12 minute read
DOCS Serhiy Bukovsky and Mykola Bazarkin
Stand up the Homelandfor
Filipp Kruusvall discusses the war from the frontline, and the cultural war with renowned Ukrainian filmmakers Serhiy Bukovsky and Mykola Bazarkin. By Filipp Kruusvall Photos by Birgit Püve and Aliona PenziiStand upHomeland
Serhiy Bukovsky is a famous Ukrainian director. During his film career Bukovsky made approximately 40 documentaries. Some of them received awards and premiered at prestigious international film festivals like DOK Leipzig, Krakow Film Festival, Visions du Réel, IDFA, etc.
Mykola Bazarkin represents the new generation of Ukrainian cinema. He has edited more than 18 documentaries. He has also been involved in editing the famous TV series Servant of the People, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy had the leading role. Bazarkin is also the programme director of the film festival Kinosaray.
First, I would like to ask what the situation of Ukrainian cinema was before the war? As I know, the Ukrainian State Film Agency was established in 2011. Its funding was remarkably increased after 2014. Many new talented filmmakers are active at co-production forums and festivals. Documentary The Earth Is Blue as an Orange by Irina Tsylik won the Directing Award at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, for example. Serhiy Bukovsky: I want to immediately, for clarity, remark that the war in my country has been going on for eight years. And we received reports about shelling and deaths in the Donbas every day. This is an important detail. Through this prism, it is easier to understand the content features of Ukrainian cinema.
Despite all the difficulties of the time, cinema crawled out of the deep hole of the 90s. With great difficulty, but crawled out. A new generation of filmmakers appeared, very talented and determined, working in a contemporary way. Yes, probably the number of new auteur films per year for such a big country as Ukraine was not too large, but the overall trend was positive. And this applies to both documentary and feature films.
Mykola Bazarkin: The Maidan also known as the Revolution of Dignity in 2014 gave a strong boost to filmmakers. People went out and started filming; there was so much life and events happening. Most of the new generation of documentary makers began to work during the Maidan. For many, it was the starting point of their debut film.
Yes, the Cinema Foundation managed to increase
From the beginning of the war Ukrainian filmmakers are documenting the events.
its funding, and many debutants began to receive support. The quality of cinema gradually began to rise. There were a lot of interesting new films and authors. Gradually Ukraine became an integral part of the international film market.
What are Ukrainian filmmakers doing now? How many of them went to the frontline? Serhiy Bukovsky: Many are filming the war. And this, as far as I know, is a personal initiative of my colleagues. Mostly they are cinematographers or photographers. Serezha Mikhalchuk, for example, an outstanding cameraman, shoots photo reports. Sasha Glyadelov photographer, Andrey Lisetsky director of photography, Yulia Gontaruk director…
Mykola Bazarkin: On April 1st, a man I knew well, we have travelled together, died. He joined the territorial defence during the first days of the war. He has two daughters... Well-known photographer Maks Levin was killed. We used his excellent material from Ilovaisk in our film The War of Chimeras. From the beginning of the war, he was documenting the events, and near Irpin, he was killed. And actor Pasha Lee, a young guy, 33 years old, had signed up for Ukraine’s territorial defence force in the first days of the war and was killed on the outskirts of Kyiv. ture would flourish. On February 23rd, we had our first day of editing, and we put together the first three minutes. The next day the war began. Serhiy is now volunteering and filming the war, so the project is, for obvious reasons, pending. When the war ends, we will continue to work, but the film will probably have another end, of course. The bad thing is that public funding for films has been frozen, and many productions have been left unfinished.
Is there a general strategy for capturing what is happening, or does everyone do what they can? Is there any central government support? Serhiy Bukovsky: If, for example, a state-owned documentary film studio existed, it would work in full mode, and its cameramen would film and chronicle 24 hours a
But otherwise, for example, drone specialists have switched from commercial projects to military service to correct artillery fire. And the studios that owned the drones have made them available to the military. The rest are involved in volunteering and distributing humanitarian aid.
