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Profile of a Filmmaker:
Ihor Podolchak >>> |
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Yuri Shevchuk
on
Why Ukrainian Film
Is Absent from
World Film History.
The idea of this chapter emerged from a close reading of the texts written in Ukrainian,
Russian, and English that, in their entirety or part, dealt with Ukrainian filmmaking,
starting with the late nineteenth century up until today.
 Read
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“Never Try to Make the Audience Like You.”
Malcolm McDowell in Conversation with Yuri Shevchuk
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To say that there are not many British film actors whose career is somehow connected to Ukraine is a bit of an understatement. Whether it is due to inertia of an imperial world view, or simply ignorance, but Ukraine still very much remains in the British mind solidly fixed in the shadow of its former metropolis Russia. Therefore, to hear the legendary Malcolm McDowell say in an interview that Ukrainians are basically the same as Russians was little surprising to me.  |
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| The events
are held on the Columbia
University campus, usually in one of the lecture halls at
the Department of Slavic Languages, Hamilton Hall, seventh floor.
There are also off-campus lectures/presentations in other U.S.
cities and in other countries. The UFCCU has held screenings
at Rutgers, Ohio State, and Harvard universities, the University
of Toronto as well as at non-academic venues in Philadelphia,
Edmonton, Toronto, Chicago, Hartford, CT, Yonkers, NY, and other
cities. The Club offers its film collection and expertise to
facilitate film presentations on invitation from interested
parties outside Columbia University. Inquiries should be sent
to Yuri
Shevchuk. |
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The on-campus
events usually take place every third Thursday of the month
at 7:30 PM during the regular academic year with Christmas and
summer holiday breaks. The events are announced on this website
as well as on various internet mailing lists,
Brama, in the Ukrainian Weekly and at other New York
City universities such as New York University, City University
of New York, the New School for Social Research and, of course,
Columbia.
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As its April 2012 home event the Ukrainian Film Club at Columbia University will mark the 26th anniversary of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant catastrophe by screening and discussing feature documentary
CHORNOBYL. THE INVISIBLE THIEF
director Christoph Boekel, Germany, 2006
The story of Chornobyl is told from the director's personal perspective and that of the people who witnessed the tragedy immediately after the nuclear explosion and for years after. Among them are a poet, painter, army officer, newspaper editor, and documentary filmmaker. The film is a gripping tale of human drama, self-sacrifice of ones, combined with indifference, and ingratitude of others.
When: April 18, 2012, Wednesday, 7:30 PM
Where: 603 Hamilton Hall, Columbia University
Yuri Shevchuk will introduce the film and lead the post-screening discussion. German and Russian with English subtitles, free, and open to the public. |
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Valentyn Vasianovych Debuts with "Business as Usual"
April 3, 2012. Kyiv - New York
 In early 2012 after six years of work, the director Valentyn Vasianovych finished his narrative feature film “Business as Usual” (Zvychaina sprava). Mr. Vasianovych is often mentioned among the most talented and promising of the post-Soviet generation of Ukrainian filmmakers. Having won the Special Jury Prize at the 7th International Short Film Festival at Clermont-Ferrand (February 2005), France, for his short Against the Sun (Proty Sontsia), he has been largely unemployed, incapable of securing financing for his projects. When studying at the Andrzej Wajda Film School in Poland, he developed a film idea that would be translated into his debut narrative feature after long years of on-again-off-again production.
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Ukrainian Cinema Gets Warm Reception in Puerto Rico
March 21-28, 2012, San Juan, Puerto Rico
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From left: Sonia Fritz, Yuri Shevchuk, Camille Vandenbunder, and Sophia Sushailo. |
The Ukrainian Film Club at Columbia University presented a program of Ukrainian shorts at the Hecho en Europa International Film Festival in San Juan, Puerto Rico. This is a new and rapidly growing in scale and popularity festival, organized by the Alliance Française, to introduce to the Puerto-Rican film-going public the best and the most interesting of European cinema. Says Mr. Cyril Anis, the executive director of AF office in San Juan, “We would like to serve as a platform also for lesser known European cultures and cinemas.” |
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Yuri Illienko at National Gallery of Art
December 10, 2011, Washington, DC
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Pylyp Illienko at the National Gallery of Art. |
A discerning and appreciative American audience viewed digitally restored 35 mm prints of early Yuri Illienko films – “A Spring for the Thirsty” (1965), “The Eve of Ivan Kupala “(1968) on December 10 – and a difficult to watch but rewarding “Swan Lake – the Zone” (1990) on December 17 at the National Gallery of Art, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of Ukraine’s Independence. The retrospective screening of “Yuri Illienko: Ballad of Ukraine” film series was possible due to collaboration among the National Gallery, the Embassy of Ukraine, and the Washington Group Cultural Fund. Individuals, film historians, and teachers in the audience during the initial screening were privileged to ask questions and hear commentary from the film director’s son Pylyp. Americans wanted to know who owns the rights to films produced by the Soviet Dovzhenko Studios and what factors influenced the style of films produced there; Illienko’s incorporation of folk art, music, and colorization; funding for the rebirth of Ukrainian film production and distribution channels; notable films produced after Ukrainian independence that might interest American audiences, etc.
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The Ukrainian
Film Club of Columbia University (UFCCU) is a forum
of Ukrainian Cinema in New York City. It is a non-for-profit
educational and cultural initiative within the expanding
Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia University. It
was organized in October 2004. Its events are free
and open to all. Its goal is to promote knowledge of
Ukrainian cinema in the world. |
The
UFCCU collection consists of the films donated by their
directors to the Club or acquired through open commercial
distribution. The films are made in Ukraine or in other
countries on Ukrainian subject matter. Films are in
DVD format with the exception of a few on VHS. Ukrainian-made
films have English subtitles. As a matter of policy
the Club neither loans nor duplicates the films in
its collection, most of which are unique copies with
English language subtitles. Instead we gladly accept
invitations to screen films at various outside venues. |
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Typically,
a UFCCU event consists of a brief introduction by Yuri
Shevchuk, the founding director of UFFCU and lecturer
of the Ukrainian language and culture at Columbia;
a screening; and a discussion with the audience participation.
Events are organized thematically, around a chosen
film either made in or related to Ukraine, or around
an individual director or group of filmmakers. Ideally
the Club would like to screen films with the participation
of their directors. We have already hosted Taras Tomenko,
Serhiy Bukovsky, and Taras Tkachenko of Kyiv, Ukraine,
and Andrea Odezynska of New York, NY. |
Parallel to film presentations
and lectures, the UFCCU runs various projects aimed at
promoting the knowledge of Ukrainian cinema and Ukraine
in the West. Among its on-going projects are:
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The International Translation Workshop
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Ukraine. A View from the West
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Ukrainian themes in Hollywood
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Ukrainian film in an International Perspective
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UFCCU exists thanks to the
institutional support of the Ukrainian Studies Program,
the Ukrainian Studies Fund, the Department of Slavic
Languages, and the Harriman Institute of Columbia University.
Financially it depends exclusively on generosity and
support of individual and institutional donors. |
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