The Sky Is Getting Closer Ukrainian film program

⁕ cinema

In light of the ongoing Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Martha Kirszenbaum, together with Oleksandra Pogrebnyak and Daria Shevtsova, has conceived an original film program titled The Sky Is Getting Closer after a verse by Ukrainian poet Dmytro Lazutkin. It brings together 19 moving-image works by a younger generation of Ukrainian artists, providing a platform for and offering a voice to a group of creators tragically impacted by the current situation in their home country. Comprising artists' films, movie trailers, music videos and a fashion runway show, The Sky Is Getting Closer reflects on an array of artistic practices related to the moving image, particularly those influenced by globalized culture and the ubiquitous dominance of digital technologies. It interrogates the legacy of the medium of film and how it can respond to the immediate present, particularly in times of urgency and displacement. As a whole, the program attempts to map and document the Ukrainian cultural and art scenes in the eve of the war, paying attention to various practices and aesthetics while unveiling a diversity of viewpoints and personal engagements.

A program of 19 films in 5 parts:  

War, Political Activism and Resistance
Flag is Burning, Yaroslav Futymsky (2019)
Letter to a Turtledove, Dana Kavelina (2020) 
Challenge to the Fight Vitaliy Klichko!, Ksenia Hnylytska (2018)
Slovyansk, Piotr Armianovski (2014) 

Collective Memory, Heritage, and Community
Mustard in the Gardens, Piotr Armianovski (2018)
As far as Possible, Nikolay Karabinovych (2020)
Circulation, Oleksiy Radynski (2020)
New Jerusalem, trailer, Yarema Malashchuk & Roman Khimei (2020)

Youth, Underground and Popular Culture
Dedicated to the Youth of the World II, Yarema Malashchuk & Roman Khimei, (2019)
Défilé homme Automne/Hiver, Anton Belinskiy (2020)
Landslide, Oleksiy Radynski (2017)
Rizni, Vidéo-clip, Luci (2020)

Intimacy, Feminism, and Gender Issues
The Secret, the Girl and the Boy, Oksana Kazmina (2018)
44, Alevtina Kakhidze (2018)
My Wounds Are Crying, Vidéo-clip, Lyudska Podoba (2015)
Declaration of Intent and Doubt, Anna Zvyagintseva (2019)

Ecology and Environment
Clanking, Dispute, Hammering, and Gurgling, Daniil Revkovskiy & Andriy Rachinskiy (2020)
The Big Wild Fields Draft, Oleksandr Burlaka (2020)
similar image, fantastic little splash & Oleksandr Hants (2021)