How has war interrupted your creative plans? Mykola Bazarkin: I worked on a new hybrid project by Serhiy Lysenko, Say Ukraine. It was a film based on true events, and the life and work of volunteers in Ukraine. All the material was filmed in the winter, and now we just wanted to film a few more shots for the optimistic finale. We were waiting for Spring when naday. As it was during World War II, 80 years ago. I have worked in that studio, and I remember those frontline cameramen who survived the war and were our colleagues. These men were amazing. All without exception.
Today, this task is performed by television. Both local and international. Well, and there’s amateur footage from our military. I have no doubt that this video narrative from mobile phones will soon be used for cinema. This experience would undoubtedly influence the cinema’s visual language also after the war. It also includes the interception of telephone conversations of enemy “warriors” with their family members. This is also priceless material, no matter how strange it
may sound, for future reflection in cinema. Such a monstrous anthology of the beasts of Russia.
Probably I shouldn’t, but I can’t restrain myself; I must mention how shocking it was to discover that the most brutal soldiers around Kyiv were from Russian Far East, near the border of Mongolia, it’s around 6000 kilometres from Ukraine. The surviving residents of Bucha, Borodyanka, and other northwestern suburbs of Kyiv said that militaries from the poor and remote Russian region Buryatia were especially atrocious. Of course, envy drives you crazy when there are dishwashers, iPads, home cinema systems, etc., in the homes of Ukrainians. And they, the great liberators, have never seen even a regular toilet in their lives…
The suburbs of Kyiv were a really nice place that looked like any other Central-European town. But now, everything stands in ruins. A terrible scene... Okay, I exhale the hatred... let’s move on.
Mykola Bazarkin: Our group of friends has put together a few groups of cameramen who are filming what is happening in Ukraine. Some of them have found interesting characters they would like to follow for a longer period of time. But some cinematographers initially took the camera, but a few weeks later, they dropped it to change it for a firearm because they felt that defending the country was more important at the moment. I disagree with this, because I think it is extremely important to record what is happening.
Our collective of Ukrainian Filmmakers (directors, DoP’s, editors, post-production specialists, producers and drivers) is called Kinodopomoha. Dopomoha means “help” in Ukrainian. We are engaged in storing, structuring, organizing and processing the footage from the front line that is sent to us. I’m responsible for the editing. We publish materials so that news channels can use the footage promptly. And we also share it on the Youtube channel.
These are so-called microdocumentaries with a certain plot. Of course, the horrors of war are a terrible experience for cameramen. Still, it is crucial to record what is happening. On the financial side, we have to manage on our own, which is, of course, very difficult because there is no income. We have also rented cameras and other equipment. But we do not complain; the most important thing at the moment is to support the Ukrainian army.
I would also mention that DocuDays is active in coordinating the help to the Ukrainian film industry. Also, Babylon ’13, an association of independent filmmakers, formed as early as during the Maidan. There are several YouTube channels adding short documentary clips and movies: Ukrainer, Freefilmers, Заборона, etc.
According to director Serhiy Bukovsky, many of his Ukrainian colleagues and also his students are filming the war. Are there any new initiatives related to cinema in Ukraine? For example, I heard that the newly-formed Ukrainian Producers’ Association announced its first seven projects. Serhiy Bukovsky: I know about the initiative of this group, and I know many of them personally. I’m discussing plans with them, and perhaps some of my students will join the project.
What I know for sure is the Docudays International Film Festival initiative. They are filming an encyclopaedia of war. Now they are looking for volunteers who can archive the incoming video material. This is a very wise initiative. Nothing should be lost. Not a single second of the chronicles of the war.
