantin Popescu (Romania / France)
The “Pororoca” film frame
Tudor and Cristina are typical middle-class people. They have two children: a seven-year-old son Ilie and a five-year-old Maria. Once as he was walking with children, Tudor realized that he couldn’t see Maria anymore. The child was lost and didn’t come back home.
Why it is interesting: “New wave” of Romanian cinema has already become a tendency. Cristi Puiu and Cristian Mungiu are already well-known in the cinema community, however, they are not the only one who are worth noticing. For example, at the 2016 Film Festival, the Jury award went to the film “Ilegetim” by Adrian Sitaru. New Romanian cinema is always a good choice, and there’s one more proof: “Pororoca” was introduced at the famous festival in San-Sebastian, where Bogdan Dumitrache was awarded the Best Actor.
‘Styx’ by Wolfgang Fischer (Germany / Austria)
This is a story about a doctor called Rieke, who decided to sail on her own yacht. At sea, she collided with a ship full of refugees who needed her help.
Why it is interesting: Germany makes not only a lot of good extra-class cars and footballers, but nice films as well. Unfortunately, they don’t catch much attention and stay in the background of French, Italian or Spanish cinema. For example, “Styx”. It had a great success at the Berlinale, however not in the main category but in a so-called “second league”. It received several awards there. This deep as waters of the Mediterranean Sea drama film contains almost no dialogues. However, silence can sometimes be more expressive than the loudest cry.
‘Thunder Road’ by Jim Cummings (USA)
“The Thunder Road” film frame
This story describes several days following the death of a police officer Arnaud’s mother. Now he has to deal with her dancing studio, his work and a woman-which-will-soon-stop-being-her.
Why it is interesting: No, it isn’t a heartrending drama, this is a subtle and funny dramedy where humor helps to bear hard emotional situations. When the film was introduced at the SXSW festival, it had such description, “Officer Arnaud loved his mom”. The authors let the film speak for itself, and it was a right decision – the “Thunder Road” received the Grand Prix there. By the way, there is a feeling that this film will be one of the winners in Odesa as far as the city likes comedies, permanently awarding films of this genre with Grand Prix.
‘Three and a Half’ by Daria Gaikalova aka Dara Gai (India / Ukraine)
This story is about a house, which used to be a school and brothel, but now an average Indian family is living there. But the house is not only about bricks, it has its own soul, secrets and desires.
Why it is interesting: ‘Three and a Half’ is the first film of a young Ukrainian girl Dariia Haikalova. She made up, according to her, a “gender-neutral” alias Dara Gai. Ukraine and India do not have much common in cultural regard. That makes it even more interesting to watch this film.
The important element of the OIFF is Ukrainian cinema, which is introduced in the international (‘Volcano’ by Roman Bondarchuk (Ukraine / Germany / Monaco), ‘Three and a Half’ by Daria Gaikalova aka Dara Gai) and, naturally, in the national competition as well. We recommend to pay your attention to such films:
‘When the Trees Fall’ by Marysia Nikitiuk (Ukraine, Poland, Macedonia)
The ‘When the Trees Fall’ film frame
This magical realism film is about a five-year-old girl who, during her holiday at her granny’s, witnessed a tragic story between her elder sister and a young criminal. The Ukrainian State Film Agency and the Polish Film Institute supported the film already at the stage of screenwriting. It was this film, which presented Ukraine in Berlin in the Panorama Berlinale category.
‘Gogol Doc’ by Alisa Pavlovskaya (Ukraine)
A documentary film about “HoholFEST” festival. This film tells that Ukraine is a perfect place for free creativity, for young people, who want to create something new, to fulfill their ambitions. This film shows how the “HoholFEST’ tries to create a certain cultural Babylon.
But there is more to come. As a part of the “Festival of Festivals”, extremely interesting new films will be shown. Films, which were presented at the world major festivals and have not been shown at cinemas yet. First of all, the following films should be mentioned:
«Donbas” by Serhii Loznytsia (Ukraine” Germany)
The “Donbas” film frame
A scandal film by one of the most prominent modern directors of Eastern Europe. This story shows how propaganda and manipulations make a society degenerate. This film is bitter and funny at once. However, it is relevant and highly important today. A portrait of life at post-truth times is what important to see and know, despite one’s own affections.
“Three Faces” by Jafar Panahi (Iran)
Jafar Panahi, an Iranian intellectual and director, is placed under house arrest in his country. He is forbidden to shoot films, however, he finds ways to bring his word to the world. Captions don’t contain his name, USB sticks with his films are brought to Europe with contraband hidden into sweets. He shoots films secretly, without studios, producers and money. Despite all that, he is still one of the most prominent modern directors. You can’t miss his new film, especially when you know what it has taken to deliver it to the audience.
“The Insult” by Ziad Doueiri (Libanon)
“The Insult” film frame
The film was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscar. One more sensitive story, which takes place at the dangerous Middle East, where something can blow up at any minute. This story about a lawsuit between a Lebanese Christian and a Palestinian refugee was critically acclaimed. Experts highlight that a legal drama is becoming a reflection of the complicated situation in the region.
So, let’s wait for the announcement of the gala premieres list and prepare for the holiday of cinema, which will be soon held. There will be many films – good, bad ones, those which will make you think, and those, which will make you fall asleep. There will be unexpected meetings, smiles, tears, eternal queues and, in the first place, a feeling of being connected with a real holiday, a major event, which is taking place just here, beside us. There will be everything what we love the Odesa Film Festival for.
By Serhii Lozovskyi
Photo by Maryna Bandeliuk
