Film on Russian Ecocide in Ukraine Premieres at Czech Film Festival
The world premiere of the documentary film ‘Divia’ by Ukrainian director Dmytro Hreshko took place at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on 6 July.
The Gaze reports on this with reference to Ukrinform.
The film (a co-production between Poland, Ukraine, and the Netherlands) is participating in the main Crystal Globe Competition, which features 12 films.
‘This is the biggest festival I've been to... Of course, it's nice. I think this is a moment of recognition for all the efforts over the past three years. Of course, we want to win (the prize), it's always nice, but we'll see,’ Dmytro Hreshko said before the screening. An interview with him will soon be available on the agency's website.
The feature-length documentary highlights Russia's unprecedented aggression on Ukrainian soil and its devastating impact on places that speak silently: forests turned to ash, fields torn apart by explosions, flooded cities, and rusty wrecks of military equipment in devastated regions where life has faded away. But nature does not give up — and neither do humans, with their contradictory existence. While one side brings destruction, the other — sappers, those who search for bodies, ecologists — measures the consequences of the tragedy and restores fragile Ukrainian ecosystems, even despite the rumbling on the horizon.
In total, there will be four screenings of the film during the festival.
In addition, three other Ukrainian works are featured in other competition programmes: as part of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Horizonty section will show the film 2000 Metres to Andriivka by director Mstislav Chernov, The Ribbon of Time by Kateryna Gornostay, and the short animated film I Died in Irpin by director Anastasia Falileeva.
The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (KVIFF) is one of the most prestigious and oldest film festivals in Central and Eastern Europe. It has A-class status according to the FIAPF classification, on a par with Cannes, Berlin and Venice.
This year, it is being held for the 59th time and runs from 4 to 12 July.
As The Gaze reported earlier, the Ukrainian film Mother of Apostles has made cinematic history, setting a national record by receiving 88 international awards, the highest number ever achieved by a Ukrainian film. The feat has been officially registered in the Ukrainian Book of Records.