Mykola Bazarkin represents the new generation of Ukrainian cinema. He has also been involved in editing the famous TV series Servant of the People, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy had the leading role. How do you look at the current film festivals and events in Europe? Is it even possible to watch movies like everything is fine now? Serhiy Bukovsky: Well, why not? Recently I watched Coda and Drive My Car with my family. If you are talking about Russian cinema, then it is simply immoral to watch and show their films at festivals. This means being on the same side with monsters, bandits, rapists, and thieves. And it doesn’t matter at all whether these are films by Sokurov’s students or anyone else.
The good news is that this year the Krakow Film Festival has included the prestigious national competition of our festival, Docudays, in its program. We are grateful. There are four films as far as I know. Among the films, there’s, for example, the feature-length documentary Plai. A Mountain Path by Eva Dzhyshyashvili, the student and graduate of my film program. It’s a poetic film about the life of peasants in the rural Carpathian mountains. I’m proud that I have been involved in that film.
Mykola Bazarkin: As early as 2015, I promised myself that I would not watch any more Russian films until Crimea was returned. Of course, having been born in the Soviet Union, I grew up on these Soviet and Russian films. But I promised not to look any further. I´m also a program director at Kinosaray film festival. It´s located in a small farm. Families with children come there. We choose positive films, and we also have a kids’ programme. This farm is located in the Chernihiv region, and was occupied for some time during the current war. We still want to go on with this festival in June because people need to meet, discuss, and watch films. We do not want to change the concept. Even under the current circumstances, people need something positive.
But of course, I am against Russian films. Apart from the war on the front, there is now a cultural war, and I see it that way. Thank God that victory is more on our side right now. People living in Ukraine began to understand what Ukrainian culture is. My wife is a film scientist and works at the Dovzhenko Center. She says that Ukrainian films are now in high demand, and there is a lot of interest in archival cinema. They are invited to festivals, and that is a very positive change. I am not saying that everyone should swear they will never watch Russian films, but while the war is going on, I´m standing for a boycott. I am not Russophobic or xenophobic, but I have travelled a lot in the world and also in Russia. If Russia was a developed and leading country, I would be a fan of Russia and set it as an example. But unfortunately, they have opted for regression in terms of civilization. I don’t want to be part of a world that is going back to the Middle Ages.
What films should be made now? What is most important? Serhiy Bukovsky: I’m not an oracle. I don’t know. There will soon be decision-makers who say what to film and what to fund.
I guess documentaries will rocket. This genre always reacts quickly to current events in life. Also, in feature films, the theme of war becomes the main one. In many cases, this will all be rather superficial, declarative. It will take decades for a deeper artistic understanding of this subject.
Do you continue to mentor and teach your students? Serhiy Bukovsky: We continue to meet with our students online. Many are filming what is happening right now. Hopefully, soon we will collect all the filmed material into one extensive war anthology.
What is the most important, necessary help that Estonia could do for Ukrainian filmmakers now? Serhiy Bukovsky: You have done so much. Really! Estonia has helped with weapons. And then, after the war, we come up with something and work together.
Mykola Bazarkin: Yes, we have received help from Estonia. Recently, an ambulance arrived from Estonia, and it also brought the necessary filming equipment we needed here.
What is the morale like of Ukrainians and filmmakers now? What gives you the most strength and meaning right now to live and fight? Mykola Bazarkin: My vision is that we will win because we believe in victory. If you believe, you can do more.
Serhiy Bukovsky: It is a very tough experience for all of us. A bitter experience. Film director Otar Ioseliani put it nicely. He said - you can’t win the myth! Ukrainian Cossacks with sabres and “oseledets” (specific haircuts) on their heads are not only tourist archetypes. This is our historical memory, which wakes up in my nation in difficult times. They may speak different languages: Ukrainian, Russian, Tatar, Hebrew, Bulgarian, Polish, and Romanian, but like one, they all stand up for their homeland and nation. Ukraine has a colossal experience of historical survival. For example, let’s remember the great famine, the Holodomor of 1932–1933. But we have tremendous willpower and aspiration for our dream!
Glory to Ukraine! EF
