In mid-October, when the weather is still mild in kyiv, the Zhovten cinema (“October” in Ukrainian) is transformed into a festival center. In front of this submarine-shaped jewel of Ukrainian constructivist architecture, Kiev Critics’ Week festival-goers exchange a cigarette or take a selfie with their dog before entering the rooms. “I leave you, I have Almodóvar”, catches up a latecomer while running.
Among the posters for the seventh edition of the festival which took place from October 12 to 18, a small announcement: “The nearest bomb shelter is at the Kontraktova Ploshcha metro station. » Already in 2022, when the capital was plunged into darkness after a rain of Russian bombs, Zhovten stood “like a cathedral”, the only illuminated place in the trendy Podil district, thanks to the generator truck which purred in front of the entrance.
Despite the war, more spectators took advantage of the event: six thousand five hundred people compared to five thousand in 2021. “People literally went towards the light to see the films,” remembers Denys Ivanov, the director of this meeting, in front of one of the cafés that make the neighborhood so charming. “When the first screening was interrupted by an alert and the second canceled due to a power outage, our team thought it was the end. But the festival continued with full houses. » This year again, the majority of sessions are sold out. The inhabitants of the capital like to find refuge in front of a big screen.
On the program, a cross-selection of Ukrainian and Polish films, retrospectives, but also previews of feature films screened at Cannes or at the Berlinale. “The war continues, but the questions of gender and equality are still there, explains Denys Ivanov. We did not want to anesthetize the public. On the contrary, the aim was to put it in today’s context. »
“A window to another reality”
This Sunday, October 15 at 10 a.m., there are four hundred spectators, mostly young, filling the large room to discover Forever-Forever, first film by Ukrainian Anna Buryachkova, first presented in Venice. Before the room plunges into darkness, the moderator complies with the demands of the moment: “In the event of an air alert, the siren will sound in the room and the projection will be interrupted for a few minutes. Those who wish can head towards the shelter and the projection will continue. » War doesn’t scare moviegoers.
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