Ukrainian Cinema Program
Saturday, June 22—1:30-3pm | Wright Opera House
3 filmmakers attend OIFF to share their work and stories about Ukraine. Many thanks to the Telluride Foundation for making this program possible.
THE SOUND OF THE WIND. Directed by Maria Pankova. Ukrainian refugee Yulia’s limitless struggle between war and peace. Premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2023. Watch the trailer. Filmmaker in attendance.
HINDSIGHT. Directed by Max Rykov. Hindsight is a visual meditation on the memories of two young Ukrainians emerging from the fall of the Iron Curtain. The film looks at the fragility of our roots, the impermanence of our cultures, and the transience of our freedom through the lens of a VHS camera in the late 1990s. Filmmaker in Attendance.
UKRAINE UNDER FIRE | A Film About War & Resilience. Directed by Jordan Campbell. A documentary highlighting war crimes, genocide and reslience in the face of Russia’s 2022 invasion and examines Ukraine’s future amidst the most significant conflict in Europe since World War II. We will be screening a six-minute film teaser of the film (out of competition). Filmmaker in attendance.
MARIUPOL. A HUNDRED NIGHTS. Directed by Sofiia MeInky. The animated short film "Mariupol. A Hundred Nights" tells the story of a little girl who wakes up from explosions and tries to survive in a burning city in the first days of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. To escape, she has to go through the destroyed streets, facing the unknown and trusting destiny. Later, as an elderly woman, that once-young girl will return to Mariupol and remember everything. Sofiia has written a personal statement that will be read aloud during the program.
Mark Dillen, Public Affairs Director of Ukrainians of Colorado, will participate in the post-film discussion.
READ MORE ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS:
MARK DILLEN:
Mark Dillen is Public Affairs Director for Ukrainians of Colorado and a resident of Denver since 2017. A leader in public diplomacy and communication, Mark was a member of the Senior Foreign Service with the U.S. Department of State. He has lectured at universities in Ukraine as a Fulbright Senior Scholar. Last year he worked at a Denver resettlement agency assisting Ukrainian refugees.
MARIA PANKOVA:
We are thrilled to announce the return of Ukrainian filmmaker Maria Pankova to the 2024 Ouray International Film Festival!
Maria’s journey to the San Juans began over a year ago. In 2023, we received a film submission for a documentary (“Breathing”) that detailed the filmmakers’ experience of the first weeks of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. When we invited Maria—one of the directors—to join us in person at our 2023 festival to receive the Excellence in International Filmmaking Award, we didn’t know what to expect. Fortunately, she was able to make the journey and attend a packed Q&A following the screening of her stirring film.
Maria's film, her story, and her presence with us had such a deep impact on the community gathered at the Wright Opera House that we initiated a plan to bring Maria back to the festival the following year. Only this time, we’re working with Maria to organize a block of films that celebrate the cinema of Ukraine at OIFF 2024. Audiences will be able to see Maria’s new short documentary “The Sound of the Wind” as part of this program. The film
After the screening, we’ll be convening a panel of guests that work with Ukrainian populations in Colorado, local filmmakers with experience in Ukraine, and most importantly, Maria herself who will return to the mountains next June. We can’t wait to share the films that Maria is curating with us.
None of this would be possible without the support needed to bring Maria back, organize project logistics, and execute the film block. We are very grateful to the Telluride Foundation for their support of our project through a Community Grant. This project stands at the heart of our commitment to civic engagement through cinema, and we thank the Telluride Foundation for supporting us in carrying out that mission in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains.
JORDAN CAMPBELL:
We are honored to welcome local award-winning documentary filmmaker, Moutnainfilm board member, and journalist Jordan Campbell to OIFF. Campbell is also the founder and CEO at Ramro Global | Worldwide Humanitarian Action, a socially driven film production company, spotlighting the issues, challenges and people that define the worldwide humanitarian space. He’s also the director and producer of UKRAINE UNDER FIRE | A Film About War & Resilience, which highlights war crimes, genocide and reslience in the face of Russia’s 2022 invasion and examines Ukraine’s future amidst the most significant conflict in Europe since World War II.
His additional film work, most notably to draw attention to cataract blindness and child heart disease in low-and-middle-income countries, along with other media assignments, has taken him to Nepal, Kosovo, Lebanon, Cameroon, South Sudan and conflict-affected countries like Libya and Iraq. Readers can find Jordan’s byline in National Geographic, Outside, Climbing, Inside Hook and Men's Journal. Jordan is also the director of the award-winning documentary film, DUK COUNTY | Peace is in Sight in the New South Sudan, which won the Indomitable Spirit Award and Moving Mountains Prize at Telluride Mountainfilm and screened twice at the United Nations.
Jordan is also an accomplished international mountaineer, having participated in notable expeditions to Himachal Pradesh in Northern India and the Nyenchen Tanglha region of Eastern Tibet, along with a myriad of climbing, skiing and mountain exploits spanning Europe, Asia and the Americas. His lifetime commitment to international climbing and mountain adventure is fortified by his professional service as former director of communications for Marmot Mountain LLC and former expeditions manager for The North Face.
MAX RYKOV:
We are honored to have Washington, D.C. based filmmaker Max Rykov with us at OIFF. Max has a background in video and multimedia production. He graduated from Florida State University with a BS in Digital Media Production and worked with world renowned digital artists as Head Video Producer at Artechouse, where his work was featured by United Nations Foundation, Pantone Color Institute, Forbes, New York Times, and other platforms. Since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he has refocused on impact driven storytelling. He went on to shoot two independent documentaries in Poland focusing on displaced people of Ukraine, where he is originally from.
Hindsight documents journeys that lay forgotten in a closet in Kyiv for nearly twenty years. The material on these VHS cassettes was shot in the years following the collapse of the Soviet Union by a young Ukrainian couple as they set out to explore the world beyond their borders for the first time. The experience takes the viewer from Ukraine’s post communist heartland, through Vietnam, Cambodia, India, Thailand, and westward to the post revolutionary Republic of Cuba. Delivered from the perspective of their son, now in the US and unable to travel back to Ukraine due to martial law, the essay-style short delves into the elusive nature of roots and cultural values – looking back at what they were back then and confronted with the reality of what they are today.