SHORT FILM SESSION: PICKLES, BOMBS & BORSCH

UKRAINAIN SHORT FILM SESSION The last six years have seen constant political upheaval, 15,000 + people killed in the Europe’s Forgotten War which is allowed to continue, and over 1.7m people internally displaced from occupied Donbas and Crimea. But they have also seen a striking cultural explosion in a region where culture is on the front line of politics. The artists & the filmmakers are both responding to the enormous changes and stand at the forefront of shaping new identities for Ukraine. Unmissable Ukrainian shorts that have entranced festivals all around the world.

HEARTBREAKER

Dir. lexander Brovchenko | 5 mins | Drama | AUS Premiere | 2018 The guy falls in love with the supermarket cashier and gives her his heart… actually… which, along with other packages, goes with a conveyor belt to the checkout.

THE COFFIN

Having lost his family, old Ivan goes crazy, he paints his face and puts on a shamanic headdress with feathers on his head, takes out the icons from the frame. Ivan builds a coffin with his own hands and prepares for the meeting with death. It seems that no one and nothing can bring him back to his senses until an unexpected meeting with a stray black dog that changes his plans.

THANK YOU!

Dir. Maxim Lyukov | AUS mins | Comedy | AUS Premiere | 2018 A young volunteer in an old van tries to deliver vital items to the military in the East, where there is fighting, but there are difficulties along the way. People far from volunteering try to help the guy. The film shows a real volunteer car that traveled more than 1,000 km in the combat zone,

Dir. Kadim Tarasov | 9 mins | Exxistential western, short film | AUS Premiere | 2019 delivering medicine and evacuating the wounded.

UPON A TIME IN ODESSA

Dir. Vladek Zankovsky | 5 mins | Action/ Comedy | AUS Premiere | 2016 An assassination attempt on a high-ranking official in the center of Odessa, Ukraine.

INT. KITCHEN. NIGHT.

Dir. Arkasha Nepytaliuk | 4 mins | Drama | AUS Premiere | 2018 A nervous married couple, two radiant high school graduates, an ambiguous folk song and a cake – the table is set for a disaster. A surreal satire about traditional values and antiquated prejudices.

THE SECRET, THE GIRL AND THE BOY

Dir. Oksana Kazmana | 13 mins | Experimental | AUS Premiere Premiere | 2018 The Girl and the Boy play in a garden. They are left alone there and they do not have any obligations to behave in a certain way. This gives them the freedom to create their own ways of interaction with the world. During such an interaction, adult social constructs inter-twist into weird children folklore and shift into an abstract sphere. There are secrets and various modes of being in the world of the Girl and the Boy.

WAR MOTHERS UNBREAKABLE

Dir. Stefan Bugryn | 15 mins | Documentaty | 2019 As her country goes to war, 18 year old Yana puts aside her dreams of becoming a doctor, and creates a national movement that almost costs her her life.

SOMEWHERE NEARBY : THE STORY OF ONE BREAK

Dir. Andriy Ames | 12 mins | Drama | AUS Premiere Premiere | 2019 Julia is an ordinary schoolgirl who is treated by another girl from her class - Lika. The cruelty and uncontrolled aggression of the latter are transformed into both physical and psychological violence. Classmates do not try to prevent this, remaining viewers of the “show”. Julia does not offer any resistance until a series of events changes everything.

MEMENTO MORI. NEXT LEVEL

Dir. Zhanna Ozirna | 4 mins | Drama/Horror/ Fantasy | AUS Premiere Premiere | 2019 Bohdan is turning 18 today and his dad gives him his old Lada car as a birthday present. His buddies from the trade school come visit him in the garage to check out the car. But a simple birthday takes an unexpected turn that forces Bohdan to stand his ground.