LETTER FROM kyiv
Minutes of silence for the soldiers who fell at the front, a short film to commemorate members of the cinema community engaged in the army, as well as those who were killed: the International Film Festival Molodist (“youth”, in Ukrainian) which was held in Kiev from October 21 to 29, although it took place behind the scenes, in an atmosphere which could be closer to that of a country at peace, the war did not stopped reminding the public throughout the week. But the reality of Ukraine for almost two years has mainly been told through the productions of Ukrainian filmmakers who presented short films and documentaries and the majority of which dealt with the issue of the conflict.
The finding is not surprising for such an event taking place in a country ravaged by a front line extending over hundreds of kilometers. And even less from a festival like the Molodist which has for many years focused on dealing with delicate social issues, while following the geopolitical evolution of Ukraine, from the fall of the USSR to the Maidan revolution through the “Orange Revolution” of 2004-2005. Since 2014 and the start of the Donbass war, the festival has also stopped presenting productions by Russian filmmakers.
Created in 1970 with the objective of presenting short films by cinema students from Kiev, the Molodist festival has become international year after year while broadening the spectrum of categories represented (feature and short films, documentaries, cinema films). ‘animation) to become the largest festival in Ukraine and one of the most important in Eastern Europe. Big names in contemporary cinema have presented films there like François Ozon, Jacques Audiard, Danny Boyle, Tom Tykwer… In 1997, director Bruno Dumont also presented his first feature film there, The Life of Jesusbefore being awarded the Caméra d’or for best first film at the Cannes Film Festival.
Lost “in his trenches”
If the festival is now one of the major gatherings of international cinema, Molodist nevertheless retains its original approach as well as its desire to highlight new national and international talents. This year, for this 52e more than special edition (the previous one took place in reduced format), many Ukrainians presented short films and documentaries drawn from their experiences of the current war. Thus, these productions speak of exile, of the martyred city of Mariupol, of the Russian occupation of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant at the start of the invasion, of the life of soldiers…
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