Odessa residents are invited to star in a film about Oleksandr Dovzhenko

Dovzhenko on the set of the film in 1932

Filming of a film about Oleksandr Dovzhenko will begin in Odesa this summer “Director”. Due to the war, the majority of the film crew will be women, and Odessans are invited to participate in the filming of mass scenes.

The Odesa Film Studio announced the start of work on a film about Dovzhenko a few days ago.

“Our film tells the story of how cartoonist and budding writer Sashko Dovzhenko takes his first steps in cinema, how he becomes a professional director. It is known that in only three years of work at the Odesa Film Factory (1926-1929), Dovzhenko gained worldwide fame and became a film classic“, they said at the film studio.

At the same time, it became known that he would become the director-producer of the film Konstantin Konovalovscreenwriter of films “Hadzhibey Fortress” and “Cool 1918”. The co-author of the script is Dovzhenka, a film expert and researcher of creativity Serhii Trimbach. The scientific consultant of the project will be a literary critic and critic Vera Ageeva.

Later this week, the Odesa Film Studio organized a press conference at which it revealed the details of the upcoming film about Dovzhenko. Filming will begin in the second half of summer in Odessa. They call them symbolic, because this year marks the 130th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding Ukrainian director.

“Filming will begin in the second half of summer. Currently, the preparatory process is ongoing – this is the work of costume designers, decorators, etc. In September, before Dovzhenko’s birthday, we plan to present a teaser of the film“, the general producer of the film said at the press conference Andriy Osipovwrites “Ukrinformation”.

According to him, the filming will be conducted simply on the streets of Odessa. Due to the small budget of the film, all willing Odessans are invited to act in the ensemble. “We really need the help of the citizens. Come as families, we will dress you up and put you in the frame. The film is massive, but with your help we can save a huge budget“, said the producer.

Who will play Oleksandr Dovzhenko is currently not disclosed. The film team revealed only that the People’s Artist of Ukraine will be seen in the frame Bohdan Benyuk – he will play the director of the Odesa Film Factory, Pavel Nechesa.

Director Kostyantyn Konovalov explained that the film about Dovzhenko will be shot in Odesa, because this is where he started working as a film director. “Oleksandr Petrovych, as you know, shot his films in the most difficult times. He had an Odesa period, a Kyiv period, and a military period – when Dovzhenko was a correspondent at the front. All his films are films of a genius. But Oleksandr Dovzhenko began his work precisely in Odessa. Odesa made him a film director“, Konovalov noted.

In general, the city should become almost a full-fledged hero of the film about Dovzhenko. “We want to show the spirit of Odessa in the 26th year. Odesa, which is recovering from the First World War, Odesa, which has NEP, jazz, boxing. Odesa is light and cheerful, where young people make Ukrainian history. This is the Odesa of Isaac Babel and Yuri Yanovsky, Ilf and Petrov and Kataev, a movie is shot in Odessa, foreign geeks work here, the film studio itself is managed by the revolutionary sailor Pavlo Nechesa“, Osipov said.

Oleksandr Dovzhenko – Ukrainian writer, film director, film dramaturg, artist, classic of world cinema.

He graduated from the Glukhiv Teachers’ Institute and studied at the Kyiv Commercial Institute at the Faculty of Economics. He was a student of the Ukrainian Academy of Arts in Kyiv. He worked as a teacher, secretary of the Kyiv provincial department of public education, commissioner of the Theater named after Taras Shevchenko, fought in the ranks of the UNR army.

Having settled in Kharkiv in 1923, he found himself in literary circles and began working as an illustrator and caricaturist. Later, he became one of the founders of the literary association Free Academy of Proletarian Literature (VAPLITE), and through it he became close to the state cinematographic organization All-Ukrainian Photokinopravlinnia (VUFKU).

In 1926, Dovzhenko left for Odesa to finish the film “Vasya the Reformer” for another director based on his own script – and he himself stayed to shoot films here, getting a job as a director at a film factory. In Odesa, Dovzhenko shot his first works: “The Diplomat’s Bag”, “Zvenigora” and “Arsenal”. They became preparations for the shooting of the director’s most famous work – the film “Earth”.