The myth of the god fighter against the background of Malanka. The film “Pamfir” has finally been released

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The drama “Pamfir” directed by Dmytro Suholytky-Sobchuk was released to wide Ukrainian distribution. Its journey from the world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival to the cinemas of Ukraine took almost a year. The tape, in which the folk celebration of Malanka plays an important role, was supposed to be released in January of this year, but at the last moment the start of distribution was postponed to the end of March. Read UP.Kultura in Telegram. We visited the long-awaited premiere and talk about the film, which gathered good reviews and long standing ovations in Cannes, won the Grand Prix at the Molodist film festival, and later triumphed at the Kinokolo award, taking home five awards. Triumphant debut “Of course, I would like the audience to see it in November – at the beginning of December. Because we have such a magnetic element is our national carnival performance, which is called Malanka,” director Dmytro Sukholitky said enthusiastically right after Cannes – Sobchuk. After the world premiere, his debut full-length feature film “Pamfir” was selected for the programs of more than 40 festivals from 25 countries of the world. In November, the film was released in France, and Canada, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, the Baltic countries and other countries also bought the rights to the screenings. However, the road to the Ukrainian audience took a little longer. “Pamfira” team in Cannes The events of the film, which combines features of a family and criminal drama, take place in the west of Ukraine, on the border with Romania. The main character, nicknamed Pamfir, returns home from overseas earnings on the eve of the Malanka celebration. He once promised to put an end to smuggling, which almost every adult in his village is engaged in, and went to work abroad. However, the woman, and even more so the son, do not want him to leave again. The reckless act of Nazar’s son forces Pamfir to take a risky path again and sets in motion a series of events that lead to the irreversible. The climax of the drama unfolds against the background of bright Malanka – a holiday that Nazar so wanted to spend with his father. A frame from the movie “Pamfir” “I myself know what it means to earn money, not seeing my family for a long time, the desire to return home as soon as possible. An important plot line for me is Pamfir’s relationship with his son,” admits the actor Oleksandr Yacentyuk. For him, this role is also a debut. And triumphant too. Although the path of this story to the big screens was long, Ukrainians were waiting for “Pamfir”. This was clearly visible from the number of guests who came to the premiere: there was a large number of people related to the film industry, as well as famous Ukrainians, whom you don’t see very often at premieres. For example, publisher and poet Ivan Malkovich, among others, is waiting for the screening of the Ukrainian drama, which was included in the top 25 films of 2022 according to the version of the European cinema publication Cineuropa. Ivan Malkovich. Photo: press service Actors The performer of one of the key roles – Oleksandr Yarema – had not seen the tape before the premiere. He says that he was recently in Poland for filming, and his colleagues there were surprised when they heard that he played in “Pamfira” – they simply did not recognize him on the screen. Oleksandr Yarema. Photo: press service For all the actors of the film, Sukholitky-Sobchuk arranged not just screenings, but screenings. The performer of the main female role, Solomiya Kyrylova, had to live in the area where the events take place and work at the factory. And non-professional child actors were given a real creative workshop. The director gave the screen incarnation of Leonid (or Pamfir) Oleksandr Yacentyuk the task of gaining weight. “I was quite thin, and Dima said that I would have to gain up to 20 kg,” Yacentyuk says, adding that in seven months he gained 17 pounds. While working on the character of the main character, he studied examples from world cinema, which were pointed out by Sukholitky – Sobchuk. He also went to watch Malanka on his assignment: “How they cheer for their “corner”, how much animal energy there is! It was worth seeing, adopting and trying on yourself.” Director and actors of the film “Pamfir”. Photo: press service But not only the work on “Pamfir” changed the actors, they also brought something of their own to the future cinema. The director says that they even changed the script for the approved main character. “There were three versions of the script. …The third version was when Alexander appeared and the script was rewritten for a different type of protagonist. In the first and