Ukraine: Overcoming the Darkness
We invite you to the pre-premiere screening of two documentaries on the war in Ukraine in the Auditorium of the Central European University on 19 May 2023. Overcoming the Darkness had its world premiere at the 2022 Sheffield Doc/Fest and since then was presented at a number of festivals worldwide. In Hungary, Verzió will screen it at a special pre-premiere screening for the first time. The documentary, filmed over the course of months during the beginning of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, is the collective work of several filmmakers known as the Kinodopomoha film collective. The collective has been filming the everyday reality of the war in cities across the country such as in Irpiny, Kharkiv, Kiev, Chernihiv, and Zaporizhzhya to document the events on the ground. The kaleidoscope of stories not only shines a light on the horrors of a senseless war, but is a testimony to the extraordinary perseverance and determination of the population. The documentary will be preceded by a short film, When I Grow Up, which focuses on the lives of teenagers in the shadow of war. After the screening, we will talk to NGO representatives about educational programmes for young Ukrainian refugees, to learn about their activities and to understand the current situation of refugees arriving in our country.
Following the pre-premiere screening on 19 May, the premiere screening will take place on 2 June 2023 in Toldi Cinema.
Details of the two events:
Premiere screening:
2 June 7 p.m.
Toldi cinema, Budapest
Program:
When I Grow Up (12 min)
Overcoming the Darkness (81 min)
After the screening there will be a Q&A with directors, Аndrii Lytvynenko and Tatyana Dorodnisina, moderated by András Földes, journalist.
Buy your ticket at the ticket office in Toldi cinema or online, on the cinema's website.
Pre-premiere screening:
19 May 6 p.m.
Central European University, Budapest Nádor str. 15. Auditorium "A"
Program:
When I Grow Up (12 min)
Overcoming the Darkness (52 min)
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with NGO representatives about educational programmes for young Ukrainian refugees:
- Viktória Petrovszka – Unity Ukrainian Association
- Herta Márki – ELTE Pop-up School
- Éva Füredi – Menedék Association
- Boglárka Fedorkó – Romaversitas Foundation
- Viktória Bernáth – Lesya Ukrainka Ukranian School
- András Siewert – Migration Aid
The discussion will be moderated by András Földes, journalist.
The discussion will be in Hungarian with simultaneous translation to English.
The program is free to attend, but registration is required. Please register through this form.
More about the films:
When I Grow Up (Claire Billet, Olivier Jobard, 2023, 12 min, in Ukrainian with English and Hungarian subtitles)
Irpiny, a town northwest of Kiev, has been badly damaged in the war. Dorina, Sonya and Mikita were ordinary teenagers before the war, but now their lives have been turned upside down. Their schools have closed, power cuts sometimes mean online classes are cancelled or they can only do homework by candlelight. How are teenagers coping in a city largely destroyed by the war? What plans do they make for their future when the present has become unpredictable and the reality they knew so well unrecognisable?
When I Grow Up
Overcoming the Darkness (Kinodopomoha film collective, 2022, 80 min, in Ukrainian and Russian with English and Hungarian subtitles)
The film documents the first few months of the war in Ukraine following the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022. Ukrainian filmmakers across the country have mobilised themselves to document the truth on the ground and to confront an incomprehensible and chaotic reality. Some people leave everything behind to flee the war, and others stay because they cannot or do not want to leave their homeland. Volunteers convert their car repair shop or their sewing workshop into factories of making tools for the military such as batteries, body armour or khaki material. This kaleidoscope of stories from Irpiny, Kharkiv, Kiev, Chernihiv, Zaporizhzhya and other cities, not only shines a lights on the horrors of a senseless war, but is a testimony to the extraordinary perseverance and determination of the population.
The film had its world premiere at the 2022 Sheffield Doc/Fest and since then was presented at festivals worldwide such as the Kaohsiung Film Festival in Taiwan, the Watch Docs Festival in Poland, Zinebi in Bilbao, Spain, and the One World Film Festival in Prague, Czech Republic. In Hungary, Verzió is going to screen the film for the first time at a pre-premiere screening.
Overcoming the Darkness
About the filmmakers' collective Kinodopomoha
Kinodopomoha is a collective of Ukrainian filmmakers, such as directors, DPs, editors, post-production specialists, producers and drivers, who are documenting what is happening in Ukraine by capturing war, destruction and the struggles of the everyday people, but also glimpses of hope.
Filmmakers' statements about the making of Overcoming the Darkness:
"The editing process was emotionally extremely challening: I would go from the goosebumps of pride for the film's protagonists toward tears because of the destruction that familiar places sustained." (Dmytro Burko)
"This is a personal and lyrical story from the perspective of the protagonist, which is the best way to convey the tense atmosphere of those times." (Andrii Lytvynenko)
The programme is part of the "Education No Matter What" campaign of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG-ECHO), organized by the Verzió Film Foundation.
