Ukrainian Animation: Animating the War 

Language: Ukrainian
Subtitles: English

Introduced by Olga Blackledge, (University of Pittsburgh) and Anna Tropnikova (Yale University)

The animated films in this program were produced by Ukrainian animation directors within the past four years. They are different in their styles and genres, but they are united by one topic–the Russian war on Ukraine. This program offers a glimpse into the animators’ take on this war.

Thursday, November 21 2024, 7:30 to 10:00pm
Boston Marriott Copley Place, 3rd Floor – Wellesley

From Winter, Go Away to Of Caravan and the Dogs: Documentary Films by Askold Kurov

2012, 2017, 2020, 2024, Russia
Russian, English
Directed by Askold Kurov

Introduced by Tatiana Saburova (Indiana University Bloomington)
Q&A with Askold Kurov

This screening presents a history of the Russian political opposition in documentary films by Askold Kurov. His films “Leninland” and “Children 404”, “Novaya” and “The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov” garnered critical acclaim and were screened at numerous festivals. Kurov won a BAFTA award and received an EMMY nomination.  His new film “Of Caravan And The Dogs”  follows a group of independent Russian journalists and activists who face severe punishment and end up facing personal and political dilemmas.This screening includes segments of his films Winter, Go Away! (2012), The Trial. The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov (2017), Welcome To Chechnya (2020) and “Of Caravan and the Dogs” (2024). Kurov will discuss his films with the audience and introduce two short films of his students (“Once upon a time” by Evgeniia Borisova and “Vacation in memory” by Alexei Khodanovich) from the UN/FILMED SCHOOL. These documentary films were shot in Russia in 2022 and explore changes in the society after Russia started its war against Ukraine.

Winter Go Away, 2012

Ten young directors did not part from their cameras for two months. The result is a chronicle of Russia’s Winter Protests 2012 – a chronicle of those who make the political climate and those who are dissatisfied with the makers. The film chronicles the protests in Russia during the winter of 2011-2012 that followed parliamentary elections widely believed to be rigged.

The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov, 2017

Oleg Sentsov is a Ukrainian filmmaker, Euromaidan activist, and native of Crimea. After the Russian annexation of Crimea, he became an active opponent of the occupation. In May 2014, he was arrested by the Russian security service, charged with planned terrorist attacks was sentenced to 20 years. Sentsov never pled guilty. Askold Kurov investigates the truth behind this political show trial.

Welcome To Chechnya, 2020

“Welcome to Chechnya” is a documentary film that exposes the persecution of the LGBTQ+ community in the Chechen Republic. The film follows a group of activists who risk their lives to rescue victims of persecution and help them find asylum outside of Russia. Using hidden cameras, the film documents the perilous journey of the refugees and the work of the activists who provide them with safe houses and help them obtain visas. The film reveals the brutality and inhumanity of the anti-LGBTQ+ campaign in Chechnya, as well as the courage and dedication of those fighting for human rights in the face of repression.

Of Caravan And The Dogs, 2024

The film tells the story of the last independent media outlets in Russia resisting military censorship in the first days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The film shows how journalists and activists, including two Nobel Peace Prize laureates, face repression and are forced to make difficult choices to continue their work and fight for the truth. The film documents the personal risks and severe punishments faced by those who want to stand up for the truth in the face of growing authoritarianism. It reveals the heroism of Russian journalists, their dilemmas related to emigration, censorship or self-censorship, and the rare manifestations of opposition spirit in Russian society.

Friday, November 22 2024, 3:30 to 5:15pm
Boston Marriott Copley Place, 3rd Floor – Wellesley

My Socialist Home 

2021, Romania
Romanian with English subtitles
Directed by Iulia Statica and Adrian Catu

Introduced by Ketevan Gurchiani, Ilia State University (Georgia)
Q&A with Ecem Saricayir, Cornell University

My Socialist Home captures the lived experiences of six characters whose lives have seen both the communist period and its aftermath in one of the housing blocks built in Bucharest during the dictatorship of Nicolae Ceaușescu (1965-1989). Although situated in a postsocialist condition, the film references this earlier historical context, foregrounding through intimate narratives the effects of the two major reforms that were initiated under Ceaușescu’s regime in Romania: one aimed at demographic growth through extreme practices to control reproduction, such as criminalising abortion, and as a consequence of this, the other focused on unprecedented mass housing construction, involving extensive demolitions. Despite the oppressive character of that time, the film reveals nuanced domestic spaces that had the ability to shape gendered social and spatial conditions, experiences of labour and generational relations, as well as the material affectivity of the home and its relationship to women’s bodies. My Socialist Home proposes an architecturally focused ethnography as a new methodology to address the relationship between gender, domestic space and the state, and to inquire into the ways in which this relationship has been transformed in the transition to a capitalist, Western-oriented structure of the everyday.

Sat Nov 23 2024, 4:00 to 5:45 pm
Boston Marriott Copley Place, 3rd Floor – Wellesley

Wings of a Serf (Крылья холопа) – (OFF SITE)

1926, Russia
Silent Film with Russian intertitles
Director: Yuri Tarich

Introduced by: Maya Garcia
Q&A by: Daria Khitrova, Yuri Tsivian, and Kevin Platt

The 1926 Goskino production Wings of a Serf (Крылья холопа) was an international hit in the late 1920s that today is remembered mostly for its influence on later filmmakers (including Eisenstein and Tarkovsky) and its significance within the careers of writer Viktor Shklovsky and director Yuri Tarich. Its untimely consignment to archival obscurity stems in part from its controversial content: the film’s depictions of violence and seduction in the court of Ivan the Terrible provoked heavy-handed interference from censors both at home and abroad. Taking a historical materialist approach rarely applied to the subject, the film depicts tsar Ivan IV not as a tragic hero or a demonic madman, but as a petty and venal opportunist building his proto-capitalist empire on the backs of exploited workers and artisans. This atypical portrayal is made even more unique by the inclusion of frank homoerotic scenes between the tsar and his androgynous favorite Feodor Basmanov. The film’s extreme, often grotesque naturalism in depicting the sex, grime and blood of the past both reflects the bold experimentation of the Soviet ‘20s and telegraphs a vision decades ahead of its time.onal relations, as well as the material affectivity of the home and its relationship to women’s bodies. My Socialist Home proposes an architecturally focused ethnography as a new methodology to address the relationship between gender, domestic space and the state, and to inquire into the ways in which this relationship has been transformed in the transition to a capitalist, Western-oriented structure of the everyday.

Sat Nov 23, 2024, 7:00 – 9:00 pm
Harvard Film Archive/Carpenter Center for the Visual
24 Quincy St, Cambridge, MA 02138