second there was a person who, like Job, submits to the pressure of fate. And in the case of thirdly, we had such a god-fighter, with whom came changes in history,” says Suholytky-Sobchuk. Fragment of the poster of the film “Pamfir” In general, the casting for “Pamfir” lasted more than two years. The director wanted to choose the actors as closely as possible to his idea in order to recreate the atmosphere of the region. One of the elements of this reproduction was the local dialect. Language Vasyl Zelenchuk, a connoisseur of the Hutsul dialect, worked with the actors on the set and helped them learn the language. According to his assignment, they all read the novel “Dido Ivanchik” by Pyotr Shekeryk-Donykyv, written entirely in Hutsul dialect. Zelenchuk also sent audio messages to the actors, where he spoke with the necessary accents and pronunciation of phrases from the dialogues. Almost the entire cast selected by the director was from the western regions of Ukraine: Kyrylova’s parents are from Lviv, Yarem is from Prykarpattia, Stanislav Potyak, who plays the son of Pamfir Nazar, comes from the Verkhovyna district, so the dialect is familiar to him since childhood. The most difficult Hutsul accent was given to actress Olena Khokhlatkinia, who hails from the Kherson region. Costumes If Stas Potyak had no problems with pronunciation, the most difficult for him were shooting scenes in costumes for Malanka. “If from the physical side, it’s probably wearing a costume. Making some movements in it, dancing,” he admits. The performer of the role of the son is Stas Potyak. Photo: press service The outfits for “Pamfir” became a challenge for the team of costume designers. “The most difficult thing was to make the costumes easier for the actors. Because Malanka is an action that takes place for a day. And we filmed Malanka for the movie for several months. The costumes themselves are very heavy, some of them are 70-100 kilograms. That is, it is a heavy burden, really. And we came up with different ways to make it easier so that the actors can play in it. Because it is very tiring: to practice, to play your part in it. We were looking for some modern solutions – they don’t always work, but at least we tried,” says the folklorist and artist from costumes by Maria Kvitka. Costume artist Maria Kvitka. Photo: press service She joined the project team at the very beginning, as soon as she read the script. “At that time, I was working on a completely different project. But when I read the script, I understood – I want to make “Pamfir”, – recalls Kvitka. However, it turned out that Sukholitky-Sobchuk meticulously chooses not only actors. “It turns out that there was a competition among 12 artists, among whom Dmytro chose. He was looking for a person who would understand him, feel, know how and what, would be understood on traditions and on Malanka, in particular. Our first meeting lasted four hours. We walked in Holosiivsky Park. And yet we reached a complete understanding,” the artist shares. The world of Malanka Kvitka says that she was interested in creating a costumed world of a dramatic story that unfolds against the background of the Malanka holiday. After all, this tradition, which is already being lost in some places, is on the big screen, and this year due to the war and was generally canceled in most villages of Bukovyna and Prykarpattia, it has not been shown until now. At the premiere, you could see the main mask from “Pamfir”. Photo: press service Suholytkyi-Sobchuk himself says that he became interested in painting his story against the background of a traditional carnival, when I was shooting my documentary film “Red Lightning” (this film, by the way, you can watch here). “When I studied at the film school, the drama teacher always asked us to take notes. I had a lot of these notes. Observations from travels during the filming of the film “Red Lightning” appeared there. It was sometime in 2012. And in 2015, I formalized it into an idea,” the director recalls. The artist says that it was thanks to the expeditions of Sukholitky-Sobchuk to the villages where Malanka is held – Krasnoilsk, Vashkivtsi, Beleluya – that the team had some donated masks. Another, like costumes, created by themselves. Photos from the filming In order to convey the spirit of Malanka on the screen, the filming team toured Ivano-Frankivsk (Topilche, Zelene, Zamagora, Burkut, Dzembronya) and Chernivtsi (Krasnoilsk, Krasnoshora, Selyatyn) regions. “I would like to for everyone to look and discover the world of Malanka in general. Because this tradition has remained in few regions, unfortunately. And at the same time, so that people feel the story that Dmytro wanted to tell,” Kvitka adds. Read also: “Malanka is not on time”: how war and officials can destroy an ancient Ukrainian tradition

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