Film Festival «Zaporizhzhia Cinerama» – seventeen years together
I think it’s no secret that cinema has become a kind of guide and solace for us. But we always want to watch quality films and admire the acting, the skill of directors and the ingenuity of screenwriters. But, you must admit, such films are rare. In order to ensure constant development and prevent creative stagnation among young directors/actors/screenwriters of our country, the film festival «Zaporizhzhia Cinerama» has been held in Zaporizhzhia for the seventeenth year in a row. I must admit that this is truly an event where viewers get acquainted with new films. I had the opportunity to visit 17 festivals and get incredible impressions, so the description will take days, because everything was so important – nothing to forget!
Day one. «Ukraine – our creations!» This day was dedicated to the film called «Flight of the Golden Fly», which was filmed based on the stories «Buryachkovytsky Chronicle» by Lviv writer Bohdan Voloshyn. To say that the film made us cry and laugh is an understatement. The stories of life in one village are closely intertwined and the fullness of a person’s existence is traced: his birth – growing up – adulthood – death. No, all this is shown not in one way of one person. It’s just that the stories of fellow villagers contain all these aspects of life in a given time period. A film where events can easily reach the point of absurdity (the main heroine-storyteller is called Mykola!), where you can recognize our everyday life (the struggle for an inheritance or a reception in the district center), where you can see the inevitability of events (the death of a beloved grandfather and the burning of a house). Three short stories are intertwined into one tape and force the viewer to change emotions almost every minute. I advise those who understand that cinema can be not only serious and sad to watch.
Day two. «Festival of Young Cinema» – screening of the best competitive works. To be honest, I still don’t understand why 3 of the ten films presented are the best in the competitive program. Either there were not enough works, or I stopped understanding at least something in this world. Let the people who invented the animated film «The Seagull» scold me, but what was that? I have nothing against artistic sketches in the work, but the main character of the film was… – a fly! It didn’t smell like a seagull! The absurdity here, in my opinion, was not very harmoniously woven into the idea. That is, it was not woven at all. I simply didn’t remember the other two well, because they didn’t impress, although they covered painful topics.
Day three. «My Life – Cinema». The day of awarding the winners. The worthy films won, clearly. «Two Days in Ilovaisk» – a documentary that the whole hall roared over (I think this is an indicator of success). «Chaplain» – three days in the life of a military chaplain. «Cinephilia» – a burned-out cinema and people who associated the best moments of their lives with it. «The Tenant» – an artist who returned from the war, and his death in peaceful Kyiv. «The Linguist» – a modern women’s film or how to dump a guy in 10 minutes. A clip for the song «Soul» – about hastily made disastrous decisions. And a tape-interview with Zaporizhzhia ballroom dance teacher Hennadii Gennadiyevich Shevtsov «I am a teacher». All of the listed tapes are rich and multifaceted, beautiful and ordinary, sad and bright, about love and friendship, about life and death. Watching them is an aesthetic and spiritual pleasure.
I am sincerely grateful to the trade union committee of ZNTU students for providing the opportunity to attend such events and then sincerely write articles!
And, friends, you come to the cinema to watch and listen to the process on the screen. On the screen! Know how to follow the rules of conduct in the cinema. Because it is very unpleasant to listen to inappropriate conversations, equally inappropriate laughter or rustling of who knows what. Honestly, you distract, you don’t let you concentrate.
But this year’s films will not be overshadowed by any external manifestations of the audience’s bad manners. Because it was really cool and I am proud to live in a country with so many talented people!
Iryna Sazhynska
Press service of the trade union committee of students of ZNTU
